ARCHIVED - Audit of Service to the Public in Both Official Languages - Number 40

This page has been archived.

Audit of Service to the Public
in Both Official Languages
Winnipeg International Airport

March 2001

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Background

3. Audit objectives

4. Scope

5. Approach

6. Findings

7. Summary of recommendations

8. Recommendations to the Treasury Board Secretariat

Appendix - Association consulted in the audit

1. Introduction

This audit is part of the audit activities conducted by the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) to ensure that the Official Languages Act (OLA) and TBS official languages policy are being enforced. The goal of this audit of federal institutions located at the airport and of the airport authority is to determine whether the public can communicate with and receive services from these institutions in the official language of its choice, in accordance with the Official Languages Act and the Official Languages (Communications with and Services to the Public) Regulations.

This section presents the background to the audit and the objectives, scope, approach used, results, conclusions and recommendations.

2. Background

Since 1992, Transport Canada has been leasing to local airport authorities the international airports it owned and operated in such locations as Calgary, Halifax, Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg. These authorities are all non-profit corporations. Local airport authorities are responsible for the management, operation and maintenance of the airports they lease, and for capital projects relating to such components as the runways, air terminal buildings, industrial areas, parking lots, ground transportation, emergency response services, personnel management and the financial and administrative functions.

In March 1992, the Airport Transfer (Miscellaneous Matters) Act received Royal assent. Although Winnipeg International Airport is not a federal institution, it remains subject to parts of the Official Languages Act. Section 4(1) of the Airport Transfer (Miscellaneous Matters) Act states that:

Where the Minister has leased an airport to a designated airport authority, on and after the transfer date Parts IV, V, VI, VIII, IX and X of the Official Languages Act apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, to the authority in relation to the airport as if (a) the authority were a federal institution; and (b) the airport were an office or facility of that institution, other than its head or central office.

3. Audit objectives

The audit objectives were established under Part IV of the Official Languages Act, which deals with the obligations of federal institutions, and third parties acting on their behalf, concerning service to the public. The audit objective was to determine the extent to which the airports in question (services provided by the airport authorities, airlines, concessionaires, and health and safety services), federal institutions subject to the Official Languages Act and located at the airports (Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, Citizenship and Immigration Canada) and Air Canada are fulfilling their service to the public obligations under the Official Languages Act, the Official Languages (Communications with and Services to the Public) Regulations and government policy.

4. Scope

The audit covered seven privatized airports: those in Calgary, Halifax, Moncton, Montreal (Dorval), Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg. A separate report was prepared for each airport. The auditors studied the airport authorities in each of these cities, the federal institutions at the airports (as mentioned above) and Air Canada.

For each location visited, we carried out three types of audit:

• a telephone audit: a call outside business hours (where they are not continuous) to check whether there is a Call Answer system in both official languages, and (except for the airport authorities) a call during business hours to check whether active offer really exists and whether service can be obtained in both official languages;
• an in-person audit at the site;
• an audit of the Internet sites.

The services related to public security, health and safety were also audited at the sites.

It should be noted that the audit did not cover Transport Canada. At the time of the audit, the Commissioner of Official Languages was carrying out a follow-up to assess the progress made in implementing the recommendations she made following her special study of Transport Canada.

Also, the audit did not cover the verbal announcements related to the flights since they are related to the obligations of the route and that will be audited in another study.

5. Approach

The following steps were completed during the audit:

• Meet with the Treasury Board Secretariat official languages representatives to discuss the audit parameters.
• Identify complaints filed with the Commissioner of Official Languages in the past two years.
• Develop an audit program involving a number of audit questionnaires (by telephone and on-site), for each airport and all institutions covered.
• Determine to what extent the Internet sites of the airports involved give the same information in both official languages, and if necessary determine the extent to which the public can communicate with these airports in both official languages.
• For each airport, examine a sample of contracts with third parties and airlines.
• Make telephone calls to check active offer in the airports and institutions covered.
• Interview those in charge of the airport authorities and federal institutions covered, and interview the representatives of the official language minority communities to obtain the viewpoint of the clients.
• Check active offer, notices and signage in the airports and federal institutions covered.
• Check notices, documentation and availability of service in both official languages on the premises of third parties and airlines.
• Collect all the relevant information, compile the data and analyse the results for the airports and federal institutions covered.
• Group the analyses of the federal institutions and airport authorities by regions, and prepare a separate report for each airport visited.
• Submit the seven draft reports to the TBS representatives to clarify items that are unclear and discuss modifications to each report.
• Send the draft reports to those in charge of the airports and institutions, to obtain their comments and incorporate them into the final version of each report as necessary.

6. Findings

6.1 Airport authority

6.1.1 Profile of organization

Since 1996, Winnipeg Airport has been managed by a non-profit regional corporation, the Winnipeg Airports Authority Inc. (WAA). The authority is responsible for operating and managing the airport. The 115 employees of WAA do not provide service to the public, except for telephone information service for travellers. The administrative offices are adjacent to the airport but are not open to the public.

Information services for travellers are provided by a third party (subject to section 25 of the OLA): Tourism Winnipeg, which has an information booth in the air terminal.

