Air Canada fined for no French

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I've never experienced any hostilities for speaking English in Montreal and most people I dealt with could speak enough of it for us to do business. Hell, a few years back, just by mentioning to some of my buddies that I would have liked to have a certain herbal remedy, a fine young gentleman on the street overheard my statement (in English) and just happened to be in the retail business for that exact same remedy.. Cops wave back when you wave at'em, bouncers return your contraband on the way out of the clubs.. All in all, Montreal kicks *** :cool:
 
FiReSTaRT said:
I've never experienced any hostilities for speaking English in Montreal and most people I dealt with could speak enough of it for us to do business. Hell, a few years back, just by mentioning to some of my buddies that I would have liked to have a certain herbal remedy, a fine young gentleman on the street overheard my statement (in English) and just happened to be in the retail business for that exact same remedy.. Cops wave back when you wave at'em, bouncers return your contraband on the way out of the clubs.. All in all, Montreal kicks *** :cool:
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LOL@Montreal bouncers "Dude you cant bring this in, go over there and smoke it"
 
Ok, to everybody complaining about Quebecer not speaking to you in English you have to learn a few thing here, about travelling:
1- Can you speak their language? No, so you CAN'T complain then if they can't speak your language!
2- It's an insult to go to somebody and not to talk a few of THEIR word.
3- Learn a few word of the country/state where you are.

Stop having your ****ing english (Canada and USA) mentality of "I'm English, everybody else in the world SHALL speak English". Yes it's the international language, but it doesn't mean all the 7 billion people around the world will respect you....specially if you can't talk to them in their mother tongue. Just this is enough to make them happy: "Hi, I can't speak *whatever language* do you speak *whatever language*
I can totally speak in English (with a bad accent and the same way I write lol)...but if somebody come by me, and start to speak in THEIR native language first, I'll tell them to go **** them self and I will leave the place.
BTW to those complainer, if somebody come here and start to talk french to you, what are you going to do? Probably laugh at them and leave.....

Now back to the original post. Canada is bilingual, which mean all the services offered by the Federal HAS to be bilingual, English AND French. when I used Swiss Air to go to Spain they spoke 4 languages on the plane! Montréal to Zurich they spoke English, French, German. Then from Zurich to Spain they spoke Spanish, French, English, German. When I took the plane Madrid to Roma and Madrid to Geneva, they where always speaking 3 languages minimum. Why Air Canada can't respect our two official language? We are not like switzerland which has 4 official language, we only have 2!
 
vince492 said:
Ok, to everybody complaining about Quebecer not speaking to you in English you have to learn a few thing here, about travelling:
1- Can you speak their language? No, so you CAN'T complain then if they can't speak your language!
2- It's an insult to go to somebody and not to talk a few of THEIR word.
3- Learn a few word of the country/state where you are.

Stop having your ****ing english (Canada and USA) mentality of "I'm English, everybody else in the world SHALL speak English". Yes it's the international language, but it doesn't mean all the 7 billion people around the world will respect you....specially if you can't talk to them in their mother tongue. Just this is enough to make them happy: "Hi, I can't speak *whatever language* do you speak *whatever language*
I can totally speak in English (with a bad accent and the same way I write lol)...but if somebody come by me, and start to speak in THEIR native language first, I'll tell them to go **** them self and I will leave the place.
BTW to those complainer, if somebody come here and start to talk french to you, what are you going to do? Probably laugh at them and leave.....

Now back to the original post. Canada is bilingual, which mean all the services offered by the Federal HAS to be bilingual, English AND French. when I used Swiss Air to go to Spain they spoke 4 languages on the plane! Montréal to Zurich they spoke English, French, German. Then from Zurich to Spain they spoke Spanish, French, English, German. When I took the plane Madrid to Roma and Madrid to Geneva, they where always speaking 3 languages minimum. Why Air Canada can't respect our two official language? We are not like switzerland which has 4 official language, we only have 2!
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English is the main language of Canada, anyone in a business there should know English. I just wish they would separate, so they can become a 3rd world country, so all of Canada can laugh at them.
 
jeero said:
My entire family is born, raised and lives in Québec, except for my grandfather, he was born in Scotland.
They all speak french and english. For you to say "no one speaks english" is pretty rash.

Were you in or near the big cities, or in the countryside?

Air Canada is a country-wide service. It should always have someone handy that is bilingual since Canada has 2 official languages to serve.
I am in no way saying everyone in the company needs to learn french, but making sure there are at least 1 or 2 people around at all times to accomodate would be a good way to avoid situations such as the one linked in OP.

I wonder what would happen if I tried to speak to a police officer in french. I could totally pull it off since my full name on my drivers license is 100% french (dual composed names lmao). Also I wear a helmet with "100% Québecois" written on it haha.
Would he/she have to call the station and have a bilingual officer come to the scene? Or send a translator?
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English and Chinese?
 
