Factors and Criteria

Summary of Substantiating Data

Rating

Management (15%)

(a) An accountability framework, an action plan and accountability mechanisms are in place (5%)

The Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) has developed an accountability framework, which was approved in February 2008 by the Deputy Minister, associate deputy ministers and champions. The framework provides a description of the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders (Deputy Minister, champions, Director of Official Languages, Parts IV, V, VI and VII coordinators, managers, human resources advisors and employees) and the accountability mechanisms for the majority of these stakeholders. The framework does not outline coordination mechanisms between stakeholders.

After the first Performance Report was published, the Minister developed a work plan that includes projects, activities, internal partnerships and timelines. The Plan was approved by the HR Management Committee in July 2007.

Official languages (OL) guidelines are included in the Department’s integrated planning process. The OL Accountability and Coordination Framework in the Government of Canada’s Action Plan for Official Languages was incorporated into the INAC Management Accountability Framework.

The person responsible for OL presents a progress report and achievement report on the implementation of the Official Languages Action Plan on Parts IV, V and VI of the Official Languages Act (the Act) to the HR Management Committee.

B

(b) Visibility of official languages in the organization (5%)

The Report on Plans and Priorities 2007–2008 does not refer to OL commitments; the 2006–2007 Performance Report indicates that promotion of linguistic duality is an extension of the results affecting the people and roles of the Office of the Federal Interlocutor.

Internal audit planning does not take OL into consideration.

The OL Champion is an assistant deputy minister who sits on the Management Committee. He is responsible for presenting OL issues to the Management Committee, as was the case during the Executive Committee meeting in May to review the results of the Performance Report, and to the HR Management Committee in July 2007, which looked at the required follow-up to the OL report action plan.

The OL Champion interacts with the person responsible for Parts IV, V and VI of the Act. The recently appointed Champion for Part VII works together the person responsible for Part VII, and also sits on the Management Committee. There is no coordination mechanism among OL champions and persons responsible for OL.

D

(c) Complaints and follow-up (5%)

INAC has a mechanism to deal with and resolve complaints filed with the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages (OCOL). When a complaint is received by the Deputy Minister’s office, it is forwarded to the managers concerned so that they can prepare a response and rectify the situation.

The senior manager in each sector is also informed of complaints that require their intervention. Each year, the Champion receives a complaints table, which includes the subject, action taken and the status of complaints.

B

Subtotal:

B

Service to the public—Part IV (25%)

(a) Bilingual services advertised to the public and sufficient bilingual staff (3%)

Offices designated bilingual are listed in Burolis, the blue pages and on the Department’s Internet site.  Recent changes of address for INAC’s bilingual offices have been forwarded to the Canada Public Service Agency (CPSA) so changes can be made in Burolis.

In total, 93% of employees in bilingual positions serving the public meet the language requirements of their position (Source: Position and Classification Information System [PCIS], March 31, 2007).

B

(b) Observations on active offer and service delivery (15%)

According to observations of in-person service made by OCOL between mid-June and mid-July 2007, an active visual offer was present in 73% of cases, an active offer by staff was made in 10% of cases, while service in the language of the linguistic minority was adequate in 50% of cases.

According to observations of service on the telephone made by OCOL between mid-June and mid-July 2007, an active offer by staff or by an automated system was made in 86% of cases, while service in the language of the linguistic minority was adequate in 63% of cases.

E

(c) Service agreements delivered by third parties or in partnership provide for the delivery of bilingual services (2%)

Service contracts with third parties and partners contain a clause on OL that sets out their obligations in terms of service delivery, communications with the public and respect of employees’ language of work.

Program managers ensure that the clause is included in service contracts and verify its content.

There are no control mechanisms in place to confirm whether third parties offer quality services in both OL.

C

(d) Policy on service to the public and bilingual services quality monitoring (5%)

INAC applies CPSA’s Policy on the Use of Official Languages for Communications with and Services to the Public. Employees can click on a link provided on the Department’s intranet site to consult this policy.
There is no Department-specific policy or guidelines.