Because the authority does not provide any service to the public, none of its positions is bilingual, and the organization does not have any employees in language training.

6.1.2 Language obligations

The airport authority seems quite open to the question of official languages, and well aware of its responsibilities for bilingual notices both inside and outside the airport. In the Winnipeg telephone directory, the travelling public can find the number under Winnipeg Airports Authority; travellers calling the number (204) 987-9402 can receive an active offer and service in the official language of their choice.

The airport has an information booth operated by Tourism Winnipeg. The official languages symbol is clearly displayed there, and bilingual documentation and a verbal active offer are provided; the attendant was completely bilingual. When we returned to the booth later, there was another attendant there who was also bilingual; we were told that there were four persons who worked at this centre, and that all were bilingual.

To determine its language obligations, the authority uses the list of bilingual services essential to the travelling public given in a document produced by Transport Canada around 1980. To provide the services identified in that list, the authority has included a language clause in its agreements with its tenants. It states the following:

" The tenant further covenants, with respect to the provision of an essential service:

(1) to comply with the Official Languages Act and Official Languages (Communication with and Services to the Public) regulations and the Landlord's Policy on Official Languages;

(2) to display or make available to the public in both official languages, all printed and written material including signs, notices and other information in connexion with the Tenant's operations; and where applicable, to provide services by other means (including self-service equipment), in both official languages;

(3) during every shift of operations in all area of the Leased Premises which are used for serving the public, to have sufficient staff on duty to provide an oral response capability in both official languages within a reasonable period of time;

(4) to clearly demonstrate to members of the public that these bilingual services are available in either official languages of choice.

Notwithstanding any other remedy available to the Landlord, if a breach of (2) occurs, the Landlord may terminate this lease or enter the Leased premises and provide the printed and written material in both official languages, in which event the Tenant shall pay.....if a breach of either (1),(3) or (4) occurs the Landlord may terminate this Lease ....."

To help them comply with the clauses in the contract, the airport authority provides free translation services to its tenants, and it meets with them at least once a year. The authority also gives its tenants official languages symbols and pins. Furthermore, all tenants have been told that they can use the services of Tourism Winnipeg if the need arises for interpretation with the client (administrative arrangement).

The airport's Internet site is unilingual English, and the contract binding the airport to a Vancouver marketing company does not contain a clause stating that the site must be translated.

The airport authority provides bilingual comment cards for the public. If comments are made in French, the authority has them translated.

As to bilingual representation, the authority's employees have business cards in either English or French, and the authority has frequent contacts with the minority press, with which it maintains excellent relations: we found notices in the minority press concerning the annual meeting of the authority and about parking rates.

The airport authority makes only verbal announcements related to safety. The messages are pre-recorded and are said to be bilingual (but we did not hear them during our audit).

The Winnipeg Airports Authority received two complaints concerning official languages in the past year; they related to signage and the lack of service in French at a car rental agency.

6.1.3 Exterior notices and signage

The notices announcing Winnipeg Airport are bilingual. The notices indicating the parking lots are bilingual, except those for the Economy Lot and Premium Lot, which are unilingual. We found that the lighted signs indicating that the parking lot is full are in English only: "Lot full when flashing".

Inside the parking lots, all notices are bilingual: no-parking signs, safety, schedules, instructions, etc. The airport façade bears only the names of the airlines and the departures and arrivals areas; everything is clearly indicated in both official languages. The car rental agency offices and the hotel are also clearly indicated in both official languages. The signage for the taxis is bilingual, and there are bilingual notice boards giving the rates for ground transportation to the city. We found only one spelling error on the notice board: Limousines "autorisés" instead of "autorisées".

6.1.4 Interior notices and signage

When disembarking from an aircraft, on domestic or international flights, travellers are guided to the baggage areas by pictograms. For domestic flights it is areas A and B; in those areas, the information on road transportation is given in both official languages. The flashing sign welcoming visitors with the message: "Winnipeg Airports Authority welcomes you to Winnipeg" is not bilingual. The other notices are bilingual, except for the two flashing signs indicating the cardinal points (flights from east) from which the baggage on the conveyor originates. We also noted that the messages on the carts provided for travellers are unilingual English, particularly the instructions for securing children (safety belts). There is also a spelling error in each of the areas: "distributeurs de monnaic" instead of "monnaie" [change machines] (four signs, repeated, bearing a picture of a cart - two in each baggage area).

Although the general atmosphere is bilingual, we noted that the boxes for travellers to deposit the bilingual comment cards, found at several locations in the airport, are marked only: "Comments". Everything is bilingual in baggage area C, which is in the international arrivals section.

The airport has two floors and an observation room. On each floor we noted that most of the banners were bilingual, beyond what is required under section 23 of the Act. In the waiting rooms and other airport areas, the screens announcing flight arrivals and departures are fully bilingual. Evacuation plans and emergency measures are always given in both official languages. The plans showing the general layout of the airport are also bilingual. Throughout the airport, the washrooms are indicated by pictograms and bilingual signs. As for notices, we found only one discrepancy: in the smoking room on the second floor, the following announcement was in English only: "Please be advised that there is no public address system for airlines announcement in this facility".

