ARCHIVED - Summary of the 2009-2013 Health Canada Action Plan in Support of Part VII of the Official Languages Act

Health Canada will continue to strengthen ties with the official language minority communities (OLMCs) and its commitment to these communities. As suggested by Canadian Heritage, Health Canada is planning to carry out activities by category of anticipated results.

Awareness

Health Canada will continue its awareness activities with the support of its Network of Official Languages Coordinators across Canada. Numerous information sessions will continue to be held for both new and current employees, supervisors, managers, and senior management. The Department's Web site and some internal publications will provide employees with updated information about the implementation of Part VII of the Official Languages Act. Also, the Rendez-vous de la Francophonie activities, such as the production of information capsules and many cultural activities will give better visibility to the key federal stakeholders responsible for official languages.

Consultation

The Official Language Community Development Bureau (OLCDB) and the Official Languages Coordinators in the regions will continue to hold numerous meetings, teleconferences and formal consultations with representatives from the Anglophone and Francophone minority communities. The Department will continue to support the Consultative Committees for English and French-speaking minority communities in their strategic and operational processes and will continue to ensure that the communities are involved in the deliberations concerning the future of the health components of the Action Plan for Official Languages. It will also ensure that the OLMCs' interests are represented when decisions are made on other programs, policies, new initiatives and priorities, such as the systematic review of the Treasury Board Submissions prepared by Health Canada.

Communication

Conferences, information fairs, symposia, regional cultural events, and site visits will be used to transmit information to the OLMCs, and help identify their needs and priorities with regard to health. Regular maintenance of stakeholder databases and mailing lists will allow for the dissemination of numerous documents and important information. Information on Health Canada programs and services will continue to be provided to OLMCs, including the departmental regional coordinators' network and the OLMCs media. As well, the Health Canada Web site will continue to be a major source of bilingual information to all Canadians.

Coordination and Liaison

The Department's network of regional coordinators will help put the communities in contact with Health Canada's program officials. These coordinators will continue to take part in regional official languages committees, and in particular, in the networks of regional Official Languages Coordinators and in the Federal Regional Councils across Canada. Health Canada's ongoing support for the Official Languages Champions Network and the Committee of Assistant Deputy Ministers on Official Languages, as well as the involvement of the OLCDB in the activities of the Network of National Coordinators (Part VII of the Official Languages Act), on the Coordinating Committee on Official Languages Research, and on the Interdepartmental Policy Committee, will continue to allow the Department to play an important role in the completion of projects put forward by the communities.

Funding and Program Delivery

The OLCDB will manage the new Official Languages Health Contribution Program, with an envelope of $174.3 million from 2008-2009 until 2012-2013, which is a commitment from the Federal government to build on the previous Contribution Program to Improve Access to Health Services for OLMCs. The new program will include the signing of 16 new contribution agreements under three categories: Health Networking, Training and Retention of Health Professionals, and the new Official Languages Health Projects.

Accountability

Health Canada will continue to make diligent use of its grants and contributions monitoring system to maintain an efficient financial management system that is always able to identify the required documents and projects supporting the OLMCs. This enables Health Canada to maintain effective accountability for the assistance it provides to OLMCs. The OLCDB will implement the recommendations of the Management Action Plan for the Summative Evaluation of the Contribution Program to Improve Access to Health Services for OLMCs by setting performance indicators and strategies for collecting, monitoring, and reporting on program-based performance.

Health Canada will submit its annual Status Report which will include the categories of anticipated results and the performance measures requested by Canadian Heritage. As well, Health Canada will continue reporting to Canadian Heritage in the framework of the Roadmap for Canada's linguistic duality.

For a complete copy of the Health Canada Action Plan 2009/10-2012/13 in support of Part VII of the Official Languages Act, please contact the Official Language Community Development Bureau.

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