Archived - Audit of the Implementation of Part VII of the Official Languages Act at Industry Canada

Internal policies

Internal policies and guidelines are important elements in a governance framework, so that all members of an organization share the same vision and follow the same rules. Industry Canada does not have an official languages policy specific to its Part VII activities. However, the Department does have an integrated official languages plan that covers Parts IV, V, VI and VII of the Official Languages Act. This three-year plan (2011–2014) was recently approved by the Deputy Minister. It contains sections on managing the action plan and a series of activities, anticipated results and performance measures for the abovementioned parts of the Act. It states the importance of executive leadership in achieving the plan's objectives and clearly sets out the accountability obligations of various executives to achieve the desired results.

While this approach highlights the interactions between the different parts of the Act and ensures accountability in its implementation, there would be an advantage to support this plan by developing an official languages policy that brings together many elements in other existing documents. An integrated policy would allow the Department to contextualize its official languages work, including Part VII, and to clearly express the values and benefits of implementing the Act at Industry Canada. In the document that outlines its integrated official languages awareness campaign, Industry Canada's key message is that "linguistic duality is a key competitive advantage that can strengthen Canada's economic growth …" This kind of message would be quite appropriate in an introduction or a preamble to a policy. The policy should also outline the uniqueness of different parts of the Act and the links between them so as to avoid any ambiguity in understanding the objectives of each part. In addition, the policy could reiterate some of the concepts from the integrated plan, such as the importance of executive leadership.

FedNor has policies and directives on official languages requirements in a more operational context. We learned that the Policy Bulletin on services provided by the CFDCs is currently being revised, and that FedNor is in the process of finalizing a new official languages policy for contribution agreements involving the Northern Ontario Development Program (NODP) and EDI. In both cases, while the focus is on Part IV of the Act with regard to service delivery in both official languages, often by third parties such as CFDCs, FedNor is showing its willingness to include points that are likely to fall under Part VII, such as the following statement: "Consult OLMCs to determine their needs and priorities and ensure that these are taken into account when planning the proposed project or activity."

Accountability structure

During our meetings with Industry Canada, we learned that the Department had focused on improving its departmental accountability structure for section 41. Several points were brought to our attention. First, an assistant deputy minister had been appointed as the Department's official languages champion for Part VII. The champion is supported by a regional operations team working on Part VII. This team comprises a director general and a Part VII coordination unit that consists of two managers and senior officers. Second, in recent years, Part VII issues have been a regular item on the agenda of the departmental management committee, which is chaired by the Deputy Minister. Questions related to the DesRochers ruling, the use of the Official Languages Filter, the integrated action plan and the EDI have been raised. Third, the Part VII coordination unit has established an internal discussion network on official languages that brings together representatives of each sector of the Department to address issues related to the implementation of the Official Languages Act. Several managers emphasized the usefulness of this discussion forum, which keeps them up to date on Part VII issues and helps them manage their official languages operations more effectively. The Part VII coordination unit also intervened in various departmental sectors to handle Part VII issues. We found this to be the case for the development of Canada's Federal Tourism Strategy, where OLMCs were associated with commitments related to this strategy.

With regard to the EDI (which is addressed in the next section), the Part VII coordination unit plays an important role in coordinating the efforts of external federal partners, including regional development agencies such as the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec. The unit prepares and coordinates meetings with Industry Canada and its partners, and manages EDI research.

Industry Canada managers and executives have official languages performance objectives in their performance agreements. The achievement of these objectives is evaluated annually.

Those responsible for Part VII at FedNor also hold key senior management positions. The Director of Programs and Corporate Services is the organization's Part VII champion and sits on FedNor's management committee. The champion manages a team that handles horizontal coordination and ensures that Part VII is well integrated into FedNor activities. FedNor is also a member of Industry Canada's official languages discussion network and the EDI coordination committee.

Overall, Industry Canada has a good accountability structure for the implementation of Part VII.