6.1.5 Self-service machines

The Royal Bank automated teller machine is fully bilingual, but the ATM Travelex automated teller machines are only partly bilingual: the screen is bilingual, but the information on security and user fees is in English only. The information on using the public telephones (MTS) is bilingual, but we found that the instructions for using a laptop computer with the public telephones, and using the telephone when one of the speakers is hearing-impaired, are in English only. The message indicating the change required is sometimes bilingual and sometimes unilingual, depending on the telephone.

Parking at the airport is paid for at an automated machine: the written instructions on those machined are fully bilingual, as is the banner showing where the automated machines are located. However, these machines are equipped with a vocal system that has messages in English only. We also noted that the cardboard notices located near these machines are often in English only, as are the signs stating that the machines are out of service for maintenance.

The information on the change machines is bilingual. The same applies to a toy dispenser located in baggage area B (Animal House). Elsewhere, the other dispensers (soft drinks, potato chips, etc.) are partly bilingual: the notice that the machines should not be shaken is generally not bilingual; that could lead to accidents. As elsewhere in Canada, the instructions for using the electronic games are given in English only.

6.1.6 Contract services

Winnipeg Airport has only one restaurant-bar (Winnipeg's Exchange and Brew Works and Eatery), where the menus are unilingual and there is no bilingual service. There are also five fast food centres (Second Cup, Gunn's, Harvey's, Norm N' Nates, Tim Hortons), where the menus are generally bilingual but we did not obtain service in French; nor were we offered the possibility of obtaining such service. Travel insurance is available in both official languages at the Travelex foreign exchange counter; the documentation at the counter was partly bilingual (the exchange rates for each country were shown in English only), but there was no service in French. Both duty-free shops had signs in both official languages, but there was no service in French and the attendant was not aware of any administrative arrangements; the cash register receipts were unilingual.

There are five car rental agencies: Thrifty was displaying the symbol at the time of our visit. Bilingual service contracts are also used there, but there was no bilingual service as such, because the attendant was unilingual English; however, she knew that she could contact the airport's information booth or another company employee who was bilingual. Avis had bilingual contracts and documentation; there was no service in French, but the attendant had a sheet containing questions in French and in English, and she had been told to use this sheet with French-speaking clients. The Avis attendant told us that there were sometimes bilingual persons at the counter. As for Budget and National Tilden, there was no indication that service in French was available, but we were told that they could contact an employee of the other rental offices to provide service in French. Hertz did not offer in-person services in French, and contracts in French were not available; they did not offer to find us services in French.

Winnipeg Airport has a hotel on the site: the Sheraton Four Points. At the reception counter there was no symbol, documentation or active offer of service. We were told that just under 10% of the employees were bilingual, but we did not meet a single one during our stay. Inside the hotel we noted that the instructions relating to safety, in particular those for fire posted in the corridors or on the doors, as well as those given in the directories in the rooms, were unilingual English. This directory has bilingual sections, but those related to safety and the menus were not bilingual. However, the hotel does have a client satisfaction questionnaire and a card relating to the environment, both of which are bilingual.

During our visit we met employees working for the following companies: Westjet, Canjet, Bearskin, Canada 3000, Northwest, Royal and Athabasca. In the case of the last two companies, the employees we met were responsible only for managing baggage, and we were told that there were two bilingual persons in their work group. Royal had a number of documents in both official languages. As for Westjet, it had neither bilingual documentation nor services in French; the only bilingual person was busy somewhere else at the time of our visit. The documentation for Canjet was bilingual, and we were able to obtain services in the language of our choice; the same was true for Canada 3000, where we were told that about 25% of the employees were bilingual. At Bearskin Airlines there was neither bilingual documentation nor bilingual service. At Northwest we were told that there were three people who could speak French, but the person we met had difficulty speaking French.

Please note that the information related to Air Canada will be dealt with in a separate section.

6.1.7 Health and security

The Winnipeg police have an office on the airport grounds, but the officers stationed there are not bilingual, and the administrative arrangements set up to provide service in French depend on the nature of the response. If the response relates to general information or the payment of the fine for a parking ticket, the officers use the staff of Tourism Winnipeg at the airport. For an arrest, the officers apparently consult a central database listing all the multilingual officers for an interpreter, or else they deal with the Saint-Boniface station, which has bilingual officers. The police officers we met said that there had been no complaint in the past three and a half years, and that in general, Francophones did not object to receiving their services in English.

6.1.8 Conclusions

The services to travellers that are the direct responsibility of the airport authority, like telephone service and the information counter, are provided in both official languages. We must also acknowledge the marked efforts by the authority to help third parties under contract fulfil their language obligations, by providing them with translation services and recommending that they use the services of the information counter personnel as an administrative arrangement when the third party does not have the required bilingual staff.

The airport authority does not have a monitoring mechanism to correct the shortcomings related to postings. Although the language clauses in the lease contracts with third parties are explicit and cover both documentation and provision of services in person, this clause is not always respected, particularly in the case of cash register receipts and services in person. The degree of compliance with the language obligations varies greatly from one tenant to another.

Regarding safety and security, it should be mentioned that the instructions on security measures at the hotel are not bilingual, and that the language obligations of the police force working in the air terminal are not specified.