During the year, the OL unit published a chapter detailing the OL obligations of the Department and of managers, which was included in the HR Planning Guide that was distributed to all regions and all sectors.

Managers were informed of their OL obligations through the distribution of the HR Planning Guide, which contains a section on service to the public and a self-evaluation section.

The HR Director General sent a message to the various regional representatives announcing that OCOL would be evaluating them as part of the performance report initiative. The message reminded representatives of their obligations with regard to service to the public, and listed the offices with these obligations. The text also contained links to different CPSA policies and guidelines. Later on in the year, the OL unit issued further reminders on the service to the public obligations of employees who provide these services, and distributed CPSA pamphlets on service to the public.

The OL unit followed up to ensure that telephone service is being offered in both OL. For example, following the publication of the Performance Report, the OL unit contacted the offices where shortcomings were identified.

C

Subtotal:

D

Language of work—Part V (25%)

(a) Language of work policy and adequate bilingual supervision (12.5%)

INAC applies CPSA’s Policy on Language of Work. Employees can click on a link provided on the Department’s intranet site to consult this policy.

The departmental library sends messages to all Department employees to remind them that they have access to a number of online dictionaries, translation tools and language training tools. The tools and resources are available on the Department’s intranet site.

During the year, the OL unit published a chapter detailing the OL obligations of the Department and of managers, which was included in the HR Planning Guide that was distributed to all regions and all sectors. 

The person responsible for OL in the Quebec Region produced information kits on the Department to promote employment opportunities in Quebec, for distribution at job fairs.  With a view to attracting more English-speaking applicants and promoting the use of the second official language in the workplace in this region, the kits were distributed at Concordia University and McGill University.

The OL Coordinator gave a presentation to all Quebec Region directors on the linguistic identification of positions to ensure that service to the public is in fact taken into account in the duties of the position, and that language levels accurately reflect the tasks to be performed. Individual meetings were also held with all directors to review the linguistic identification of positions.

The regions all organize a lunch-and-learn to encourage the use of both OL in the workplace, retention of language skills and skills development.

The OL Champion also sends out a congratulatory letter to employees who successfully complete their language training, in which he states that it is the employee’s responsibility to maintain his or her newly acquired second official language skills. A guide entitled Tips for Maintaining your New Language Skills and pins are included in this letter.

In total, 96% of senior management in bilingual positions are bilingual, while 94% of supervisors in a bilingual region meet the requirements of their respective position. (Source: PCIS, March 31, 2007).

B

(b) Use of each official language in the workplace (12.5%)

As part of Bilingualism Day, sponsored by the Champion since 2003 and held during National Public Service Week, the OL Champion invited all managers in regions designated as bilingual for language of work to come up with some creative and innovative ideas for using the official language of the minority at work. Directors and managers took up the challenge.

Management Committee meetings take place in both OL.

In the last year, the OL Coordinator offered an OL training session to assistants at national headquarters to establish expectations and requirements for internal and external bilingual communications, and to remind them of the OL rights and obligations of employees and managers.

The OL Coordinator met with the IT team to discuss how to ensure that all types of documents that appear on the Department’s intranet site are to be made available in both OL.

The institution uses the results of the Public Service Employee Survey as a control mechanism for the application of the Language of Work Policy.

The survey conducted by Statistics Canada on behalf of OCOL showed that 69% of all Francophone respondents in the National Capital Region (NCR), New Brunswick and bilingual regions of Ontario "strongly agreed" or "mostly agreed" with the language of work regime. Due to the small number of Anglophone respondents in the bilingual regions of Quebec, OCOL was unable to use the results of the survey for this population.

C

Subtotal:

C

Equitable participation—Part VI (10%)

(a) Percentage of Francophone participation throughout Canada (5%)

Overall, the workforce is 22.6% Francophone (Source: PCIS,   March 31, 2007).

A

(b) Percentage of Anglophone participation in Quebec (5%)

In Quebec, the workforce is 3.4% Anglophone (Source: PCIS,  March 31, 2007).

