Air Canada’s chief executive, Michael Rousseau, announced Monday he will retire later this year, following widespread criticism over an English-only message of condolence issued after a deadly plane crash this month in New York.
The airline, headquartered in French-speaking Montreal, confirmed Rousseau informed the board he would step down by the end of the third quarter.
The controversy stemmed from his message following a crash at LaGuardia Airport, which killed two pilots, Antoine Forest, a French-speaking Quebecer, and Mackenzie Gunther.
Their Air Canada Jazz flight from Montreal collided with a fire truck on the runway shortly after landing.
During Rousseau’s four-minute condolence video, only two French words were spoken: “bonjour” and “merci.”
Canada is an officially bilingual nation, and Prime Minister Mark Carney stated the English-only message demonstrated a lack of compassion and judgment.
Quebec’s premier and other officials had called for Rousseau’s resignation. The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages received hundreds of complaints regarding the video, which featured English remarks with French subtitles.
“I am deeply saddened that my inability to speak French has diverted attention from the profound grief of the families and the great resilience of Air Canada’s employees, who have demonstrated outstanding professionalism despite the events of the past few days,” Rousseau said in a statement after the backlash.
“Despite many lessons over several years, unfortunately, I am still unable to express myself adequately in French. I sincerely apologize for this, but I am continuing my efforts to improve.”
Quebec Premier François Legault highlighted that Rousseau had pledged to learn French upon his appointment in February 2021.
Forest, one of the two pilots killed in the crash at LaGuardia Airport, was a French-speaking Quebecer.
The linguistic identity of Quebec, where approximately 80% of the population speaks French, has been a contentious issue since the British takeover in the 1760s.
