Standing Committee on Official Languages

Comité permanent des langues officielles

For immediate release

Ottawa, November 02, 2017 -

On 2 November 2017, the Hon. Denis Paradis, Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages, tabled a report in the House of Commons entitled Air Canada’s Implementation of the Official Languages Act: Aiming for Excellence.

In June 2016, M. Graham Fraser, the former Commissioner of Official Languages, tabled a special report to Parliament on Air Canada’s compliance with the Official Languages Act (OLA). He recommended that one of the parliamentary committees on official languages study the report on a priority basis.

One of the Committee’s recommendations is that the Government of Canada amend OLA to grant the Commissioner of Official Languages the power to enter into enforceable agreements and impose fines as well as administrative monetary penalties on all federal institutions and entities that are subject to the OLA. To ensure that these new powers do not undermine the impartiality and independence of the Commissioner, the Committee says that a new administrative directorate, separate from the Investigative Directorate, must be created within the Office of the Official Languages Commissioner to handle remedies.

“This report, and specifically the recommendation to increase the powers of the Commissioner of Official Languages, is the result of careful consideration,” said Mr. Paradis. “The members of the Committee made sure that they understood the scope and application of each of the solutions proposed by the Commissioner before making this recommendation.”

Mr. Paradis notes that the report’s main recommendation proposes to change the OLA enforcement regime for all federal institutions and entities that are subject to the Act, not just Air Canada: “Although our study targeted Air Canada’s compliance with the Official Languages Act, the evidence we gathered in this study and in others leads us to conclude that it is time to give the Commissioner the ability to intervene in all areas, including the language rights of the travelling public.”

The Committee recognizes that Air Canada has made significant progress, for some time, in terms of bilingual services, for example in implementing Part VII of the OLA. As Mr. Paradis explained, “Air Canada recognizes the benefits of ongoing partnerships with official language minority communities.”

The Committee also recommended that the Government amend the Carriage by Air Act to clarify that the Montreal Convention does not take precedence over the rights guaranteed by the OLA and the Canadian Human Rights Act. “In April 2015, the Hon. Stéphane Dion introduced a bill to that effect,” said Mr. Paradis. “Unfortunately, it died on the Order Paper. This legislative gap must be addressed without further delay.”

The report can be consulted on the Committee’s webpage on the Parliament of Canada website at http://www.parl.gc.ca/LANG-e. Individuals without access to an electronic version can obtain a copy of the report from the Committee Clerk.

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages is composed of 11 Members. The Chair is the Honourable Denis Paradis (Brome—Missisquoi) and the Vice-Chairs are Alupa Clarke (Beauport—Limoilou) and François Choquette (Drummond). The other Members are René Arseneault (Madawaska—Restigouche), Sean Casey (Charlottetown), Bernard Généreux (Montmagny—L’Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup), Stephanie Kusie (Calgary Midnapore), Linda Lapointe (Rivière des Mille Îles), Paul Lefebvre (Sudbury), Darrell Samson (Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook) and Dan Vandal (Saint-Boniface—Saint-Vital).