Official Languages Review Process Overview
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Background
- The Official Languages Act (OLA) requires that the President of the Treasury Board submit an annual report to Parliament on the status of federal institutions’ activities relating to Parts IV, V and VI of the OLA. It also requires that the Minister of Canadian Heritage (PCH) submit an annual report to Parliament on the implementation of Part VII (notably section 41) of the OLA by federal institutions.
- Since 2011-2012, the Official Languages Branch (OLB) at PCH and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s (TBS) Centre of Excellence for Official Languages have coordinated a joint approach to collect information on official languages and reduce the administrative burden on federal institutions with respect to official languages reporting.
- The development of a joint process between PCH and TBS follows the adoption by PCH in 2011 of an approach that rests on two pillars: the expansion of data collection to the entire federal system, i.e., some 180 institutions, spread over a three-year cycle. This approach takes into account the institutions’ potential to take measures under Part VII of the OLA, in relation to their respective mandates and the risk factors associated with them.
- All institutions subject to the OLA are required to submit an official languages review at least once during the three-year cycle. The Auditor General of Canada recognized the merits of such an approach and the collaboration between TBS and PCH in a 2015 audit entitled: “Required Reporting by Federal Organizations”.
- Federal institutions are encouraged to share their reviews on the implementation of the OLA with the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages (OCOL), the two parliamentary standing committees on official languages (LANG and OLLO), and interested community stakeholders (including the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada and the Quebec Community Groups Network), through instructions included directly in the forms used to prepare the reviews.
- In addition, federal institutions are reminded of this instruction several times during the process:
- During the information session offered by PCH and TBS to federal institutions regarding the official languages review process (every year in January or February);
- In the tasking email launching the review process (call sent in March each year);
- Under the "Instructions" tab of the questionnaires used to prepare the reviews;
- Two weeks before the deadline for the reviews, institutions that have not yet submitted their review receive a reminder by e-mail that they must submit their review and communicate it to the OCOL and the parliamentary committees.
Considerations
- The OLLO Committee recently informed PCH that some federal institutions had not submitted official languages reports for certain years. PCH and TBS have checked and confirmed that the reports were indeed received. Rather, it appears that the institutions did not share the reports with OLLO.
- There is no legal requirement for institutions to provide a copy of their review to the standing committees on Official Languages; however, this is a long-standing practice that, in the spirit of transparency, is strongly encouraged by PCH and TBS.
- The data collected from federal institutions is used to prepare the Annual Report on Official Languages (AROL) tabled in Parliament by the Minister of Canadian HeritageFootnote 1. Reporting by federal institutions involved in the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018-2023 is done separately from and in addition to the review process. These results, including financial data, are also disseminated through the AROL.
Communications / Consultations
- The OLB consulted the TBS Centre of Excellence for Official Languages to address the concerns recently raised by the OLLO committee.
Conclusion
- PCH and TBS will continue to work together to remind federal institutions of the importance of providing a copy of their official languages review to OCOL, parliamentary committees and key stakeholders.