[ Backgrounder ]November 20, 2003Ottawa - The Honourable Lucienne Robillard, President of the Treasury Board of Canada and M.P. forWestmount - Ville-Marie, announced today important changes to the Government of Canada's official languages policiesthat will take effect on April 1, 2004."This is a significant step in the renewal of the Official Languages Program. These new policies will facilitateimplementation across federal institutions, thus enhancing linguistic duality in the Public Service of Canada,"Minister Robillard said.The new policies introduce changes to staffing and language training. Their objective is twofold: tostrengthen bilingual capacity in the public service, and to integrate language training into professionaldevelopment.One of the key changes is that bilingual positions must be filled by bilingual persons. Exceptions must be approvedby the deputy minister or assistant deputy minister. Currently, bilingual positions are staffed either imperatively ornon-imperatively. From now on, imperative staffing will be the norm. It will become mandatory for executive positionsat the EX-03 level in 2005 and in 2007 for the EX-02 level. This measure applies to executive positions in bilingualregions and to those in unilingual regions who supervise employees holding bilingual positions in a bilingualregion.Madame Robillard said that an exemplary workplace emphasizes training that enables employees to progress throughtheir careers. Language training will take on greater importance and will become a tool for professionaldevelopment."We are committed to providing better access to language courses at the beginning of careers so that unilingualemployees can acquire language skills and thereby take on other responsibilities and challenges." The new policies are integrated, easy to understand and more values-based. They provide for stronger accountabilityand clearly establish the roles and responsibilities of federal departments and agencies. They specify expected resultsand provide for consequences for non-compliance. Any departure from official languages policies could result indecreased performance pay for executives, a complaint to the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages or alegal remedy sought in the Federal Court of Canada. In addition, Treasury Board Secretariat will conduct targetedaudits, the results of which will be included in its annual report on official languages to Parliament.For more details, please refer to the attached backgrounder. The full text of the new policies is available on theSecretariat's Web site at www.tbs-sct.gc.ca.For further information, please contact:Russell Milon Senior Legislative Assistant Office of the President of the Treasury Board of Canada (613) 957-2666Mario Baril Media Relations Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (613) 957-2391IF THERE IS A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN ANY PRINTED VERSION AND THE ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THIS NEWS RELEASE, THEELECTRONIC VERSION WILL PREVAIL.TTY (Telecommunications device for the hearing-impaired) - (613) 957-9090BackgrounderNew Official Languages PoliciesA review of all Treasury Board policies was announced in August 2002. This exercise aims to reduce the number ofpolicies, clarify roles and responsibilities, improve accessibility to the policies, and adapt them to user needs.Official Languages policies are the first to be reviewed.Six policy instruments will take effect on April 1, 2004:Official Languages Policy FrameworkPolicy on Language of WorkPolicy on Official Languages for Human Resources ManagementDirective on the Linguistic Identification of Positions or FunctionsDirective on the Staffing of Bilingual PositionsDirective on Language Training and Learning RetentionThe policy framework provides an umbrella for all the official languages policy instruments and constitutes asummary of the institutions' language obligations. The policies apply to all institutions subject to the OfficialLanguages Act (the Act) except the Senate, the House of Commons and the Library of Parliament. Theyelaborate on the major principles in the Act. All the directives apply to the departments and to some otherinstitutions subject to the Act. They prescribe the manner in which these principles are to be applied.Together, these measures make up our strategy for maintaining a balance between equitable access to positions forCanada's two official language communities and the delivery of quality services in both official languages.New approaches1. Official Languages Policy FrameworkThe primary objectives of the official languages program are to deliver quality services to the public throughinstitutional bilingualism, to create and maintain a work environment conducive to the use of both officiallanguages, and to provide English- and French-speaking Canadians with equal opportunities for employment andadvancement in federal institutions.2. Policy on Language of WorkEnglish and French are the official languages of work in federal institutions. In regions designated as bilingualfor language-of-work purposes, both official languages are the languages of work. In unilingual regions, the languageof