The Federal Court decision in Thibodeau v Air Canada is here. But you can get a sense of the outcome via just about any major national media outlet this afternoon.
As Canadian Press reported:
“Air Canada must pay $12,000 and apologize to an Ottawa couple after admitting it failed to provide them with services in French, a Federal Court judge ruled Wednesday.
However, the judge decided against imposing punitive damages, saying the carrier has tried to comply with its obligations under the Official Languages Act.”
As a supporter of bilingualism and proponent of the equality and language rights enshrined in the Official Languages Act and in the Charter, I applaud the decision.
And as any Newfoundlander who travels from Fort McMurray or Toronto to a home airport in Deer Lake or St. John’s via Montreal can tell you, it’s good to know that those same rights to service in both official languages apply to English speakers as well.
I have only one question:
How does Jack Layton possibly support this decision, given his stated intention to remove federally- regulated industries from the application of the Official Languages Act in favour of provincial language regimes? And in the wake of this headline-grabbing decision, what will it take to get anyone to ask him?