Economic Development Initiative coordination

As mentioned in the Background section of this audit report, under the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality 2008–2013 and more specifically the EDI, the federal government tasked Industry Canada with coordinating the activities of FedNor and the regional development agencies that provide funding to communities for EDI-related projects and activities. This sharing of responsibilities reflects government decisions made in recent years regarding the roles and changing mandates of Industry Canada and the regional development agencies.

Industry Canada acts as a coordinator in several ways. It organizes consultations and discussions with OLMCs every two years and manages committees to follow up on these meetings; it coordinates the interdepartmental EDI committee (meetings, minutes, evaluation, etc.), which brings together representatives of various related federal institutions; it coordinates and funds research on economic development issues; and it participates in the work of Roadmap 2008–2013 management committees under the aegis of Canadian Heritage. From our analysis of the available documentation and the positive comments we received from managers—both within and outside of Industry Canada—regarding the role of the Part VII coordination unit, we concluded that Industry Canada is effectively fulfilling its EDI coordination responsibilities.

Employee awareness

In 2011, Industry Canada launched an integrated official languages awareness campaign. One of the campaign's objectives was to familiarize executives, program and policy managers, and employees throughout the Department with Industry Canada's obligations under the Official Languages Act. Responsibility for this campaign was shared between the Regional Operations Sector (Part VII) and the Human Resources Branch (other parts of the Act). Information sessions for executives, managers, existing employees and new employees are planned. Tools such as the Official Languages Information Kit were created for information session participants. The kit and information session presentations, which are also available in Wiki format, address several aspects of official languages at Industry Canada: a history of bilingualism in Canada, an overview of the federal official languages governance framework, definitions of concepts such as "substantive equality" and a copy of the Official Languages Filter, which is used to analyze the impact of departmental programs on OLMCs. The Official Languages Filter is discussed in more detail in the section on the OLMC impact analysis mechanism under objective 2.

The Regional Operations Part VII coordination unit intervenes as needed in various sectors when a Part VII question arises. The unit has intervened in several sectors in recent months, including the Small Business Internship Program, the Computers for Schools Program, and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. The interventions often involved explaining the significance of the Supreme Court's decision in the DesRochers case or the Federal Court's decision in the Picard case, or clarifying various sectors' obligations under Part VII and explaining how they differ from Part IV obligations. Managers and employees who spoke to us all indicated that they appreciated the Part VII coordination unit's awareness work in their respective sectors.

We also learned that the Department's Legal Services sector evaluates each contribution agreement before approval to ensure that it meets the requirements of the Act, including Part VII.

We believe that Industry Canada has developed good employee awareness mechanisms and encourage the Department to continue its efforts in this regard.

Positive measures

The question of positive measures was the topic of a number of discussions during meetings with representatives from various sectors of Industry Canada. We noted a general lack of knowledge about exactly what a positive measure under Part VII of the Official Languages Act is. In most cases, we observed that what were intended to be Part VII measures actually fall under Part IV. For example, actions described as positive measures under Part VII included translating documents to make them bilingual, setting up a toll-free number to answer questions in both official languages, and having Industry Canada employees deliver their presentations in both official languages. These measures actually fall under Part IV, however. In some cases, practices were proposed that could result in the development of positive measures, such as reaching out more actively to OLMCs or consulting them more regularly. We noted that, in general, grants to OLMCs are considered a positive measure under Part VII.

It is not always easy to differentiate between a Part VII measure and a Part IV action; however, to understand the different objectives of the Act, obligations under Part VII must be differentiated from obligations under Part IV.

Part IV obligations are intended to ensure "substantive equality" for the two official language communities in the delivery of federal services to the public and in communications between federal institutions and members of the public. The Supreme Court of Canada has recognized that developing and implementing identical services for each language community may not be sufficient to guarantee true equality, and that Part IV requirements must take the nature and purpose of the service into account. More specifically, in the case of economic development services provided by Industry Canada, the participation of the target communities, including OLMCs, is necessary to develop and implement programs and services that achieve their goal. In this context, communications with, consultation with, and participation of the target communities, including OLMCs, are ways to fulfill the requirements of providing substantive equality in service delivery and therefore fall under Part IV of the Act.

