Air Canada: More than 200 complaints to the Office of the Official Languages ​​Commissioner

The Office of the Commissioner for Official Languages ​​of Canada received more than 200 complaints late Thursday regarding a speech made by Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau in English.

Also read: The Air Canada CEO has apologized and is committed to improving his French

Also read: Apologies that Legalt felt were inadequate by the government

Also read: Air Canada: “Necessary” apology, according to Pablo Rodriguez

The carrier is usually subject to only 80 complaints per year.

“As soon as we learned of the Air Canada President’s speech, we contacted the Air Canada offices to encourage them to review the speech,” said Raymond Theberg, Commissioner of Official Languages.

“But the fact is that there is no change in rhetoric. And since then we have received a significant number of complaints. ”

Mr. Rousseau’s monolingual speech, his excursion that he never needed to learn French to live in Montreal and that he had no work schedule to learn it, provoked strong reactions not only in Quebec but also in Ottawa. .

The Air Canada CEO apologized for his remarks on Thursday morning without convincing many.

Thus, the Legalt government as well as the opposition condemned Michael Rousseau’s contempt for the French.