Minister of National Defence Provides Official Languages Matrix, Commits to Ensuring the Implementation of Corrective Measures
Official Languages Matrix
| Issue | Action Required | Base | Timeline | Objective | Follow-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Safety and Security |
Standard posters regarding food allergies produced and distributed (and posted) to all kitchen halls by 20 Feb 2008. Ensure there is an appropriate manning of bilingual kitchen/mess hall personnel. |
Gagetown / St-Jean | Immediate Action | Guarantee the safety of all pers working & trg on Bases (specifically wrt communication of food allergies, conducting fire drills, and command provided on the ranges. | SAV – Between 1 March 08 to 30 April 09 by Army G1 and G1 OL. |
| Fire drill SOP in both OL with direction given to conduct in both OL. | Gagetown / St-Jean | Immediate Action | |||
| Fire Ranges SOP produced bilingually. All direction provided in both official language. Fire ranges to ask for roster/nominal roll ahead of time with language preferences of each individual known. | Gagetown / St-Jean | Immediate Action | |||
| Health Svcs | Health Svcs Group | CMP | Ensure that an appropriate # of health care personnel are available to provide effective services to mbrs in their first OL. | ||
| COL visibility |
Reinforce role of COL by producing a message to be distributed to all Unit CO indicating who is the COL and what is their duty. Bcomd should invite COL to their O’Groups and encourage and OL presentation on an annual basis. See note 1 below. Ensure that OL Coordinators are prominent in the structure of schools and units and hold consistent rank level for similar responsibilities. |
Gagetown / St-Jean | 20 Feb 2008 | Ensure that the appropriate steps are taken to strengthen and support the visibility of the Coordinators of Official Languages across LFC. | SAV – Between 1 March 08 to 30 April 09 by Army G1 and G1 OL. |
| Instruction | Include OL policy in all course orientation periods, to include informing students on rights and responsibilities and producing a document for their signature and copy PA to crse file. | CTC Schools | 20 Feb 08 ongoing | Inform all students and staff of their linguistic rights and the mechanism in place to assist them in exercising those rights | SAV – Between 1 March 08 to 30 April 09 by Army G1 and G1 OL. |
| Monitor the number of It & E courses provided for military members in both OL. | CTC Schools | GI OL Annual Report | Ensure balanced wait times for trg for Franco and Anglo students. | SAV – Between 1 March 08 to 30 April 09 by Army G1 and G1 OL. | |
| Equitable # of bilingual staff | Advise on units requiring bilingual manning consideration according to established criteria. | CTC Schools | Ongoing | Assign an equitable # of bilingual staff mbrs (both civ and mil) to crse instructor cadre | SAV – Between 1 March 08 to 30 April 09 by Army G1 and G1 OL. |
| Translation services | Distribute directive already in works that already ensures provision of adequate translation services. | G1 OL at LFC HQ | Ongoing | Ensure the provision of adequate translation services | Negotiations with PWGSC Translation Bureau by G1 OL. |
| Leadership | Letter from CLS to senior leadership reinforcing their obligations to foster a bilingual workforce. | G1 OL Gagetown/ St-Jean | Sent on a yearly basis. | Reinforce to senior leadership their obligation to foster a culture of inclusiveness by ensuring that briefings, correspondence, and orders/ directives are communicated in the language commensurate with the audience. | |
| Include OL obligations in performance assessments for senior management as part of the accountability framework for the OL Programme. | Base Comds Gagetown / St-Jean | Yearly | |||
| Cohesive Military Family | Gagetown / St-Jean | Ongoing | Ensure the environments are perceived as welcoming for minority linguistic groups. | Survey mbrs of both linguistic communities to be conducted by G1 OL during SAV from 1 March 08 to 30 April. |
Note 1: Official Language Coordinators- are responsible for the environments and groups and stationed at all DND reporting levels. The Base Coordinator of Official Languages should be in close proximity to the HQs and fall under its authority. The status of these coordinators is varied: they may be either civilians or service personnel, and except for a few, they perform thee duties on a full time basis. All Units should appoint an official languages coordinator to advise management on matters related to official languages and to promote the program within their respective unit.