French-Language-Culture Disgruntlement

"Over the years, it was just a series of them violating our rights again and again. So we had to do something or stay home. If I do that, my right to be served in French is dead. We decided we were going to fight this."
"The law says you can be served in the language of your choice. All I'm asking is for them to conform to the law. I wish people understood that [his battle not just one of money]."
"There needs to be financial compensation. Otherwise ... it's not going to change for 200 years."
Michel Thibodeau, language complainant, Ottawa, Ontario

Michel Thibodeau is pictured in Ottawa in a July 14, 2011 file photo. (ANDRE FORGET/QMI AGENCY)

Granted, Canada has declared itself an officially bilingual nation, in recognition of the two 'founding' communities, English and French. And since official bilingualism is a fact, Canadians have never stopped paying to enforce that fact. From the expenses involved in the dual publication of everything that is ever printed at the federal level; translation and printing expenses are enormous; to the favouring of those with French-language backgrounds in federal civil service employment.

There is an office of language commissioner who receives complaints when those who wish to be served in French find themselves culturally put-out or handicapped by some failing in the system, and the language commissioner is happy to oblige his office by setting off on a lecture-and-hector campaign to bring shame and censure on any government department that has failed in its duty to provide dual-language capabilities to any and all circumstances.

Is is nothing less than astonishing the number of French Canadians who distinguish themselves all too often by a knee-jerk reaction given to grievance and bad temper. Wishing to be catered to as an entitled right, regardless of the circumstances. Because it is their entitled right under they law they carry the cudgel of a grudge against the English-majority establishment, and voice their disgruntlement loud and clear on all occasions they deem merit it, and they are many.

Michael and Lynda Thibodeau have been a vociferously-pride-and-culture-injured thorn in the side of Air Canada for years. They complain that the national carrier has time and again violated their French-language rights, and have the experience of three international flights to bolster their claim where their French-spoken requests for the beverage of their choice produced an untoward result from a unilingual airline server.

This obviously constitutes an untenable, intolerable, insulting situation that no self-respecting French-speaker with perfect English diction can be expected to just tuck under their belt of tolerance for the occasional episode not meeting their expectations. That they are perfectly comfortable speaking English is not the issue for them, but rather that they have the right by law to be served in the language of their choice, and they chose French.

The Official Languages Act guarantees them that right of choice. A social absurdity it may be, but it is also a cultural disgrace in the opinion of Official Languages commissioner Graham Fraser. Whose own audit of the airline's bilingual services saw it coming up short in a dozen areas. "Language issues continue to be a work in progress for Air Canada", he stated. Well thank heavens, it's not a safety issue at fault here; on the other hand failing in bilingual services seems to weigh as heavily in some circles.

The Supreme Court of Canada was even asked to weigh in and they did, ruling that though Air Canada erred when its server could not engage them in French when they ordered a 7Up and insulted them horrendously by bringing them the incorrect beverage, the carrier would not be required to pay the thousands of dollars the couple sued them for.

The $12,000 they had been awarded by the Federal Court of Canada in 2011 was therefore overturned even though the Federal Court of Appeal had earlier reduced the award to $3,000. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal of the Thibodeaus' of that reduced award, as it did the original.

Life is so unfair. Mr. Thibodeau who works as an IT specialist for the federal government had suffered the unspeakable and for that he launched a suit in Federal Court for $525,000.

In 2000 on a flight from Montreal to Ottawa, he was refused service in French by a unilingual English flight attendant, when he ordered a 7Up. His reaction might have been viewed as excessive since he was escorted off the plane once the plane landed, by police. "That started the whole thing for me", he said.