D

Subtotal:

B

Development of official language minority communities and promotion of linguistic duality—Part VII (25%)

To ensure that policy and program development takes into account the obligation to foster the development of official language minority communities (OLMCs), the Department appointed a co-champion for Part VII in the fall 2007. This OL Co-Champion, the Senior ADM, Policy and Strategic Direction (PSD), is primarily supported by the new Policy Services Branch (PSB), which coordinates the development and manages the approval of all departmental Cabinet, legislative and regulatory initiatives. With this change, the departmental policy development and approval mechanisms that are managed by PSB will be used to ensure all new initiatives take into account Part VII obligations.

The PSD is looking at establishing additional permanent mechanisms and developing tools to ensure that both the needs of OLMCs and the promotion of linguistic duality are integrated into the strategic planning, and policy and program development and reviews.

Since being appointed, the Co-Champion for Part VII has advised all headquarters and regional senior management of the appointment of the new OL Co-Champion. He also reminded ADMs and RDGs of their responsibilities under Part VII, as well as developed and circulated to all ADMs and RDGs an OL checklist to be used when preparing new policy proposals, including memoranda to Cabinet, regulations and legislation. Finally, he distributed the toolkit, prepared by Canadian Heritage, on the implementation of Part VII to all ADMs and RDGs. 

Liaison with OLMCs is done at the regional level. The Regional Director General or the Assistant Regional Director communicates with OLMCs.  

As a follow-up to the July 27, 2007 meeting regarding the development of a corporate process to fulfill INAC’s obligations under Part VII of the Act, INAC has begun developing a departmental action plan to foster the development of OLMCs and promote linguistic duality. The departmental OL Action Plan identifies activities and internal partnerships, but it does not include deadlines or performance indicators.

Given that recent changes have focussed on factoring Part VII considerations into new policies and programs, INAC has not begun reviewing its policies and programs to identify which have an impact on the vitality of OLMCs and on linguistic duality.

(a) Development of official language minority communities (12.5%)

INAC is an active member of the National Committee for Economic Development and Employability and is assisting in the development of the national agreement on community economic development and employability between federal departments and the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité (RDÉE).

OLMCs were consulted in the development of the Strategic Investments in Northern Economic Development Program to determine their needs. The implementation framework for the Innovation and Knowledge Projects, and the Targeted Investment Program indicates that special attention will be given to the needs of OLMCs. The Francophone economic development associations in the three territories have benefited from the funding under these programs. For example, the Association des francophones du Nunavut (AFN) received funding for a cultural tourism initiative and for a business incubator feasibility study.

The Minister of INAC is the federal representative on the Northern Development Ministers Forum (NDMF), which meets annually. Tourism is the theme for next year’s NDMF, which will be hosted by the Government of the Northwest Territories. Further to the support mentioned above, INAC will be exploring opportunities to showcase OMLC initiatives at the NDMF.

In 2007, INAC  took positive measures for the development of OLMCs by investing in special programs, through the IPOLC Program, such as in the Nunavut Region for a Francophone Association Cultural Tourism Project and a Francophone Association Business Incubator Project, and in the Yukon Region for the Francophone Association’s Social Marketing and Awareness Campaign Project.

B

(b) Promotion of linguistic duality (12.5%)

Linguistic duality is promoted as part of Bilingualism Day, which has been sponsored by the OL Champion and in place since 2003. The OL Champion sent a reminder to the management teams located in bilingual regions for language of work purposes, and encouraged them to organize an activity to promote bilingualism in the workplace on that date.

This year, the Atlantic Region organized an Official Languages Week.

INAC is implementing a project to promote Aboriginal culture through language training. A training session, which will allow Aboriginal Anglophone employees to broaden their knowledge of First Nation, Métis, Inuit, English and French culture while learning French, was launched in January 2008 at Huron-Wendate, in Quebec City. Project organizers received the Deputy Ministers’ Pride and Recognition Award for the promotion of official languages. 

C

Subtotal:

C

OVERALL RATING

C