Part VII includes a paragraph on "enhancing the vitality of English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada." These communities include English-speaking minority communities in Quebec and French-speaking minority communities outside of Quebec. By definition, a measure that targets both the majority and the minority is not a positive measure for the minority. Part VII therefore requires positive measures that go beyond the obligations already set out in the Act, as they relate to substantive equality in service delivery. Consequently, the positive measures under Part VII must be designed specifically for and focus specifically on English- and French-language minority communities, not the general public. These positive measures must contain added value for OLMCs that exceeds the basic Part IV obligations.

To clarify the ambiguity regarding Industry Canada's obligations under Parts IV and VII of the Act, the Department needs to provide a clear explanation to its staff as to what exactly a positive measure under Part VII is. An official languages awareness campaign, similar to the one described above, is an appropriate way to do this. If the ambiguity were to persist, then Part VII activities would continue to be confused with those under Part IV, which would reduce the scope and potential for action under Part VII.

Official language minority community impact analysis mechanism

Industry Canada analyzes the impact of its programs on OLMCs through its Official Languages Filter, a questionnaire that is used for all memoranda to Cabinet, Treasury Board submissions and program reviews. The current filter, which is an update of the first version, was prepared following intervention by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat's Chief Human Resources Officer to help departments comply with the Supreme Court's decision in the DesRochers case. The questionnaire must be completed and signed by a senior executive or the assistant deputy minister responsible for the program in question.

A program's impact on OLMCs is analyzed in the new filter's Part VII section. This section includes questions on the consultation process, on the impacts of economic development programs on OLMCs, on measures for tailoring programs to the needs of OLMCs, and on the performance indicators required to evaluate whether the desired results have been achieved. The questions in this section, however, are oriented towards achieving substantive equality in service delivery, which falls under Part IV. We verified this by examining the use of the Official Languages Filter in the renewal of the NODP in 2011. We noted that the analysis of the questions asked in the section on Part VII focused on the substantive equality of services. These questions dealt with service delivery methods and changes to make to ensure substantive equality of service delivery.

Industry Canada should therefore amend the Part VII section of its Official Languages Filter in order to comply with this part of the Act and with the obligation to take positive measures.

Promotion of linguistic duality

Section 41 of Part VII of the Act deals not only with the vitality and development of OLMCs, but also with the promotion of English and French in Canadian society. However, very little exists in the way of documentation or reflection on this matter in the federal government. It is also more difficult to identify the right audiences for this aspect of Part VII.

This audit sought to identify Industry Canada activities related to the promotion of linguistic duality. During our meetings, employees often cited initiatives such as the distribution of bilingual material, presentations in both official languages, and websites in English and French as examples of the promotional aspect of Part VII. These activities fall under Part IV, however. We noticed that there were several ways of interpreting how an initiative could fall under the promotional aspect of Part VII. Nevertheless, efforts by the Part VII coordination unit within the Department aimed at increasing employee awareness have gone a long way to promoting a better understanding and appreciation of Canada's linguistic duality within the Department. We also noted that there is no coordinated departmental strategy for the promotion of linguistic duality in Canadian society within its area of responsibility.

Section 41 highlights the relationship between OLMC vitality and development and the promotion of linguistic duality. One depends on the other. Accepting linguistic duality as a Canadian value makes it easier to accept support for OLMCs. Similarly, linguistic duality cannot survive if there is no support for OLMC vitality and development. Given the importance of this relationship, we believe that Industry Canada should focus on promoting linguistic duality in its areas of expertise, even if there is no policy framework for the promotion of linguistic duality in the federal government. We know that the Part VII coordination unit is currently examining the issue of promoting linguistic duality in the context of a project on developing a national tourism strategy.

Research program

In the context of the EDI, Industry Canada has allocated a budget of nearly $1.6 million over five years to establish a research program to maintain its socioeconomic database, improve its knowledge of small and medium-sized enterprises in OLMCs, and examine the economic issues that these communities have to deal with. The government has encouraged Industry Canada to work with community, university and interdepartmental partners. This research program was created in August 2009 and is part of Industry Canada's overall plan, under its business support priority.

