2021–22 Departmental Plan

From the Commissioner of Official Languages of Canada

I am pleased to present my office’s 2021–22 Departmental Plan, which outlines the activities planned and results expected to support our mandate.

Over the past year, my office has continued to work diligently, despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our investments in technology and tools for employees over the past years have been instrumental in enabling us to operate in an almost entirely virtual workplace. We also made strides, before the pandemic, in working more efficiently and collaboratively. In step with new workplace realities, we will forge ahead with our culture of continuous improvement, collaboration and resource optimization.

In 2021–22, I will continue to pursue my two main responsibilities: the protection of official languages rights and the advancement of English and French in Canadian society. The activities outlined in this plan support the three major priorities I set out at the start of my mandate—monitoring the Action Plan for Official Languages, making sure that federal institutions meet their official languages obligations, and modernizing the Official Languages Act.

In 2021–22 we find ourselves at a time where official languages are as important as ever. The COVID-19 pandemic has merely amplified ongoing problems, both within the public service and more widely in Canadian society.

My recent report on official languages in emergencies sheds light on the existing shortcomings in respecting Canadians’ language rights and ensuring their safety during a crisis. It proposes solutions to the federal government to address recurring issues. The problems we have witnessed must not be repeated and I will be closely monitoring the government’s follow-up to my report.

Canadians are taking notice of the lapses in respect for their rights. Complaints filed with my office have increased steadily over the past few years and rose by 25% in 2019–20.

My office will continue to develop and implement strategies to encourage federal institutions to comply with the Official Languages Act. We will continue to promote the Official Languages Maturity Model,a tool we developed to show organizations how their current policies and procedures help them to meet their official languages obligations, and where there might be concerns.

My office will also remain vigilant and monitor the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023 to ensure the programs respond to the needs of official language minority communities. We will be looking closely at the funding for programs related to education, justice and immigration over the next fiscal year.

In my 2019–20 annual report, I noted that the main reason Canadians’ language rights are not respected is that the government is not doing enough to promote both official languages across Canada. I will continue to highlight to the parliamentary and Senate standing committees the importance of public awareness of the different issues related to official languages and their impact on citizens.

My office will be establishing new promotional activities for the Canadian public from coast to coast to coast to adapt to the digital environment imposed by the pandemic, and we will broaden the reach of our activities to connect with new segments of the public.

I will also continue to appear before the courts to ensure that they give a broad and liberal interpretation of language obligations.

Going forward, we need a true modernization of the Official Languages Act so that it is relevant, dynamic and strong. I will continue to monitor very closely the government’s actions on modernizing the Act, including its follow-up on the 18 recommendations I issued in 2019. Truly modernizing the Act will ensure Canadians’ fundamental language rights are respected now and in the future.

Raymond Théberge

Plans at a glance

In 2021–22, the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages (the Office of the Commissioner) will begin the third year of implementation of its strategic priorities for 2018–2025. The Office of the Commissioner will develop and implement an action plan, including specific initiatives to address the strategic priorities set out in its multi-year strategic plan, which includes Vision 2025.

Monitoring the implementation of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023: Investing in Our Future remains one of the Commissioner’s priorities. To this end, in 2021–22, the Office of the Commissioner will continue to closely monitor the implementation of programs arising from the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023: Investing in Our Future to ensure that they meet the needs of official language minority communities. Special focus will be placed on funding to support development in areas related to education, justice and immigration.

The Office of the Commissioner will highlight to the parliamentary and Senate standing committees on official languages the importance of public awareness of the different issues related to official languages.

To the extent that it can as it adapts to the digital environment imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Office of the Commissioner will introduce new activities to promote linguistic duality among the Canadian public and to broaden the reach of its activities to connect with new segments of the public.

The Office of the Commissioner will continue to develop and implement engagement and intervention strategies with federal institutions to encourage them to remove any barriers to achieving the objectives of the Official Languages Act (the Act). As part of the operationalization of the Official Languages Maturity Model, the Office of the Commissioner will continue to support the selected federal institutions in their organizational self-assessments to help them make continuous progress in the area of official languages.

In addition, in light of the increased volume of complaints, the Office of the Commissioner will develop complaint management strategies to ensure compliance with its mandate, as set out in the Act.

The Commissioner will also continue participating as an appellant in two appeals before the Federal Court of Appeal to ensure that the courts continue to give a broad and liberal interpretation of language rights and that the Act is implemented according to its purpose.

Finally, the Commissioner will continue to show ongoing leadership to ensure that the government truly modernizes the Act.

Core responsibilities

Core responsibilities: planned results and resources, and key risks

This section contains detailed information on the department’s planned results and resources for each of its core responsibilities. It also contains information on key risks related to achieving those results.

Internal Services: planned results

Spending and human resources

This section provides an overview of the department’s planned spending and human resources for the next three consecutive fiscal years and compares planned spending for the upcoming year with the current and previous years’ actual spending.

Corporate information

Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

Information on the Office of the Commissioner’s raison d’être, mandate and role is available on its website.

Operating context

Information on the operating context is available on the on the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages’ website.

Reporting framework

The Office of the Commissioner’s approved Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory for 2021–22 are as follows

Supporting information on the program inventory

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to the Office of the Commissioner’s program inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available:

Federal tax expenditures

The Office of the Commissioner’s Departmental Plan does not include information on tax expenditures that relate to its planned results for 2021–22.

Tax expenditures are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance, and the Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for government­-wide tax expenditures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. This report provides detailed information on tax expenditures, including objectives, historical background and references to related federal spending programs, as well as evaluations, research papers and gender-based analysis. The tax measures presented in this report are solely the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

Organizational contact information

Mailing address
30 Victoria Street, 6th floor
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0T8
Telephone: 819-420-4877 or 1-877-996-6368
Fax: 819-420-4873
Email: information@clo-ocol.gc.ca
Website: www.officiallanguages.gc.ca

Appendix: definitions

appropriation

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

core responsibility

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan

A report on the plans and expected performance of a department over a 3-year period. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental priority

A plan or project that a department has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Departmental priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired departmental results.

departmental result

A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. A departmental result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

departmental result indicator

A factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework

A framework that consists of the department’s core responsibilities, departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report

A report on a department’s actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

experimentation

The conducting of activities that seek to first explore, then test and compare, the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform evidence-based decision-making, and improve outcomes for Canadians, by learning what works and what doesn’t. Experimentation is related to, but distinct form innovation (the trying of new things), because it involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, using a new website to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new website against existing outreach tools or an old website to see which one leads to more engagement, is experimentation.

full-time equivalent

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person-year charge against a departmental budget. Full-time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA+)

An analytical process used to assess how diverse groups of women, men and gender-diverse people experience policies, programs and services based on multiple factors including race, ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.

government-wide priorities

For the purpose of the 2021–22 Departmental Plan, government-wide priorities refers to those high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2020 Speech from the Throne, namely: Protecting Canadians from COVID-19; Helping Canadians through the pandemic; Building back better – a resiliency agenda for the middle class; The Canada we’re fighting for.  

horizontal initiative

An initiative in which two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

non-budgetary expenditures

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance

What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator

A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

performance reporting

The process of communicating evidence-based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision-making, accountability and transparency.

plan

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.

planned spending

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in the Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program

Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory

Identifies all of the department’s programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department’s core responsibilities and results.

result

An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization’s influence.

statutory expenditures

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

strategic outcome

A long-term and enduring benefit to Canadians that is linked to the organization’s mandate, vision and core functions.

target

A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.