[lg policy] Canada: Employees lose challenge against Via language policy

[Harold Schiffman]

Employees lose challenge against Via language policy


By Janice Tibbetts, Canwest News Service

Via, a federal Crown corporation, adopted the bilingualism requirement
for new employees in 1986 and the staffers say they have missed out on
promotions and some were not given French language training to achieve
bilingual status.Via, a federal Crown corporation, adopted the
bilingualism requirement for new employees in 1986 and the staffers
say they have missed out on promotions and some were not given French
language training to achieve bilingual status.
Photograph by: Mike Carroccetto, The Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA — Five Via Rail employees have lost a court battle claiming
they should not have to speak French to work on routes in Western
Canada because there are already enough bilingual employees to pick up
the slack. Federal Court Justice Luc Martineau dismissed the veteran
employees' quest for financial compensation for the wages they say
they lost because they were denied the most senior service jobs. The
unilingual employees, who have all worked at Via for 24 years or more,
are based in Winnipeg and Vancouver.

The workers unsuccessfully challenged Via's requirement for
bilingualism for onboard service staff on the Western Transcontinental
route between Toronto and Vancouver, which mainly serves Canadian and
foreign tourists. "Via is an important instrument of government policy
in transportation, employment and promotion of linguistic duality and
bilingualism in Canada," wrote Martineau. A francophone travelling in
Western Canada should have the same entitlement to service and
emergency instructions in French, just as a unilingual anglophone
travelling in Quebec would expect service in English, said Martineau.

The rulings were released Wednesday, less than one month after the
railway came under fire following complaints emergency evacuation
instructions had only been given in English, angering some francophone
passengers travelling from Toronto to Ottawa. Via, a federal Crown
corporation, adopted the bilingualism requirement for new employees in
1986 and the staffers say they have missed out on promotions and some
were not given French language training to achieve bilingual status.

They also argued that 75 per cent of employees on the Western
Transcontinental are bilingual, which ensures services can be provided
in both official languages without affecting the futures of the
unilingual workers. The judge noted that Via disputes the number.The
employees were seeking, among other things, monetary compensation for
lost wages and pension benefits and damages for what some described as
"humiliation and embarrassment."

The judge handed down five separate rulings, but he noted they
affected dozens of other complainants. The five employees who
challenged Via's language policy in court were Mark Collins, Brian
Norton, Margaret Temple, and Wendy Seesahai, who are all based in
Winnipeg, and Brenda Bonner, who lives in Vancouver. They were seeking
varying amounts in compensation and other damages. The highest claim
came from Seesahai, who wanted $150,000


http://www.canada.com/life/relationships/Employees+lose+challenge+against+language+policy/1976829/story.html?id=1976829
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