All Eyes on Official Languages

About this presentation

Want to learn more about Canada’s Official Languages Act and its various parts?

This presentation will give you a better understanding of your official languages rights and obligations, as well as information on the various tools and resources available to support you in implementing the Official Languages Act within your institution.

Topics

• Roles of the Commissioner of Official Languages
• Official languages obligations of federal institutions
• Regions designated as bilingual for language-of-work purposes
• Participation of English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians
• Positive measures to implement the Government of Canada’s commitments under the Act
• Establishing the language requirements of positions
• The life cycle of a complaint

About this workshop

Active offer begins with two words: “Hello! Bonjour!” These simple words are an essential element of excellence in service delivery. Active offer of bilingual service is an invitation to the public to use either official language—English or French—when communicating with or receiving services from the federal government. In addition to a bilingual greeting, active offer includes visual cues, such as signage in both official languages, to reinforce the invitation.

This interactive workshop goes beyond the obligation of making an active offer and focuses on the client’s experience. It also goes over the many reasons why it is important to make an active offer. In addition, participants will explore practical tools for employees and managers to improve individual and team performance in terms of active offer.

Topics

• What is active offer and why is it so important?
• Who has a role in ensuring active offer?
• When should it be done and how (over the telephone, in person, by email)?

Additional resources

• Guide: Active offer: A culture of respect, a culture of excellence
• Pamphlet: Active offer: A culture of respect, a culture of excellence

About this workshop

Want to be better equipped to chair or participate in bilingual meetings, whether virtually or in person? Need some good practices for organizing externally sourced presentations? Develop a skill that is becoming increasingly in demand in the federal public service!

In regions designated as bilingual for language-of-work purposes, employees have the right to work and be supervised in the official language of their choice. This includes meetings and presentations in which they participate. Learn good practices for holding bilingual meetings with employees who have varied levels of bilingualism, including those who are unilingual.

Topics

• Virtual workshop designed for all federal employees (unilingual and bilingual)
• Get effective tools for chairing and participating in bilingual meetings
• Learn about the good practices checklist for presentations delivered by external presenters
• Share experiences, challenges and successes in holding bilingual meetings
• Learn good practices and leave with a tool kit that will help you hold effective bilingual meetings

Additional resources

• Optimize employee participation by using the Effective practices for chairing bilingual meetings guide and the Take action! tool.

About this presentation

The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages conducted a survey of federal public servants on linguistic (in)security. The survey provided a snapshot of public servants’ experiences regarding language of work and found that linguistic (in)security is an issue that public servants really care about.

Linguistic insecurity can have a negative impact on an individual speaker’s confidence or comfort in using a language and may even discourage the use of that language.

Topics

• Key findings from the survey on linguistic (in)security: Official languages matter to public servants working across Canada
• How to create safe places at work where people are comfortable speaking the official language of their choice
• 10 tips based on the study findings

Additional resources

• The Office of the Commissioner’s study report on linguistic (in)security
• Building a linguistically inclusive workplace: Leadership tips
• Infographic: Understanding Linguistic Insecurity

About this presenation

When staffing a position, it is the manager’s responsibility to properly identify the essential skills that applicants need, based on the tasks to be performed, in order to ensure that the successful candidate meets the needs of the institution and can perform the duties of the position.

This presentation presents the highlights of the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages’ report, Implementing Section 91 of the Official Languages Act: A Systemic Problem, and an online interactive tool to help managers establish the language requirements of a position logically, consistently and objectively.

Topics

• Determining the language requirements of positions, linguistic profiles and staffing methods
• Recurring issue: Work descriptions with language requirements that do not reflect the duties of positions
• Recommendations on how to improve the assessments of language requirements during staffing processes
• An online tool to help establish the language requirements of positions in the public service

Additional resources

• A Tool for the Linguistic Identification of Positions