Image via flickr / Patcard

How much is a 7Up worth to you? To one francophone Canadian, $525,000 is the magic number. Michel Thibodeau, who filed a suit against Air Canada after being denied service in French on a flight from Montreal to Ottawa in 2000 and was awarded a formal apology and over $5,000 in damage, is now appealing a decision by the federal court over eight further complaints about the Canadian Airline’s French service.

Thibodeau and his wife Lynda brought their complaints to the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages and were originally awarded $12,000 in federal court for damages incurred when they did not receive service in French over a number of trips taken by the couple on Air Canada during the first half of 2009. However, the Supreme Court overruled this decision, reducing the amount that the couple was to receive. Now the Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal to its decision. 

The Official Language Act states that Air Canada is responsible for providing service in both official langauges “where there is significant demand for those services in the minority language and where it is warranted by the nature of the office or facility.”

[via Global News]

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Eva Voinigescu is an intern at Toronto Standard. Follow her on Twitter @EvaVoinigescu.

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