Question Period Note: Official languages and the Canadian National

According to a media article, some fifty customer service positions at Canadian National may be relocated to Western Canada from Quebec.

• Canadian National, like all federal institutions, is subject to the Official Languages Act and must respect its obligations in this regard at all times.
• The modernized Act includes a set of enhanced legislative proposals that promote the compliance of federal institutions, including Canadian National, in offering fully bilingual services to its customers.
• Canadian National, by taking positive measures, must mitigate the direct negative impacts that their structuring decisions could have on the commitments set out in the modernized Act.

• According to a media report published on October 2, 2023, some 50 customer service positions at Canadian National (CN) are likely to be relocated to Western Canada. This, four years after relocating a control center from Montreal to Edmonton.
• On June 20, 2023, the Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada’s Official Languages (short title of Bill
C-13) received Royal Assent. Among other things, the Act sets out strengthened provisions for communications with and services to the travelling public, for language of work, and for the promotion of the equality of status and use of English and French.
o However, there is no provision for boards of directors of Crown corporations or former Crown corporations, like CN.
• On May 16, 2023, CN had announced its voluntary registration with the Office québécois de la langue française in accordance with the Charter of the French Language. CN's President and CEO, Tracy Robinson, explained the decision is in keeping with the company's history of being headquartered in Montreal for over a century.
• On May 9, 2022, the former Minister of Transport, had appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages, following media reports that the board of directors of the CN was made up entirely of unilingual Anglophones. Before the committee, the Minister affirmed that the absence of French-speaking administrators on CN's board of directors is completely unacceptable: "I think one's ability to speak official languages, French or English, should be part of the skills that any board of directors or any corporation is looking for. It is really important that CN have adequate representation, not only adequate francophone representation, but representation from Quebec." he said.
• While a senior French-speaking executive at the company said he is not aware of any language incidents within the company, the press has revealed that Teamsters union leaders, who represent locomotive engineers, conductors and yardmasters, had sent a letter on April 16, 2020 to the then president and CEO, Jean-Jacques Ruest, alleging difficulties and even "impossibilities" for some members to communicate in French. A second letter was sent seven months later because there appeared to be no progress. The same union leaders sent a letter to the new president since January 2022, Tracy Robinson, who does not speak French.
• In the face of media attention, in April 2022, CN had announced that the situation will be corrected "in the next year", after the planned departure of two board members. Indeed, two of the directors currently serving on the board will complete their terms "in the coming months", offering CN the opportunity to correct the situation. The search for qualified French-speaking members for the board of directors has already been launched.
• As far back as 2015, in his annual report to Parliament, the Commissioner of Official Languages concluded that CN's organizational structure did not promote the effective use of both official languages and could discourage employees from exercising their right to use French as a language of work.
o The Commissioner agreed with Jean-Raymond Audet, a former CN employee, who filed a complaint in 2012 against CN's rail transportation service, stating that the Northern Ontario superintendent, his immediate superior, did not meet the language requirements of his position.
• CN or Canadian National Railway Company is one of Canada's two largest railroads and specializes in the transportation of freight. Under the CN Commercialization Act, this carrier is required to implement the Official Languages Act.
• In fact, all federal institutions are subject to the Official Languages Act. In particular, the obligations regarding communications with and services to the public in both official languages apply to some of them, according to the criteria set out in the Official Languages (Communications with and Services to the Public) Regulations 17 (e.g., significant demand and nature of the office). For example, some former Crown corporations - including Air Canada, Canadian National and NAV CANADA - also have obligations under the OLA, and these linguistic obligations are set out in their respective enabling legislation.
• The press also highlighted CN's anecdotal role in the passage of the Official Languages Act. In November 1962, when asked by a federal parliamentary commission on railroads to explain why there were no Francophones among the 17 vice-presidents of the Crown corporation, CN president Donald Gordon replied that "French Canadians" were not qualified to fill senior management positions in the company. In Quebec, this was met with anger and protests, especially since CN was based in Montreal. This controversy was the impetus for the Laurendeau-Dunton Commission whose final report would lead to the first Official Languages Act in 1969.

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