From CBC:
“N.L., Alberta airports to pay
$20K for language rights violations”
(The St. John's International
Airport Authority and the Edmonton Regional Airport Authority have to pay
almost $20,000 between them following a Federal Court ruling on official
language rights released Thursday.)
A Federal Court judge has ordered
two airports in Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador to pay thousands in
damages for official language rights violations. In two decisions last
Thursday, judge Sébastien Grammond took the St. John's and the Edmonton airport
authorities to task for adopting a "narrow interpretation" of
official language obligations in neglecting to translate web pages, reports,
slogans and social media posts. In 2018, when Michel Thibodeau made 11
complaints to the federal official languages commissioner, the airports hadn't
translated information on their website, including the URL. Almost all of the
airports' social media posts were only in English, and annual reports and press
releases also weren't translated. "Such
communications are intended for the public or the travelling public and must be
in both official languages," the judge wrote in the Edmonton airport
decision.
Complaints filed after
internet research Grammond's decision notes that Thibodeau, an Ottawa
resident, had never visited the airports before making the complaints, which
were based on internet research. But Grammond wrote, "This is not a
case in which damages are intended to compensate individual harm" and
added that damages are necessary to force the airports to respect the rules.
"A declaratory judgment will not be sufficient on its own to achieve
these objectives," said the judge. Thibodeau receives $5,000 in
damages and $6,000 in costs from the St. John's International Airport
Authority. He also receives $5,000 in damages and $3,900 in costs from the
Edmonton regional Airport Authority. "The Federal Court has
reiterated that francophones have the right to service in French in the
country's major airports," said Thibodeau in an interview in French with
Radio-Canada. "The court clearly said that the Edmonton International
Airport and the St. John's International Airport violated the Official
Languages Act on multiple occasions, which is unacceptable."
More than 500 complaints in 5
years Thibodeau describes himself as an "ardent defender of language
rights," but in court documents, the Edmonton airport authority painted
the retired civil servant as a "serial complainant" trying to
"commodify" his language rights for profit. "We do not believe
individuals should benefit financially from a complaint system", said
Edmonton International Airport spokesperson Darrell Winwood in a statement. Court
documents show that between March 2017 and January 2019, Thibodeau made 253
complaints to the official languages commissioner. The complaints concern airports coast to coast
(St. John's, Halifax, Toronto, Sudbury, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton,
Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria), as well as Air Canada, Via Rail, the federal
parliament, the Department of National Defence and the National Capital
Commission. Thibodeau said he's made more than 500 complaints in the last five
years and received "tens of
thousands of dollars" in damages in the last decade. But he also
emphasized the hundreds of hours spent researching and filing complaints, and
shepherding many of them through the court system. "If we look at the
hundreds of hours I've spent defending language rights, the stress, the
fatigue, the attacks to my person, the threats I've received, sometimes serious
threats where the police has had to intervene, the amount of money is minimal,"
said Thibodeau, whose first high-profile language rights case, a complaint
regarding English-only drink service on an Air Canada flight, reached the
Supreme Court of Canada in 2014.
'Deep commitment' to language
rights In his decision, Grammond wrote he had "no doubt that Mr.
Thibodeau is motivated by his deep commitment to the defence of French and
language rights." "While he has received significant sums in damages
since 2017, the monetary aspect cannot overshadow the immense personal
investment he has made in the defence of language rights," he wrote. "The
Federal Court recognized that I am not someone who is simply looking for money.
The court saved my honour," said Thibodeau. Liane Roy, the president of
the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes du Canada, a
francophone community organization and staunch defender of minority language
rights, said she wasn't surprised by the decision. "It's
frustrating that this sort of situation repeats itself and that its the
citizens who want to receive services in French have to put in the work to have
their rights recognized, which is unacceptable in our country," Roy said
Tuesday. "The airports don't seem to want to respect the Official
Languages Act and are spending enormous amounts of money to go to court instead
of offering services.… We have to do better." The St. John's and
Edmonton airport authorities did not say whether they will appeal the decision.
^ It shouldn’t take court
decisions and fines for Airports across Canada to do the legal and right thing.
^
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