Bilingual Service at Canada's Airports: A Traveller's Odyssey

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Aug. 8, 2012) - Commissioner of Official Languages Graham Fraser announced today that he will conduct observations at major airports across the country to help determine how readily Canadians can be served in both official languages.

Over 1,500 anonymous observations will be conducted in the fall of 2012 at bilingual points of service at eight major airports in Halifax, Québec City, Montréal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver. All airports that serve more than one million passengers per year are required to provide services in both English and French.

The project will include observations of Air Canada's services on the ground and in the air on flights designated as bilingual, as well as the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority's third-party services in security areas.

The visual active offer (bilingual signage), the in-person active offer (bilingual greeting) and the availability of service in the minority official language will all be examined as part of this exercise.

The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages is committed to a fair, open and transparent tendering process, which will be conducted through the Government Electronic Tendering Service (MERX).