The signs in question mostly addressed health, safety and security issues.
An Ottawa man has lost a bid to win financial compensation from the federal government for its failure to ensure that Parliament Hill construction signs were in both official languages.
Michel Thibodeau, a language rights activist, sought $1,500 for each of the 13 offending signs and a formal letter of apology from Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC).
But Federal Court Judge Peter Pamel recently rejected Thibodeau’s demands for redress, saying the circumstances under which he discovered the signs disqualified him.
“I exercise my discretion to not award him any of the remedies that he seeks,” Pamel said.
The circumstances under which Thibodeau discovered the offending signs are now under a court-ordered confidentiality order. It will remain in place until appeals in the case have been exhausted.
All descriptions of how Thibodeau uncovered the signs are blacked out in Pamel’s decision.
Thibodeau, a former IT support specialist with federal government, has been a litigious and frequently successful language warrior for more than two decades.
He has repeatedly pursued compensation in Federal Court for violations of the Official Languages Act, which guarantees Canadians the right to government services in the official language of their choice, French or English.
In 2019, Thibodeau filed 13 complaints with the official language commissioner about predominantly English signs on the massive restoration and modernization project in the Parliamentary precinct.
Evening Update
Thibodeau somehow discovered 13 problematic signs, including stickers reading, “Caution automatic door, activate switch to operate;” a yellow ribbon featuring the word “Caution” without a French equivalent; and safety posters with the unilingual English phrase, “Danger due to work overhead.”
The signs in question mostly addressed health, safety and security issues.
PSPC had agreements with contractors to provide signage in both official languages, but federal officials said it was difficult to monitor all of the signs used at any one time given the size of the work site.
In a July 2021 report, the language commissioner concluded that Thibodeau’s complaints were all well-founded and that PSPC had breached its language obligations under the Official Languages Act.
Based on that finding, Thibodeau filed an application in Federal Court to gain an apology and financial redress. In an affidavit, Thibodeau said that, when he’s confronted with unilingual English signs, such as those on Parliament Hill, it causes him “frustration, stress, and loss of enjoyment of life.”
In court, federal lawyers argued Thibodeau should not be compensated because of the way in which he discovered the breaches.
The judge adopted that argument and concluded that any damage award would be “inappropriate or unjust.”
Last year, Thibodeau was successful in several cases he filed against Canadian airport authorities for language violations.
In November, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld a decision to award him $5,000 in damages for the language failings of the St. John’s International Airport Authority. While doing online research, Thibodeau discovered the airport authority had an exclusively English presence on social media, published its press releases only in English and issued its annual report only in English.
In February, the Federal Court ordered the Greater Toronto Airports Authority to pay Thibodeau $3,500 for violating his language rights by issuing an English-only media release and for English-only signage at an airport ATM and a children’s fun zone.
In that decision, Judge Peter Pamel praised Thibodeau for his language activism and likened his efforts to those of a federal government whistleblower.
“Even though Mr. Thibodeau may be considered a gadfly by some, the proverbial thorn in the side of airport authorities, the protection of language rights in Canada nonetheless requires continuous vigilance,” Pamel said. “I hope that one day we will no longer need the Michel Thibodeaus of this world, but, until then, passionate advocates for language rights have a place in our society.”
For his part, Thibodeau has said he just wants federal institutions to conform with the law.
He has been honoured by the French-language rights group, Impératif français, for his activism, which began in 2000, when he tried to order a 7Up from a flight attendant on an Air Ontario flight from Montreal to Ottawa. He was escorted off the plane by police after it landed.
“That started the whole thing for me,” he once told the Ottawa Citizen.
He filed suit over the incident in Federal Court. A judge ordered Air Canada to pay him $5,375 and to issue a formal apology.
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