So my question, what businesses in Quebec can we sue for not speaking English. Basically do what this guy did and just keep trying until we hit the jackpot. After-all, we live in a common law society and he has set precedence! Oops sorry Quebec uses the Napoleonic Code... :)
 
Having dealt with a few contractors in Quebec, I'm actually impressed by how much english most of them speak. On that note, I've never had any issues speaking my worthless english in Montreal, or even in Quebec City. But then again I am devilishly handsome. Maybe you guys are just ugly. :agave:
 
Flashmonkey said:
But then again I am devilishly handsome. Maybe you guys are just ugly. :agave:
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Posts pics and we'll be the judge of that.
No up close shots tho, I don't wanna be freaked out
 
HDRod said:
The two opportunists reported in the linked article provide a fantastic argument for abolishing language laws in this country. The guy who got a Sprite instead of a 7-up (OMFG CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?!?!? I would die) seems to speak English well enough to ask for a soda. Suing over being barely inconvenienced isn't exactly a "Canadian" trait. While these two people are despicable, the judge is just as much at fault, and should slap him/herself for ruling in their favour. The whole story makes me sick.
d
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7-Up and Sprite are not english words, they are product names. If he got Sprite instead of 7-Up he needs to go to the bottler of the product he ordered and file a complaint that someone is infringing on the bottlers trademark. Ever notice when you order a coke in Pizza-Hut the server will say "Pepsi ok?". That is because coke has filed complaints (as has Pepsi) against establishments for viotating trademark laws. Nothing to do with french/english at all.
I wonder if he also ****** at Dodge for not calling their car company "Mouvement de Côté"...
 
jeero said:
Try again.
Hint: people who actually fought for this country along with the english.
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Hey, the Chinese helped built the TransCanada Railway.
Tread carefully
 
I was in Montreal to present at a conference a few years ago. Of course I also went shopping there, and while everyone at the shops approached me speaking in French, I would apologize for not being able to speak the language and everyone was perfectly fine with me. No rudeness. They just switched over to English. The same happened last fall driving across from NL to ON. I met a couple people who didn't know English, but still, no one was rude to me at all. They all kind of gave me a sympathetic look.

I loved my visit to Montreal. Fantastic city. Beautiful, full of culture, great food, awesome art district... I could go on. For those folks who have had a couple bad experiences that left a bitter taste in their mouths, just remember how terrible we can equally be to people who don't know English. It's intimidating to not know a language and try to communicate in a place you've never been to before. No excuse for anyone to be rude, but something to think about.

As for the guy suing AC, I agree with the poster who said he should be suing for $1 and make it a matter of principle rather than profit. Suing for that chunk of change sends the opposite message in what his objectives are.
 
If I run a stop in quebec can I use the "its not in English" excuse? If I Lost my 1 million dollar business deal cause I took the "ouest" exit and not the "sud" exit, causing me to be late, can I sue the city for not having them in English?

Cul de sac.... Is that a refreshing place for your balls?
 
natlat said:
If I run a stop in quebec can I use the "its not in English" excuse? If I Lost my 1 million dollar business deal cause I took the "ouest" exit and not the "sud" exit, causing me to be late, can I sue the city for not having them in English?

Cul de sac.... Is that a refreshing place for your balls?
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I may be wrong here, but Quebec is a province, just like Ontario. Every sign is not in French/English is it? That's because we are not a bilingual province. The only french you should see on signs here are on federal roadways and federal stuff, not provincial. I believe that New Brunswick is the only official bilingual province, hence, every sign is in both.

So no, you could not sue the province of Quebec.

I drove through Quebec twice going to New Brunswick and I never had a bad experience. The only issue I had was buying a pack of cigarettes at a gas station. I went in and asked for a pack of large Players Light, but he didn't understand me. I didn't get mad and we both were calm and played the, "over, over, down, down, over, THERE" while he pointed and I motioned. lol
 
RockerGuy said:
Hey, the Chinese helped built the TransCanada Railway.
Tread carefully
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In the 1880's we imported 15,000 of them to do the labor. Sure, there were many issues that the chinese workers had to endure (mostly racial and horrible work conditions), and it must of been a real tough time for them, and without their hard work the trans-canadian dream would not have been accomplished. But I don't think that's a feat large enough to make their language official in a nation that has had its own hardships hundreds of years prior to the chinese worker importation.

See, we paid them to come here and do this. They didn't fight for our independance, we already had it since 1867.

If they were to have come here and offer us a huge railway system in exchange for full immigration rights (there were laws in BC to prevent massive chinese immigration), that'd be a whole different story but it would still be up for debate.
 
imnothng said:
I didn't get mad and we both were calm and played the, "over, over, down, down, over, THERE" while he pointed and I motioned. lol
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That's the universal language, works everywhere in the world. :D
 
I speak french fluently...only it's french french as I have worked in France for a total of 4 years or so. Funny thing is they can understand me totally....but for most of the Quebecois when they talk to me I get about 60%. This also carries over when I was in France...I figured I'd be the most hated person in the place being English n'all...but no, they reserved that particular spot for the quebecois gentleman. All I got was the occasional "bonjour Monsieur Hooligan" or an enquiry about mad cow disease, he got people shrugging their shoulders at him when he talked or they straight up just called him a prick.
 
..oh, and as for official languages...I've seen stats that by population in Canada, in the not too distant future the second official language should be chinese.

Finally my take on the news item: The guy was a bilingual opportunistic **** disturbing money grubbing *********. There's making a point, then there's enriching yourself at the expense of others. These pointless legal actions just drive up prices for the rest of us and enforce the opinion that the legal establishment is just there to serve ***** like this one. He could have easily asked for the drink in english but chose not to...it was a drink...not a ****ing defibrilator and even if it was I bet there would have been a passenger nearby speaking french and I also bet he would have used english then too.
 
jc100 said:
I speak french fluently...only it's french french as I have worked in France for a total of 4 years or so. Funny thing is they can understand me totally....but for most of the Quebecois when they talk to me I get about 60%. This also carries over when I was in France...I figured I'd be the most hated person in the place being English n'all...but no, they reserved that particular spot for the quebecois gentleman. All I got was the occasional "bonjour Monsieur Hooligan" or an enquiry about mad cow disease, he got people shrugging their shoulders at him when he talked or they straight up just called him a prick.
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I know what you mean.

Every once in a while I have to speak french to some people from France over the phone.
I have a hard time understanding some things they say sometimes, and I am sure it's both ways. :p
 
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