Audit Results
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2. MEASURES AND ACTIVITIES TO IMPLEMENT SECTION 41 OF THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGES ACT
Action Plan and Achievements in the Implementation of Section 41
In 2004, following consultations with seven national organizations representing official language minority communities, the CRTC submitted its first action plan to the Department of Canadian Heritage. The plan, which covered the 2004-2005 fiscal year, had been approved by the CRTC’s management committee. In 2005, the CRTC consulted the same seven national organizations again and decided to renew its action plan for another year to meet its objectives in a more realistic timeframe.
The action plan contains mostly general statements. For example, one of the objectives is to encourage broadcasting licensees to continue their efforts to increase regional program production and broadcasting and to promote dialogue among official language communities. We feel the CRTC could have been more precise and directive. Furthermore, the plan does not give sufficient consideration to the specific needs of English-speaking minority communities in Quebec. As well, the telecommunications sector is not included in the action plan, and the plan does not set out any specific activities to implement the second component of section 41, namely fostering the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society.
We consider the action plan unsatisfactory because it fails to provide specific measures stemming from consultations with official language minority communities. It also fails to establish a clear link between the objectives of section 41 (vitality and development of communities and promotion of Canada’s linguistic duality) and the CRTC’s activities specifically related to television, radio and telecommunications. Furthermore, the national representatives of official language minority communities who were interviewed and who closely monitor the CRTC’s activities expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of specific measures in the initial action plan.
During our audit, the CRTC was in the process of preparing its second action plan (2006-2009), which accounts for some of our observations. We will analyse this new action plan during our follow-up audit; it must contain measurable objectives for the Commission’s two sectors (broadcasting and telecommunications) and provide for concrete positive measures regarding the two components of section 41 that take into account the specific needs of official language minority communities. These measures should be based on the results of structured and coordinated consultations with national and regional representatives of the communities.
| Recommendation 4 |
In 2005, CRTC presented Canadian Heritage with its first record of achievement, which, as with its first action plan, contained general information mostly on televisionrelated activities. The record didn’t take into account telecommunications activities, and failed to mention the concerns of the Anglophone communities in Quebec. Furthermore, the record also failed to take into account any of the activities promoting the use of English and French in Canadian society.