As with a number of other airports across the country, the list of essential services prepared by Transport Canada in the 1980s should no longer be used: this list predates the adoption of the Official Languages Regulations and contains a number of errors.

6.1.9 Recommendations

Following the audit, we recommend that the airport authority:

• set up a mechanism to monitor interior and exterior postings at the air terminal and the postings on the self-service equipment;
• set up a monitoring mechanism to ensure that third parties under contract respect the language clauses in their contracts, and establish compliance measures as necessary;
• revise its contract with the hotel and ensure that the language obligations are respected;
• regularly remind the airlines of their language obligations;
• ensure that all new agreements with the police forces include an explicit language clause.

6.2 Air Canada

Winnipeg Airport
Burolis #: 93056
November 17, 2000

Audit Results

A) Active Offer

Active offer on the telephone outside business hours

The new telephone number used to reach Air Canada is a toll-free number, 1-888-247-2262. This is a fully automated system offering a number of options, designed to direct the travelling public to the desired service; it is possible to speak to a person to obtain further information, and the services are available in both official languages.

Active offer on the telephone during business hours

Dialing the above number during business hours connects automatically to a fully bilingual Call Answer system. Also, personalized services are available in both official languages when one speaks to an attendant. The calls are then routed automatically to a call centre in New Brunswick, which provides services in both official languages.

Active offer in person

Air Canada's administrative offices are in a building beside the air terminal which is rarely visited by the public. There is a reception counter at the entrance to the offices, but it does not make a verbal active offer. If a client speaks French, they find a bilingual officer to provide the service.

There is no active offer at the check-in counters, but services in French can be obtained.

Visibility of a symbol or sign announcing that services can be obtained in both official languages

There is no official languages symbol in the administration offices. Since some travellers could nevertheless go to those offices to ask for information, it would be advisable to indicate that services can be obtained in both official languages. There is no symbol at the check-in counters either.

Postings in both official languages at all times

The postings identifying the waiting lines at the air terminal are bilingual. We examined the express check-in terminals that Air Canada has made available to the travelling public, and they are fully bilingual; travellers can use them, for example, to obtain boarding cards, change seats, ask for an earlier flight or enter the number of bags to be checked.

During our visit, Air Canada was in the process of merging with Canadian, and the postings varied depending on the service provider and the flight destination.

The Air Canada wickets have movable panels for flights to the east and the south, some of which indicate that there are services in French. At the wickets identified as bilingual, the staff was unilingual; when we wanted to turn the panels so as not to mislead the public, the attendants strongly objected, claiming that those panels were never touched, and that when they were moved, they gave off large quantities of dust.

For flights to the west and north, the counters previously belonged to Canadian, and there were only temporary paper signs with Air Canada's name. None of the counters announced bilingual services.

Availability of publications in both official languages

The documentation on the counters at the Air Canada wickets is available in both official languages, although the versions in both languages are not necessarily found at the same places: an example is the documentation on transfers at Toronto Airport. The documentation on zero tolerance of misbehaviour is available in both official languages. The boarding cards, tickets and identification cards are bilingual.

Use of both official languages on the Internet site

Air Canada's Internet site is highly detailed and fully bilingual. However, it is quite difficult to move from one language to another because the generic headings given at the top of the page (Home, Aeroplan, About Air Canada, Traveller Services, Interactive Services, etc.) do not include a "Français" option for moving from one language to the other within the same heading without going back to the first page: "Welcome aboard - English/ Bienvenue à bord - Français". There is no separate Internet site for the Air Canada offices at Winnipeg Airport.

B) Service

Nature of the services provided by Air Canada at the airport visited

In Winnipeg, Air Canada offers domestic flights to Montreal and Ottawa (not to New Brunswick), Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver, and international flights to Europe with stopovers in Canadian cities. There are also three flights to Chicago and one to Denver. Air Canada provides baggage and passenger check-in services for these flights.

The services provided in the Maple Leaf Lounges (computer services, entertainment, relaxation, etc.) were available in both official languages; we noted that the documentation in French was quite limited, and that the staff on duty were not bilingual. Notices are almost non-existent in these lounges, which are reserved for a specific clientele.

Air Canada has also signed a service contract with Aeroguard Security, which handles passenger searches. There is a clause in this contract stipulating the language obligations to be respected; the company has five fully bilingual employees.

Existence of bilingual capacity required to provide continuous service in both official languages

In Winnipeg Air Canada has 36 bilingual employees out of a total of 175. There are four levels of bilingualism at Air Canada: level four is the highest level, corresponding overall to language exemption in the public service. Employees who do not have level four must take a test every two years to determine whether they have maintained their level of bilingualism. There are 23 employees with level four. Management considers that there are enough bilingual staff to provide service at all times. If there is a shortage of bilingual personnel, they would use a telephone number provided by the airport authority.

Presence of work tools required for provision of service in both official languages

Any correspondence in French would be forwarded to Customer Service, which would use Air Canada's translation service in Montreal. The documentation used by the airport's wicket attendants is in both official languages. The business cards and fax cover sheets are bilingual.

Comparability of the service in both official languages, and availability of administrative arrangements as necessary

The services provided in both official languages are not comparable or equal in quality, since there are not always bilingual employees on duty, even at the wickets identified as providing bilingual services. There are administrative arrangements, but clients desiring service in French have to wait for it.