We found a number of studies, including the March 2010 Environics study, Socio-Economic Analysis of Official Language Minority Communities, which contains a wealth of information on the socio-economic status of OLMCs in various regions of Canada and compares the socio-economic status of the minority and majority communities. Another study, Promoting OLMC participation in the knowledge-based economy by the Centre for Innovation and Productivity in Moncton, New Brunswick, looks at strategies to stimulate a knowledge-based economy in OLMCs. We identified 10 research projects that are underway or completed. We also learned that FedNor has announced its own large-scale research project for 2011–2012: the Environmental Scan of the Economic Development of OLMCs in Northern Ontario. A review of projects that are underway and completed found that Industry Canada is fulfilling its responsibilities in terms of research initiatives under the EDI. The Department shares the results of its studies with interdepartmental and community partners.

Consultation process

This audit examined existing consultation processes and mechanisms, as well as ongoing discussions at Industry Canada, to identify OLMC priorities and needs.

The Part VII coordination unit is responsible for the EDI's national consultation process. So far, the unit has organized two national meetings: the first (September 28, 2010) was with French-speaking organizations for the Francophone Dialogue Day on OLMC Economic Development and the second (October 6, 2010) was with English-speaking organizations for the Dialogue Day with the English Linguistic Minority Community of Quebec. In both cases, key partners from federal departments and OLMCs were present. These dialogue days are scheduled to be held every two years. Between meetings, the Part VII coordination unit maintains ties with representatives of the two communities. For the English-speaking community, a community-government follow-up committee was set up to follow up on decisions made during the dialogue day. The Part VII coordination unit also created a similar follow-up mechanism with representatives of the French-speaking community. Additional formal consultations will be held as part of the renewal of the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality 2008–2013.

Industry Canada wanted to work more closely with the OLMCs of the two communities and to have them be more involved in discussions on national economic development. However, it is still too early to identify program or policy changes that would result from this increased participation.

FedNor has a different approach, preferring to consult the OLMCs on a more personal level during projects, initiatives and community meetings. This approach favours ad hoc personal contact, based on current projects and on needs arising from meetings and discussions with OLMCs. For example, during our meeting with the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité (RDÉE) de l'Ontario, we learned that the Executive Director of FedNor had gone to Ottawa to meet with representatives of the RDÉE to discuss economic development in Northern Ontario. On March 2, 2011, a FedNor community economic development officer welcomed more than 50 French-speaking businesswomen and talked with them about their specific needs at the "Toutes pour une : Le leadership entrepreneuriELLE!" forum held in Sudbury.

In the regions, the situation varies because of the mandate given to their offices, the specificity of each region and the increased role of regional development agencies. As mentioned previously in the Background section, the regional offices primarily act as advisors, prepare analyses and gather information related to major economic issues. They work with the provincial governments, business representatives, universities and business organizations in their regions.

For this audit, we visited three of Industry Canada's regional offices: Atlantic, Ontario and Quebec. Relationships with OLMCs vary from one region to another. In Quebec, all official consultation is done by the Part VII coordination unit at the national level, although the Quebec regional office did participate in the dialogue day. Organizations such as the Quebec Community Groups Network and the Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation are considered to be national organizations, much like the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada and the RDÉE on the French side. Industry Canada's Quebec office maintains contact with members of the English-speaking community, including universities and businesses such as Quebec's aerospace industry. In the Atlantic region, efforts are concentrated in New Brunswick, because of the size of its French-speaking community. Industry Canada's Atlantic office participated in New Brunswick's community–government discussion table in November 2009, which led to the creation of its 2009–2013 master plan. The office also maintains relationships with the Université de Moncton and participated in events organized by the Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick that brought together many of the province's French-speaking businesspeople. In Ontario, the Canada Business Ontario initiative resulted in a number of meetings and presentations with OLMC representatives. As can be seen from these three cases, most contacts and relationships are established at events or meetings where OLMCs are present.

