Good Morning All:
It would seem (according to the Ottawa Sun) Mr Thibodeau went after O.C. Transpo because the bus drivers were not bi-lingual and advertising signs on the bus were not bi-lingual as well.
It is alleged he is a federal civil servant who lives in Ontario! I wonder if his choice of domicile has to do with income tax savings as opposed to language?
But I digress
Article from the Ottawa Sun below:
French fly guy a frequent suer
Michel Thibodeau poses for a photo in Ottawa July 14 2011. A Federal Court judge fined Air Canada $12,000 on Wednesday after Michel Thibodeau accused the airline of failing to serve him in French during several flights he took in 2009.
Credits: ANDRE FORGET/QMI AGENCY
JESSICA MURPHY & KELLY ROCHE
OTTAWA - A French-language rights activist is giving a Gallic shrug to criticism he took his crusade too far by suing Air Canada because of a lack of bilingual service.
"It's a rights issue," Michel Thibodeau said Thursday, a day after a Federal Court judge ruled the airline must pay him $12,000 plus court fees because it failed to provide French service on a series of flights Thibodeau and his wife took in 2009.
In one case, he requested a 7Up in French and was served a Sprite.
"It is my right that is not being respected," he said.
The case has sparked an online and media discussion on whether enforced national bilingualism is good government policy.
According to a 2009 Fraser Institute report, the federal government and other bodies subject to the Official Languages Act spend about $1.8 billion a year on bilingualism requirements.
The 2006 census shows French is the mother tongue of some seven million Canadians.
It's not the first time Thibodeau, who is fluently bilingual, has taken Air Canada to court -- he sued the airline in 2002 over the same issue and won.
This time, he asked for an additional $500,000 in punitive damages -- to make a point and not for the cash, he says.
"There comes a point where a big corporation like this, when they violate rights, year after year, hundreds of times, thousands of times, you've got to do something for it to change," he said.
Thibodeau also said he might not have taken Air Canada to court if the airline hadn't acted in what he described as a belligerent manner when he requested service in French.
In 2008, the federal official languages office gave the airline a D grade for its bilingualism, with just 41% of employees in customer service positions speaking both French and English. The office will release a followup audit of the company in September.
NDP MP Claude Gravelle said the airline was one of the worst offenders that he saw hauled before Parliament's official languages committee.
"If you break the law, you have to pay," he said.
As former Crown corporations, both Air Canada and Via Rail must comply with the Official Languages Act.
TOOK ON OTTAWA TRANSIT SYSTEM
The airport isn't the only place Michel Thibodeau expects to receive service in French.
The city of Ottawa's bilingualism policy was scrutinized in January 2008 after the east-end Ottawa resident filed an official languages complaint.
According to Thibodeau - who often rode the bus - OC Transpo bus drivers were only greeting passengers with "good morning," not "bonjour." They also weren't calling out stops in French, he said, and that was offensive.
"When I take the bus, I can't get the same service in French," he told QMI Agency.
"When bus drivers speak to passengers, it's never in French."
Thibodeau works for the federal government as an IT support specialist.
He took a stance, calling for English-speaking drivers to get language training, even saying all new hires should be bilingual.
Thibodeau also criticized the English destination signs on the front of buses, asking for French language accents to be added.
"This is my city and my country and two peoples founded this country - the English and the French - and we have decided to live with each other," Thibodeau said at the time.
Thibodeau wasn't awarded money in any of these cases.
Since last April, an automated Next Stop Announcement System is on all city buses.
The bilingual voice system calls out upcoming stops and also displays street names in both languages.