C) Managers' Responsibilities

Knowledge of requirements regarding service to the public in both official languages

First it must be mentioned that the audit was conducted in the middle of the merger between Air Canada and Canadian. The managers who were formerly with Canadian are less aware of the language obligations, particularly for verbal active offer. However, as in the past, the language affairs department of head office is assisting and advising these new managers. As for the employees, they are informed of their language obligations through internal company bulletins, and they thus receive information on an ad hoc but ongoing basis. The employees also have access to language training during working hours provided by the company.

Existence of controls to ensure service is always provided in both official languages

There is no specific official control at Winnipeg Airport to check whether the service to the public is provided in both official languages.

Existence of mechanisms to assess client satisfaction

Air Canada provides travellers with comment cards. These cards are available in both official languages, but they do not include any questions related to official languages. Air Canada is about to develop a charter of client rights, which will clearly define the service standards it is committed to meet. It will be interesting to determine the place of service in both official languages in these service standards.

Use of the media

General advertising is done in both official languages in the majority language newspapers. However, company messages are occasionally published in La Liberté.

Complaints related to official languages

In 2000 Air Canada's Winnipeg operation received three complaints related to official languages. The first concerned the lack of bilingual personnel at the baggage counter. The other two complaints concerned the lack of services in French at a wicket that was nevertheless identified as providing services in both official languages.

6.2.1 Conclusions

The services provided on the telephone at Air Canada are fully in compliance with its language obligations, both for active offer and for the service itself. However, there are shortcomings in the in-person service at the air terminal. The lack of signs indicating that bilingual services can be obtained at the wickets for flights to the west, and the lack of bilingual personnel at the wickets identified as bilingual for flights to the east, mean that travellers do not know that they can obtain services in the preferred official language. In the process of merging with Canadian, Air Canada management in Winnipeg must pay special attention to the language aspect of service to travellers, and must assess the level of client satisfaction.

6.2.2 Recommendations

Following the audit, we recommend that Air Canada:

• maintain check-in counters providing services in both official languages, and ensure that it has a bilingual language capacity at them at all times;
• remind the employees that there must be an active offer of services at the wickets (check-in, tickets, baggage, etc.);
• set up a mechanism to measure the level of satisfaction of clients in the air terminals with the delivery of services in both official languages.

6.3 Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA)

200 Wellington Avenue, Winnipeg Airport
Burolis #: 10226
November 16, 2000

Audit Results

A) Active Offer

Active offer on the telephone outside business hours

There is no telephone number in the Winnipeg telephone directory for the services provided by Canada Customs and Revenue Agency at the airport offices. The telephone number listed in Burolis is no longer in service; callers are referred to 1-800-461-9999 (for service in English) and 1-800-959-2036 (for service in French). Those are the numbers of the Automated Customs Information Service (ACIS). This is a computerized telephone service that automatically answers all calls received and provides general customs information 24 hours a day. This service is provided in both official languages, and the attendants state in both official languages the procedure to follow to obtain information.

Active offer on the telephone during business hours

When a call is made during business hours, it is possible to speak directly to an officer, who speaks in English or in French depending on the number dialed. The Agency's Internet site gives the number 983-6414 (204) for the airport's office, but that number is no longer in service. The Winnipeg Airport Internet site also gives the number 983-6715 (204) for the Agency. There was no active offer in our audit call to that number, but we did obtain bilingual service.

Active offer in person

Non-travellers have access to the Agency's office through waiting room C, on the airport's basement level. There was no one at the reception counter when we visited it. Travellers arriving on international flights can readily identify a wicket where there is a written and visual active offer. The attendant at the wicket identified as bilingual made us an active offer when we visited it; the same thing occurred at the wickets that were not identified as providing bilingual service. We were unable to determine whether this active offer was made to the travelling public, because no international flights were arriving at the time of our audit.

Visibility of the official languages symbol at all times

The official languages symbol is displayed at the reception counter for waiting room C, and at the primary and secondary search rooms.

Postings in both official languages at all times

All messages displayed on the Agency's service window in waiting room C are bilingual. All postings related to Canadian customs in the waiting rooms for travellers arriving on domestic and international flights are fully bilingual. The signage is completely bilingual.

Availability of publications in both official languages

All the documentation is available in both official languages; it is displayed on racks in the waiting rooms reserved for travellers. There is also a number of display racks in the air terminal, providing documentation in both official languages.

At the reception counter for waiting room C we also found documentation on registering boat licenses; the documentation was bilingual, but the handmade sign indicating that this documentation was available contained some spelling errors. On the same table we noted a document concerning the Société franco-manitobaine.

Use of both official languages on the Internet site

The Agency's Internet site ( http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/) is fully bilingual and very user-friendly. It describes the full range of services provided by the Agency. There is no separate site for Winnipeg Airport.

B) Service

Nature of the services provided by the office visited

The office visited provides mainly customs services and programs to travellers and business people arriving in or returning to Canada. The Agency's tasks include implementing the agreement between Canada and the United States concerning our common border, and collecting duty on goods being imported. These services are provided in both official languages.