After reviewing Industry Canada's three consultation processes—national, FedNor and regional—we then examined how well each of them fulfilled the consultation requirements under Part VII. On a national level, closer relationships between the two communities resulted from official consultation mechanisms and ongoing contacts on a more regular basis. We encourage the Part VII coordination unit to continue its efforts in this regard. We are pleased to see that Industry Canada is willing to work with the communities to discuss what will happen when the Roadmap for Canada's linguistic duality ends in 2013, in case there is a need to develop a new version of the government's action plan affecting OLMCs throughout the country. Given this perspective of renewal and the fact that there are still nearly two years before the end of the current EDI, we believe that these consultations have the potential to produce concrete results. We encourage Industry Canada to take every opportunity that arises after the consultations—in the spirit of EDI renewal—to propose real and positive improvements to its programs and activities that affect OLMC vitality and development.

FedNor's approach—meeting with OLMCs as needed during projects, forums or gatherings—gives it a good understanding of the needs of different OLMCs in Northern Ontario. However, we wonder whether this approach can ensure comprehensive coordination on an ongoing basis and support a shared vision of economic development for Northern Ontario as a whole. Upon review, we believe that the 2011–2012 Environmental Scan of the Economic Development of OLMCs in Northern Ontario project, which aims to establish a regional development plan for OLMC economic development in Northern Ontario, would be an opportunity for FedNor to engage OLMCs in a structured and ongoing regional process. The project brief states that OLMCs will be consulted in the same way as other parties. The OLMCs, however, are the primary partners and should be an integral part of the project. This project should aim to create a permanent, structured regional OLMC consultation and feedback mechanism, which would make it possible to create and maintain a shared comprehensive vision of the development of these communities in Northern Ontario.

With respect to Industry Canada's regional offices, it is not our intention to propose any changes to their mandate. However, during our meetings with the OLMCs, the communities all expressed their disappointment at the lack of regular and ongoing contact with Industry Canada in the regions since the creation of the regional development agencies. We believe that they perceive Industry Canada to be in the best position to have a comprehensive vision of issues related to the development of industry in Canada, to analyze these issues and to make Canadian industry more competitive. This is essentially the Department's mandate. We believe that the regional offices would benefit from getting closer to OLMCs when carrying out their information gathering functions so that OLMC needs and priorities can be included in a structured and coordinated manner and taken into account in any analysis of regional issues.

We also think that the national Part VII coordination unit should ensure that regional offices are regularly kept apprised of any developments regarding the implementation of Part VII and that they should have a Part VII discussion and information sharing mechanism. It would be beneficial for all sectors of Industry Canada affecting OLMCs to participate in this kind of discussion and dialogue.

As a result of our analyses, we believe that certain improvements should be made to Industry Canada's existing consultation process.

Access to information

It is important for OLMCs to be informed of any changes that might have an impact on their vitality. There are several ways to communicate this information, including the departmental website, information bulletins and electronic communications. For example, a large number of subscribers (including OLMCs) receive the quarterly Ontario Economic Overview, a bilingual Industry Canada e-publication that provides an overview of the economic and financial performance of the province's businesses and includes policy analyses and forecasts. Another initiative in which Industry Canada is partnering with Ontario is Canada Business Ontario, which gives Ontario businesses access to a range of essential information via the Internet. Industry Canada's Ontario region focuses on information and access to information and is currently working with partners on sharing databases to be able to better adapt to client needs.

On a national level, there are many activities underway related to a variety of client communication mechanisms. For example, Industry Canada's website is being revamped, and Canada Business Network is focusing on using social media, such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs. Canada Business Network already has a Twitter feed, blogs and electronic distribution of its news releases. The Part VII coordination unit is also working to revitalize CommunAction, a sub-component of Industry Canada's website specifically for OLMCs.

Apart from CommunAction, most of Industry Canada's work in the field of access to information targets both language groups and therefore falls under Part IV. However, to meet Part VII requirements, these initiatives should be reviewed and, in consultation with the OLMCs, specific components should be developed to meet their specific needs.

