A small but passionate group of demonstrators gathered outside the Air Canada head office in Saint-Laurent on Saturday afternoon to send a message: ‘Excuses aren’t enough.’
They’re referring to Air Canada’s president and CEO Michael Rousseau, who recently came under fire for a 26-minute speech almost exclusively in English at the Montreal Chamber of Commerce last week.
Although Rousseau has since apologized, critics say the problem is not just his inability to speak French, it’s the condescending tone he took when asked why he doesn’t.
Speaking in French, organizer of Saturday’s demonstration and president of the Saint-Jean Baptiste Society Marie-Anne Alepin says Rousseau and Air Canada must take responsibility.
“Respect our language laws, French is the official language here. Air Canada doesn’t even respect their own language laws, so we’re asking them to do what they need to do,” says Alepin.
“As a unilingual anglophone, he can no longer assume the position of president and CEO.”
But many demonstrators say they don’t think Rousseau should have to step down — at least not right now.
“He has a chance to live in Quebec, it’s a good place to learn French,” says Jordan Craig Larouche, president of the Jeunes Bloquist des Laurentides. “But if he’s incapable, well, then, eventually he should step down.”
Many of the younger demonstrators say they understand the importance of bilingualism, but Rousseau’s inability to even try to learn French is insulting.
“You want, as a CEO, to be able to interact with people in the street in French but also with people internationally in English,” says Marie-Laurence Desgagané, president of the Parti-Québécois youth wing. “It’s just important to show respect.”
It doesn’t seem Rousseau will step down, but his comments left Desgagné wondering why he is able to get away with being a unilingual anglophone.
“Even if the law says that federal jurisdiction enterprises should be bilingual and ruled bilingually, in fact, everything happens in english in those enterprises,” she adds.
Over the past week, Rousseau’s comments triggered thousands of complaints to the language police, while international news organizations such as the Washington Post and The Guardian reported on it.
Rousseau has since hired a private French tutor.