Existence of bilingual capacity required to provide continuous service in both official languages

The bilingual service is provided by seven inspectors occupying bilingual positions, out of a total of 22 inspectors. The Agency is able to provide bilingual service for all flights arriving between seven o'clock in the morning and midnight. As to service during the night, if no flights are scheduled, there are no bilingual officers on duty; if an unexpected charter flight arrives and there are no bilingual employees on duty, they can call the Emerson office (a border post between Manitoba and North Dakota). Thus the office has made an administrative arrangement.

When the bilingual employees are on holidays or on training, the other bilingual employees must work overtime; this has led to some comments by unilingual employees, who thus have less opportunity to work overtime. Despite these operational problems, there are no employees on language training. The employees have been in their jobs for a number of years, and no hiring is being done.

All the bilingual employees on duty are assigned to primary inspection. At secondary inspection there is a cashier who is not bilingual, and an inspector who is not necessarily bilingual. If there is a need for a bilingual officer, they call on an employee from primary inspection; this can lead to short delays in service.

Presence of work tools required for provision of service in both official languages

There has not been any correspondence in French in recent years, and the employees questioned did not know whether there were any bilingual keyboards; we were told that if the need arose, they would consult the technical staff. Both the fax cover sheets and the business cards are bilingual.

Comparability of the service to the public in both official languages, and availability of administrative arrangements as necessary

The services provided to the public in both official languages are essentially comparable and equal in quality, because they are provided by the same employees, in both official languages. The Agency is able to have bilingual personnel on duty continuously, and it has also made administrative arrangements in case availability of bilingual services should be temporarily compromised.

C) Managers' Responsibilities

Knowledge of requirements regarding service to the public in both official languages

The managers are well aware of their official languages responsibilities.

Existence of controls to ensure service is always provided in both official languages

All the employees have been instructed to make active offers on the telephone and in person, but there are no language monitoring mechanisms. The managers do carry out a form of monitoring, which is limited to checking the waiting time for primary inspection; it should be mentioned that the managers could not check the quality of the language, because they are not bilingual.

Existence of mechanisms to assess client satisfaction

There are no mechanisms to assess client satisfaction.

Meetings with the representatives of the official language minority community

There is no formal mechanism for contact with the official language minority associations.

Use of the media

The Winnipeg office does not use the media, because that is the task of the regional office. However, two years ago the office held a press conference for the electronic and print media, to publicize a new system for identifying missing children. The press conference was in English, but there were French-speaking inspectors to answer questions asked in French.

Complaint related to official languages

The office has not received any complaints in the past two years.

6.3.1 Conclusions

The Agency is fulfilling its obligation to make known the existence of bilingual services in the air terminal very well. However, active offer is lacking at one of the published telephone numbers. Service in person and active offer are provided in both official languages at primary inspection. There seems to be a lack of bilingual personnel at secondary inspection; it might be advisable to study the language designation of the positions to determine whether the Agency is able to provide bilingual service continuously.

6.3.2 Recommendations

Following the audit, we recommend that the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency:

• remind the telephone operators of their language obligations related to active offer;
• check the telephone numbers published on the airport's Internet site and ensure that the services provided at those numbers are bilingual.

6.4 Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)

2000 Wellington Avenue, Winnipeg Airport
Burolis #: 10110
November 17, 2000

Audit Results

A) Active Offer

Active offer on the telephone outside business hours

The Citizenship and Immigration office at Winnipeg Airport does not provide any service by telephone; there is no number in the Winnipeg telephone directory referring directly to the office at the air terminal. There is a number, 1-888-242-2100, for general information; this service is available in both official languages but it is not specific to Winnipeg air terminal. The information in French may come from Montreal, for example.

Active offer on the telephone during business hours

The Winnipeg Airport Internet site indicates that Citizenship and Immigration Canada can be reached by calling 983-8836 (204). An active offer was given when we called, but it is a pre-recorded message, and there is no service as such. The message tells clients to communicate by fax, and not to leave telephone messages. It also states that additional information can be obtained by calling 1-888-242-2100. This is a telemessage system providing service in both official languages. It is possible to speak to an officer between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., and then the services are available in both official languages.

Active offer in person

The Citizenship and Immigration offices are located close to the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency offices; when we visited, there was an active offer of service. The manager we met wore a pin indicating that she was able to provide service in both official languages.

Visibility of the official languages symbol at all times

We also noted that there was an official languages symbol at the reception counter and at the wickets to which travellers referred by the Customs office must report.

Postings in both official languages at all times

The postings and signage are completely bilingual.

Availability of publications in both official languages

All publications used come from headquarters and are available in both official languages. The office does not have any publications as such, but in order to make it easier for visitors to understand, the employees have taken some excerpts from the NAFTA manual. They have simplified the information to make it comprehensible (we were told that the manual was too complicated, and that it was important to simplify it). Because this information is intended mainly for foreign members of NAFTA, this locally created documentation is available only in English. We told the manager that this document should also be available in French. It should be added that the document they wanted to simplify exists in English, French and Spanish versions in the offices of CIC headquarters.

