Unilingual commissionaire's posting was known to government, document shows

New documents about the Wayne Grant case suggest the provincial government signed off on the decision to post a unilingual commissionaire at its main office building back in May.

• Commissionaire Corps clarifies Wayne Grant's job status
• Languages commissioner stands her grand in security case

The heavilyredacted June 16 email from a manager with the Corps of Commissionaires says the organization could have supplied "bilingual pers[onnel] if asked."

Peter Kramers, the chief executive officerfor the Corps in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, wouldn't answer questions about the precise meaning of the email.

But he told CBC News the government was aware a unilingual commissionaire would be filling in.

"Normal procedures were followed and the client was consulted before Commissionaire Grant was temporarily assigned to the Chancery reception desk," Kramers said this week.

Bilingual commissionaires were available

Kramers said last week no bilingual commissionaire was available to fill in at Chancery Place last May.

But in the June 16 email, another manager with the Corps, whose name is redacted, writes: "We do have a limited number of bilingual pers[onnel] however we could have supplied if asked."

The email was sent to Gary Lynch, the executive director of facilities management with the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. Other names mentioned in the email were redacted.

The email adds: "I have instructed [name redacted] that this is not to happen at any time in the future."

The package of emails from May and June was obtained by a member of the public in September through the Right to Information Act, and was provided to CBC News last week.

The June 16 email adds more detail to the narrative of precisely what happened in May.

Grant, whose direct employer is the Corps of Commissionaires, normally worked at the Centennial Building, where he had less interaction with the public.

But he was assigned to fill in for a few days across the street at the more heavily-trafficked Chancery Place, the main government building that houses the office of Premier Brian Gallant.

Kramers said in an interview last week that the Corps understands and accepts that because it is supplying a service to the government, it is obligated to comply with the Official Languages Act.

Languages commissioner encountered Grant

Official Languages commissioner Katherine d'Entremont had a meeting at Chancery Place May 6 and Grant wasn't able to speak to her in French.

He was prepared to get a bilingual colleague to help, but felt he didn't need to when d'Entremont switched to English.

She later launched an investigation of how government security services comply with the requirement to be bilingual.

D'Entremont is expected to be questioned about the case when she and other legislative officers appear before a committee of MLAs on Thursday afternoon.

The question of who was responsible for Grant's posting was the subject of contradictory signals from Liberal politicians last week.

Cabinet minister Donald Arseneault refused to talk in detail about what led to Grant's posting at Chancery but called his loss of hours "unfortunate." He added, "I'm here to correct it."

The next day, however, Premier Brian Gallant pointed the finger at the Corps of Commissionaires.

"It's a third party that's been contracted to do the human resources activities for that," he said. "It's not government and I think it's important to point that out."

No one from the government was made available to comment on the June 16 email.

Providing bilingual service difficult

Another email in the Right to Information package shows how difficult it can be for the province and the commissionaires to provide bilingual service.

On May 29, the day after the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure received d'Entremont's notice that she was investigating, officials were again trying to sort out schedules to ensure as much bilingual service as possible.

If the unnamed unilingual commissionaire filling in at the Centennial Building needed "assistance for a French customer," the email says, they were to call a bilingual colleague for help, exactly what Wayne Grant has said he was prepared to do with d'Entremont.

"This arrangement does not allow for bilingual coverage at the front desk of Chancery from 5-6 p.m. or from 4-8 p.m. at Centennial," the email says.