quote:

MONTREAL -- The Federal Court has ordered Air Canada to pay a total of $21,000 to two francophones for repeated violations of their language rights, including seatbelts on which the instruction to "lift" the buckle was marked only in English.

Michel Thibodeau and Lynda Thibodeau filed 22 complaints in 2016 with the commissioner of official languages for alleged offences under the Official Languages Act.

The pair complained that planes' emergency exit door signs were either in English only, or the English words were in larger font than the French ones. They noted seatbelts were engraved with the word "lift" with no French-language equivalent.

And they complained that a French-language boarding announcement made at the airport in Fredericton was not as detailed as the English-language one. The two say Air Canada systematically violated the linguistic rights of francophones.

The airline argued the Thibodeaus were interpreting the Official Languages Act too strictly. The airline said the law doesn't require it to treat the two languages identically, but in a substantially similar way.

On the issue of the seatbelt, it was the manufacturer's decision to mark the word "lift," Air Canada said, noting that a fully bilingual message on how to use a seatbelt is delivered before takeoff.

Federal Court Justice Martine St-Louis disagreed. She ordered the airline to write letters of apology to both complainants and to pay them damages totalling $21,000.

The Thibodeaus have complained about Air Canada's language act violations before.

Their last legal case against the airline went to the Supreme Court of Canada. The two lost, however, after the country's highest court ruled Air Canada didn't have to respect the language laws on international flights.

univbee posted:

flakeloaf posted:

my seatbelt says "lift" on it but not "soulevez" give me twenty one thousand dollars please

a primate posted:

air canada is a good airline though???

ARACHTION posted:

Seriously, lol at the poor Québécois who still believe in 2019 that they are ~Canada’s oppressed minority~ and not the immigrants, people of colour and indigenous peoples in their own province. The Venn diagram between those who feel this way and approve the Muslim headscarf ban is a perfect circle.

xtal posted:

Canada SPAM - human rights "notwithstanding"

Another Bill posted:

The headscarf ban is a horrific human rights violation, but so is Grassy Meadows. So was the Ipperwash crisis. So is the steamrolling of first nations rights to land out west to build pipelines.

Another Bill posted:

English canada attacking french canadians for racism is not only wildly hypocritical (uhhh hello the continuing, centuries-old subjugated first nations population) but also demonstrates exactly why a lot of them still believe they're an oppressed minority. Because they're still held to a different standard.

I wouldn't defend the headscarf ban, but any Canadian being critical of Quebec for it should take a long look in the loving mirror first.

Arivia posted:

Those two look like vexatious litigants trying to find problems.

quote:

In a 5-2 decision Tuesday, this country’s top court ruled there is no dispute that Air Canada violated Michel and Lynda Thibodeau’s French-language rights during three international flights in 2009. However, the Supreme Court justices found the couple did not qualify for monetary damages.

The Thibodeaus had been awarded damaged of $12,000 by the Federal Court of Canada in 2011. But that judgment was set aside the next year by the Federal Court of Appeal, which reduced the award to $3,000 for a violation at Toronto’s Pearson airport.

The appeal court also quashed a “structural order” requiring Air Canada to introduce a monitoring system to identify and document potential violations of its obligations under the Official Languages Act because of “systemic” failures to provide service in both official languages

Michel Thibodeau, an IT support specialist with the federal government, was also refused service in French in 2000, when he tried to order a 7Up from a unilingual English flight attendant on a flight from Montreal to Ottawa. After the plane landed, he was escorted off by police.

quote:

Seatbelts are kind of a thing, but also the point from Air Canada about them coming that way from the manufacturer also makes sense

Another Bill posted:

English canada attacking french canadians for racism is not only wildly hypocritical (uhhh hello the continuing, centuries-old subjugated first nations population) but also demonstrates exactly why a lot of them still believe they're an oppressed minority. Because they're still held to a different standard.

I wouldn't defend the headscarf ban, but any Canadian being critical of Quebec for it should take a long look in the loving mirror first.

Terror Sweat posted:

quebec subjugates their first nations population AND does poo poo like the headscarf ban. gently caress quebec

DariusLikewise posted:

lol at defending a corporation having to pay 0.000001% of their total revenues of the year in a settlement because they cant follow one of the very obvious and long standing language laws of this country

flakeloaf posted:

children please there's plenty of lovely racist behaviour to go around, we can all be guilty

cause we are

Terror Sweat posted:

the guy sounds like a dick who harrassed an overworked flight attendant

Another Bill posted:

It's enough to make me think English Canada uses Quebec's head scarf ban as distraction so they don't have to account for their own heinous behaviors.

priznat posted:

nice whataboutism!

flakeloaf posted:

tu quoquebecois

Postess with the Mostest posted:

Poutine sucks

DariusLikewise posted:

lol at defending a corporation having to pay 0.000001% of their total revenues of the year in a settlement because they cant follow one of the very obvious and long standing language laws of this country

Postess with the Mostest posted:

Poutine sucks

Another Bill posted:

English canada attacking french canadians for racism is not only wildly hypocritical (uhhh hello the continuing, centuries-old subjugated first nations population) but also demonstrates exactly why a lot of them still believe they're an oppressed minority. Because they're still held to a different standard.

I wouldn't defend the headscarf ban, but any Canadian being critical of Quebec for it should take a long look in the loving mirror first.

MonsieurChoc posted:

On the other hand, most of the anglo minority in Montreal still can't be arsed to learn basic french despite living there their entire lives.

In conclusion, Quebec is a land of contrasts.

Fashionable Jorts posted:

Poutine is only good for about 2 minutes while its still hot and not soggy. Every business that sells poutine does so with too large of a portion for the whole experience to be excellent.

ARACHTION posted:

It's okay, I'm ethnic Québécois

EvidenceBasedQuack posted:

DariusLikewise posted:

good gently caress air canada