work is generally the one that predominates in the province or territory. Obligations to provide service to thepublic as well as supervision and personal and central services to employees take precedence over an employee'sright to use one language or the other. These principles apply as defined in the policy requirements.The Policy on Language of Work consolidates and replaces the following policies:Policy on Communications between RegionsPolicy on Language of Work in Bilingual RegionsPolicy on Language of Work in Unilingual Regions3. Policy on Official Languages for Human Resources ManagementThe language requirements of positions or functions are determined objectively. They reflect the duties of employeesor their work units as well as the obligations related to service to the public and language of work in theOfficial Languages Act.A position designated as bilingual is filled by a candidate who meets the language requirements of that position. Inexceptional cases, the position may be filled by an employee who does not possess the required language skills. Theinstitution then provides language training to allow the candidate to acquire these skills and takes measures to ensurethat the bilingual functions of the position are carried out in the interim.Institutions ensure that English- and French-speaking Canadians have equal opportunities for employment andadvancement while respecting the merit principle. They use recruitment strategies that ensure equitable participationof both official language communities.The Policy on Official Languages for Human Resources Management consolidates and replaces the followingpolicies:Policy on the Participation of English-Speaking and French-Speaking CanadiansPolicy on the Staffing of Bilingual PositionsPolicy on Language TrainingPolicy Concerning the Language Requirements for Members of the Executive GroupPolicy on the Identification of Functions or Positionsa) Directive on the Staffing of Bilingual Positions Imperative staffingImperative staffing will now become the norm for all bilingual positions. It remains mandatory for Assistant DeputyMinister positions across Canada. It will become mandatory for staffing of bilingual positions at the EX-03 and EX-02levels. This new measure applies to executives in bilingual regions. The change also applies to executives inunilingual regions who supervise staff holding bilingual positions in bilingual regions. Implementation will be doneprogressively. The cut-off dates for positions staffed internally to the public service are as follows:Status quo for Assistant Deputy Minister positions (EX-04 and EX-05), since the existing policy already requiresimperative staffing2005 for EX-03s2007 for EX-02s Non-imperative staffingIn exceptional cases, non-imperative staffing may still be used:for positions at the EX-01 and lower levelsfor positions open to the publicUse of non-imperative staffing must now be justified in writing and approved by thedeputy minister for executivepositions or by an assistant deputy minister for other positions. b) Directive on the Linguistic Identification of Positions or FunctionsThe language requirements of positions or functions are determined objectively. They reflect the duties of employeesor their work units as well as obligations with respect to service to the public and language of work. Owing to theirsupervisory and leadership role in institutions, positions or functions at the assistant deputy minister level andother assistant deputy head titles across Canada and those of members of the Executive Group in regions designated asbilingual for language-of-work purposes are identified as bilingual at the "CBC" level. c) Directive on Language Training and Learning RetentionEmployees who wish to develop or improve their language skills in order to advance their careers will be consideredfor access to language training. Institutions should encourage this type of training and integrate it into employees'professional development plans.Language training will continue to be available in the case of non-imperative staffing. Executives appointed ordeployed to bilingual non-imperative positions must take language training before assuming their duties. It is alsorecommended that this measure apply to other employee groups, or at least that they begin language training as soon aspossible after appointment.In order to reflect current language training needs, the maximum number of hourshave been increased by 410 for levels Band C, and 210 for level A. All employees, including executives and Career Assignment Program (CAP) members, arenow subject to the following training hour limits:1,210 hours for level A1,710 hours for level B2,270 hours for level CLanguage Training Canada has received additional funds under the Action Plan for Official Languages forlanguage training. These funds are for eliminating waiting lists and developing learning tools.Next stepThis is the first phase in the review of official languages policies. Over the next year, Treasury Board Secretariatwill revise its policies regarding services and communications with the public. This project is a key initiativeundertaken by the Government to modernize the Public Service of Canada.