Use of both official languages on the Internet site

The Citizenship and Immigration Canada Internet site (http://www.cic.gc.ca/) is fully bilingual and very user-friendly. It describes the full range of services provided by CIC. There is no specific reference to the office at Winnipeg Airport.

B) Service

Nature of the services provided by the office visited

The office mainly serves U.S. travellers and visitors. It also provides services to Canadians who want to sponsor immigrants, and to persons requesting information on citizenship and dual citizenship, and answers questions about permanent residents. Most of the clients are referred by the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency.

Existence of bilingual capacity required to provide continuous service in both official languages

This office has seven positions, three of them bilingual. The employees work in shifts (two a day); they could not tell us with certainty about the designation of the positions, but the people we spoke to said that they were fully bilingual, and that is what we found as well. There is always a bilingual officer on duty from Monday to Friday. When there is a demand for more officers, the manager's secretary can serve as a substitute. Until January 2, 2001 there were no bilingual employees in the evening, but after that date, the acting manager was to resume her work shift, and it should be possible to have a bilingual employee on duty in the evening.

Presence of work tools required for provision of service in both official languages

According to the manager, the office has never received correspondence in French. However, the office is equipped with computers on which accents can be used. The fax cover sheets and business cards are bilingual.

Comparability of the service to the public in both official languages, and availability of administrative arrangements as necessary

The services provided to the public in both official languages are comparable and equal in quality, because they are provided by the same employees, who have a good knowledge of their duties and long experience in serving the travelling public. If the office is unable to handle the demand for services in French, the substitutes are customs officers or officers from another CIC office located farther west and still open (Calgary or Vancouver, for example). Also, as a last resort the office uses a telephone service to handle the demand.

C) Managers' Responsibilities

Knowledge of requirements regarding service to the public in both official languages

The acting manager we met was well aware of the office's language obligations, but she explained that there was no active offer at the wicket: the language used is the language in which the client completes the customs declaration. The customs officers report as needed any clients who speak French.

We must mention that the office has an agreement with the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires to have them detain people who have been denied immigration, for a short period. If the detention period is longer, there is another agreement with the provincial government, which provides a detention centre downtown. In the manager's opinion, there is no clause related to the two official languages in those agreements.

Existence of controls to ensure service is always provided in both official languages

There are no controls to ensure that the service is always provided in both official languages, except for the supervision of the employees. The manager considers that the lack of complaints is a form of control.

Existence of mechanisms to assess client satisfaction

There is no mechanism to assess client satisfaction.

Meetings with the representatives of the official language minority community

Concerning the relations with the minority communities, if there was contact, it was a personal initiative by the former manager, and there is no formal arrangement to that effect.

Use of the media

The airport office does not use the media; if a need arose, the regional office would look after it, not the air terminal personnel.

Complaints relating to official languages

There has been no complaint relating to official languages in the past two years.

6.4.1 Conclusions

Active offer on the telephone and in person are excellent, and the language capacity for providing services in both languages is adequate. The only shortcoming is that a popularization document on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is published in one language only.

6.4.2 Recommendations

Following the audit, we recommend that Citizenship and Immigration Canada:

• have the NAFTA popularization document translated.

6.5 Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)

Winnipeg Airport
Burolis #: 2845
November 16, 2000

Audit Results

A) Active Offer

Active offer on the telephone outside business hours

There is no telephone number for the office at the airport. The Winnipeg Airport Canadian Food Inspection Agency office is a satellite office of another small office of 11 employees (where one employee is bilingual) whose service area is the eastern part of the province, and which, according to the employees we met, does not have any language obligation. As for the Agency, we called two telephone numbers found in the city telephone directory; at the first number, 983-2200 (204), which is for general information, there are no bilingual services; at the second number, 983- 2219 (204), which is for health of animals, the greeting is "Hello, bonjour", but the rest of the pre-recorded message is available only in English, asking callers in English to leave their telephone numbers so that the calls can be returned.

Active offer on the telephone during business hours

Although there is no telephone number for the office at the airport, when commodities are seized the client is given a bilingual receipt on which the officer writes a telephone number the client must call (983-2219 (204)) to retrieve the goods. The two people we met told us themselves that there is no bilingual greeting at this telephone number, and a client who wants service in French is asked to wait while the call is transferred to the regional office, where the call can be answered in French if the office is open.

Active offer in person

There is no reception office; under an agreement with the CCRA, the customs officers confiscate questionable objects coming from the United States, place them in a refrigerator and call the Canadian Food Inspection Agency representatives to come and inspect them.

Visibility of the official languages symbol at all times

There is no official languages symbol.

Postings in both official languages at all times

There are no postings.

Availability of publications in both official languages

There were no publications in French at the time of our visit.

Use of both official languages on the Internet site

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency Internet site (http://www.inspection.gc.ca/) is fully bilingual and very user-friendly. It describes the full range of services provided. There is no specific Internet site for the office at Winnipeg Airport.

B) Service

Nature of the services provided in both official languages

Four employees are assigned to the airport, including a veterinarian. These employees are not permanently stationed at the airport; they come at the request of the customs officers. The Agency has signed an agreement with Canada Customs and Revenue Agency for all goods arriving from the United States. The inspectors meet the owners of the contested commodities, collect the fine or examine newly arrived animals.

