SUMMARY
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Major advances in official languages have been made in times of strong leadership, and for this reason the Commissioner of Official Languages, Graham Fraser, has chosen to base his report on this theme this year.
The Commissioner’s analysis over the past year shows that the implementation of the Official Languages Act has reached a plateau and that the federal government as a whole is still having difficulty resolving systemic problems. The Commissioner notes that implementation of several parts of the Act is incomplete, and the performance of certain institutions in terms of language of work has even deteriorated. In his opinion, the implementation of the Act is still largely incomplete, and often prone to setbacks.
The Commissioner calls for stronger and more effective leadership from federal institutions, and encourages them to adopt more results-based approaches. The Commissioner also proposes new ways of helping institutions achieve the best results possible. He asks them to pay special attention to the creation of a work environment that is conducive to the use of both official languages. In addition, he recommends that senior managers in federal institutions immediately take concrete measures in this respect.
The Commissioner also notes that many federal institutions are uncertain about their obligation to take positive measures to foster linguistic duality and support the development of official language communities. He reminds these institutions that they cannot sit back and wait, and that they must instead take action and be daring. Furthermore, the Commissioner believes the investigation he carried out on the 2006 budget cuts demonstrates the extent to which some government decisions do not take into consideration Part VII of the Act.
Of course, the Commissioner places a great deal of importance on the initiative that will replace the Action Plan for Official Languages, and invites the federal government to show leadership in this regard. The new action plan must address the urgent issues brought to light by the 2006 census and the Survey on the Vitality of Official-Language Minorities. The Commissioner also hopes the federal government will place greater emphasis on promoting linguistic duality, particularly among young people and newcomers, and on second language learning.
The Commissioner would also like the government to take advantage of public service renewal to place linguistic duality at the centre of the federal administration’s priorities. As a first step, training sessions should be used to ensure new public servants and executives better understand the fundamentals and requirements of the Act. The Commissioner believes that public service renewal is a golden opportunity and recommends that the Clerk of the Privy Council fully integrate linguistic duality into renewal initiatives.
Moreover, the Commissioner is strongly convinced that the government must strengthen its commitment to the horizontal governance of official languages, both through stronger political leadership and through concrete implementation methods within the federal administration. Political leadership is part and parcel of functional and effective horizontal governance. Consequently, the Commissioner believes the Government must reinforce its commitment to strengthen the horizontal governance of official languages, and makes several recommendations on this subject to the Prime Minister, the Clerk of the Privy Council and the Minister for Official Languages.
Since Canada is developing in a changing context, it is appropriate to ask what influence these many transformations have on the linguistic composition of the country. Some proposals for government reform directly affect official languages, including the Senate reform project, which currently does not take official language communities into consideration. Moreover, the proposed changes to federal government spending power may affect linguistic duality. In this regard, the Commissioner recommends that the Prime Minister take measures to ensure that any large-scale reform fully respects language obligations and takes into account possible effects on official language communities.
Other factors also have a major influence on the official languages situation in Canada, including the rapidly growing number of allophones in the population. The Commissioner therefore emphasizes the need for a dialogue on the interaction between linguistic duality and cultural diversity and on the way to integrate these ideas into an inclusive vision of citizenship in the Canada of tomorrow.
The promotion of linguistic duality and community development are among federal institutions’ primary obligations in terms of official languages. Institutions can fulfil these obligations in a variety of ways. For example, learning a second language is a good way to promote linguistic duality within the country. However, the federal, provincial and territorial governments have a lot of work to do to achieve the objective set out in the Action Plan 2003–2008 of doubling the proportion of young people between the ages of 15 and 19 who can speak both official languages by 2013. Canada can also project an image abroad that accurately reflects its linguistic duality. Unfortunately, the Commissioner has noted that this is not always the case and once again encourages the federal government to show stronger leadership in this regard.
Finally, in terms of community development, many different parties must work together to increase community vitality, including the communities themselves, governments and researchers. The 2006 census and the Survey on the Vitality of Official-Language Minorities now provide these parties with better sources of information to review and analyze the current status of official language communities. However, in the Commissioner’s views, the governement has much work to do in order to use the full potential of the amendments made to the Act in 2005. In summary, the government must strengthen its leadership to support all aspects of community vitality.
| RECOMMENDATIONS : 1. The Commissioner recommends that the Prime Minister: a) create an ad hoc committee of ministers, chaired by the Minister for Official Languages, to oversee the full implementation of the new action plan and language requirements within all federal institutions; b) ensure Cabinet, supported by the Official Languages Secretariat, reviews official languages matters at least once a year; c) ensure the Official Languages Secretariat is given the authority it needs to fulfill a horizontal coordination role in order to implement the Official Languages Act in its entirety. 2. The Commissioner recommends that the Clerk of the Privy Council ensure deputy ministers’ annual performance reviews include efforts to implement the Official Languages Act in its entirety, especially Part VII. 3. The Commissioner recommends that the Minister for Official Languages give the Official Languages Secretariat the mandate of reviewing the official languages accountability and reporting requirements to simplify the process and, above all, strengthen the focus on results. 4. The Commissioner recommends that the Clerk of the Privy Council ensure linguistic duality is fully integrated into public service renewal initiatives, especially in recruitment, training and development, so that linguistic duality is considered a value in the federal administration. 5. The Commissioner recommends that the Prime Minister ensure the government fully respects its linguistic obligations and the vitality of official language communities during any large-scale reform, such as program reviews, transfers of responsibilities, or decisions to change the nature of, privatize or move a federal institution. 6. The Commissioner recommends that the Secretary of the Treasury Board of Canada demonstrate, by December 31, 2008, that the Secretariat (the lead federal institution for expenditure review) has taken the necessary steps to ensure expenditure and similar reviews within the federal government are designed and conducted in full compliance with the commitments, duties and roles prescribed in Part VII of the Official Languages Act. 7. The Commissioner recommends that deputy heads of all federal institutions take concrete steps, by December 31, 2008, to create a work environment that is more conducive to the use of both English and French by employees in designated regions. |