Evaluation of activities

In our interviews with representatives from Industry Canada's Audit and Evaluation Branch, we confirmed that the Department had evaluated a number of programs and that the question of official languages had been raised in these evaluations. The Internal Audit Directorate has audited the implementation of Part IV throughout Industry Canada.

For this audit, we focused on NODP and EDI program evaluations. For the EDI, the evaluation falls under the federal official languages strategy that resulted from the 2008–2013 action plan for official languages. In the fall of 2006, a consulting firm contracted by Industry Canada completed its formative evaluation of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2004–2008 dealing with section 41 of the Act and OLMC economic development. The evaluation recommended "that Industry Canada develop precise indicators to measure the impact of activities on OLMCs …" Subsequently, in accordance with the new performance measurement and program evaluation strategy (2009), the government presented the EDI performance measurement strategy in the Roadmap 2008–2013.

The EDI logic model identifies different levels of results to be achieved. For intermediate results, it aims to improve OLMC social and economic development in three areas: capacity building, business development and community development. The performance measurement strategy that accompanies the logic model includes performance indicators to evaluate results achieved in each of these three areas. For example, capacity building is evaluated by counting the number of studies and plans on strategic positioning, market development, increasing productivity and innovation commercialization. Industry Canada, as part of the horizontal summative evaluation of the Roadmap 2008–2013, is in the process of evaluating the EDI in cooperation with the regional economic development agencies. The evaluation is expected to be completed in early winter 2012.

In February 2011, Industry Canada presented the results of its evaluation of FedNor's NODP to senior management. The evaluation found shortcomings with respect to OLMC participation in a number of the program's funding projects. In the program renewal proposal approved by the Minister, a new logic model was established, which includes the following statement among its immediate results: "Special population groups are involved in economic development projects and benefit from supported initiatives (e.g., Official Language Minority Communities, Aboriginal people, youth and women)." The program's performance measurement strategy contains performance indicators for this result. These include "number and value of NODP contribution agreements involving and/or benefiting special population groups" and "proof of the benefits to special population groups resulting from the projects funded."

It is important to note that the abovementioned immediate result is not the only one that will have an impact on OLMCs. In this particular case, it will have the direct effect of measuring FedNor's progress in strengthening its support for OLMCs. Other results target building and strengthening strategic alliances with OLMCs in order to "mobilize stakeholders around key economic development issues and opportunities," or ensure that "businesses in Northern Ontario are created, maintained, expanded and modernized." When applying the new logic model for the NODP, we encourage Industry Canada to differentiate between measures that address Part VII requirements and activities that fall under Part IV.

Activity reports

For this audit, we examined Industry Canada's Part VII action plans and activity reports.

As mentioned previously, the Department has an action plan for implementing Part VII. This plan covers 2008–2013 and illustrates how it commits to taking OLMC priorities into account when developing and implementing programs and services. The activities in the plan are grouped into six categories: awareness, consultation, communication, coordination and liaison, funding, and program delivery and accountability. For each category, there is a result, activities to achieve this result, and outputs and indicators to measure the result.

Each year, Industry Canada prepares a progress report on the expected results of this plan based on the six categories. The most recent publication was the 2009–2010 report, and the Department is currently in the process of completing its 2010–2011 report. The report is submitted to Canadian Heritage for analysis and comments. The comments are then sent to Industry Canada's deputy minister for action. Canadian Heritage noted that Industry Canada's activity reports often do not distinguish between Part VII and Part IV activities. This touches on the concerns we have expressed in this report on differentiating between Part VII and Part IV activities.

Industry Canada's new integrated action plan, which will be used internally from 2011 to 2014, identifies key results on three categories included in the 2008–2013 Part VII action plan (awareness, consultations and OLMC funding). Its goal is to raise awareness among Industry Canada managers of their responsibilities under Part VII. To this end, it contains a section on the obligation of managers to report on results in each of the categories. We encourage the Department to continue its efforts to implement this plan.