Existence of bilingual capacity required to provide continuous service in both official languages

The four employees assigned to the airport do not occupy bilingual positions, and their knowledge of French is limited to "un moment" and "Bonjour".

Presence of work tools required for provision of service in both official languages

The information sheets supplied by headquarters and the receipts given to the public following a seizure are bilingual. If the need arose to correspond with a client in French, they would use the translation service.

Comparability of the service in both official languages, and availability of administrative arrangements as necessary

The services provided to the public in both official languages are neither comparable nor equal in quality. Services in French are unavailable, because there is no bilingual employee on duty.

C) Managers' Responsibilities

Knowledge of requirements regarding service to the public in both official languages

There seems to be a misunderstanding of the language obligations. They consider that since the office's only obligation is at the airport, it is quite normal to provide services in English only, and to use administrative arrangements if the need arises. They are aware that they must say "un moment s'il vous plaît" when a telephone request is received, but that is all.

Existence of controls to ensure service is always provided in both official languages

There are no controls.

Existence of mechanisms to assess client satisfaction

There are no assessment mechanisms.

Meetings with the representatives of the official language minority community

The airport office has no contact with the official language minority associations.

Use of the media

There is no use of the media.

Complaint related to official languages

It is as a result of complaints related to official languages that the office no longer has telephone service: because they were unable to ensure that the pre-recorded messages were always in both official languages, they decided to solve the problem by no longer providing telephone service.

6.5.1 Conclusions

The Agency office that provides the services at the airport is a small satellite office; there is no position designated bilingual at the airport. Services in French are available only through administrative arrangements. In general, there is no active offer on the telephone, and the messages are unilingual English. The receipts issued to travellers give a telephone number at which services in French are not available.

6.5.2 Recommendations

Following the audit, we recommend that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency:

• take measures so that the receipts issued to travellers bear a telephone number at which an active offer and services in both official languages can be provided;
• revise the language designation of the positions of the inspectors working at the airport;
• make arrangements with other Agency offices to provide at least one bilingual substitute for the inspectors on duty at the airport, to ensure that it has capacity in both official languages.

7. Summary of recommendations

Following the audit, we recommend that the airport authority:

• set up a mechanism to monitor interior and exterior postings at the air terminal and the postings on the self-service equipment;
• set up a monitoring mechanism to ensure that third parties under contract respect the language clauses in their contracts, and establish compliance measures as necessary;
• revise its contract with the hotel and ensure that the language obligations are respected;
• regularly remind the airlines of their language obligations;
• ensure that all new agreements with the police forces include an explicit language clause.

Following the audit, we recommend that Air Canada:

• maintain check-in counters providing services in both official languages, and ensure that it has a bilingual language capacity at them at all times;
• remind the employees that there must be an active offer of services at the wickets (check-in, tickets, baggage, etc.);
• set up a mechanism to measure the level of satisfaction of clients in the air terminals with the delivery of services in both official languages.

Following the audit, we recommend that the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency:

• remind the telephone operators of their language obligations related to active offer;
• check the telephone numbers published on the airport's Internet site and ensure that the services provided at those numbers are bilingual.

Following the audit, we recommend that Citizenship and Immigration Canada:

• have the NAFTA popularization document translated.

Following the audit, we recommend that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency:

• take measures so that the receipts issued to travellers bear a telephone number at which an active offer and services in both official languages can be provided;
• revise the language designation of the positions of the inspectors working at the airport;
• make arrangements with other Agency offices to provide at least one bilingual substitute for the inspectors on duty at the airport, to ensure that it has capacity in both official languages.

8. Recommendations to the Treasury Board Secretariat

This audit of service to the public in both official languages has shown us that there are difficulties understanding and interpreting certain sections of the Official Languages Act and its Regulations. To rectify the situation, it is recommended that the Treasury Board Secretariat:

1. Prepare, and send to the airport authorities, guidelines on their language obligations, including:

• a clear definition of the terms travelling public (voyageurs) (section 23 of the Act), emergency services, first aid services, clinic and health care unit (paragraph 8(a) of the Regulations); and restaurant (section 12 of the Regulations);

• encouragement to third parties under contract to provide their services in both official languages, as those services are defined in section 12 of the Regulations (restaurants, cafeterias, car rental and travel insurance agencies, ground transportation dispatch services, foreign exchange offices, self-service equipment, duty free shops, hotels and other services provided by airlines);

• encouragement to include, in the contracts with third parties providing services under contract, language clauses that are detailed enough to be operational;

• reference to the effect that administrative arrangements are temporary measures, including those related to public health, safety and security services (paragraph 24 (1) a) and section 25 of the Act);

• the use of both official languages on signs;

• specific details on the language obligations related to section 25 of the Act, mainly concerning the use of volunteers who provide greeting services on behalf of the airport authority;

2. Encourage, as appropriate, the airport authorities to set up monitoring mechanisms related to the implementation of the language clauses;

3. Implement these recommendations by December 31, 2001;

4. Follow up on their implementation by the airport authorities by March 31, 2002.

Appendix

Association consulted in the audit

• Société franco-manitobaine, Suite 212 383 Provencher Boulevard, St-Boniface, Manitoba