Briefing binder for the President of the Public Service Commission of Canada for the appearance before the Standing Committee on Official Languages - 2020-12-08

Notice of meeting
Speaking Notes for Patrick Borbe
- Introduction
- Conclusion
Measures taken by the PSC to promote OL during the pandemic
Background information on Second Language Evaluation (SLE) Temporary Measures
- Supporting tools
Second Language Evaluation
- 1. Moved to remote fulfillment of e-test orders.
- 2. Implemented new remote oral test.
- 3. New UIT reading and writing tests
- 4. PSC Onsite Testing Centres
Volumes - Second Language Evaluations
Recent engagement with Official Languages Minority Communities
Key Points
Unique Applicants (External) to the public service by first official language and fiscal year
Self-assessed language proficiency of external applicants, by fiscal year
Summary of Implementing Section 91 of the Official Languages Act:
- CONTEXT
- KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE REPORT
- Overview of the findings of the Office of the Commissioner’s analysis
- Interviews with federal institutions on implementing section 91 of the Act
- Overview of the findings of the Office of the Commissioner’s interview process
- Interviews with stakeholders on implementing section 91 of the Act
- Conclusions
- The Commissioner’s recommendations
The Office Of The Commissioner of Official Languages Summary
- CONTEXT
- KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE ANNUAL REPORT
- Overview of the findings of the Office of the Commissioner’s survey
- Language of Work
- Federal Institutions and Official Languages
- Pandemic
  - Appeal of the ruling in Dionne
- Official Languages in Canadian Society
- Francophone immigration targets
Key Highlights: The Impact Of Emergency Situations On Official Languages Report
- Overview
- Methodology
- Findings of the questionnaire
- Language of work
- Recommendations
- Recommendation 1
- Recommendation 2
- Recommendation 3
Summary of Canadian Heritage Annual Report on Official Languages 2018-2019
- CONTEXT
- Overview
- Amendments to the Official Languages
- Launch of a Review with a view to modernizing the Official Languages Act
- Supporting community stakeholders
- Contracting and employment opportunities
- Increasing Francophone immigration
- FPT immigration action plan
- Strengthening access to services
- Support for minority language education
- Promotion of official languages
- Promotion of linguistic duality in Canada
Official Language Exemptions
Members Profile Standing Committee on Official Languages
- Emmanuel Dubourg
- Steven Blaney
- Mario Beaulieu
- René Arseneault
- Niki Ashton
- Marc Dalton
- Terry Duguid
- Bernard Généreux
- Marie-France Lalonde
- Patricia Lattanzio
- Soraya Martinez Ferrada
- John Williamson
Information for human resources specialists: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
Questions and answers for human resources specialists: Coronavirus disease
(COVID-19)New second language tests: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)Amended conditions for the use of COVID-related measures for second
language assessment (20-14) New Public Service Commission unsupervised test of reading comprehension for level B or C (20-13)

Notice of meeting

Standing Committee on Official Languages (LANG)

43rd Parliament, 2nd Session

Meeting 10

Tuesday, December 8, 2020, 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Room 425, Wellington Building, 197 Sparks Street

Webcast

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Government’s Ability to Deliver Information in Both Official Languages

Witnesses

3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages

Raymond Théberge, Commissioner of Official Languages
Pierre Leduc, Assistant Commissioner, Policy and Communications Branch
Ghislaine Saikaley, Assistant Commissioner, Compliance Assurance Branch
Pascale Giguère, General Counsel, Legal Affairs Branch

4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Association de la presse francophone

Linda Lauzon, Director General

East Island Network for English Language Services

Fatiha Gatre Guemiri, Executive Director

Community Health and Social Services Network

Jennifer Johnson, Executive Director

Public Service Commission

Patrick Borbey, President
Susan Dubreuil, Acting Director General, Personnel Psychology Centre

Speaking Notes for Patrick Borbey

President of the Public Service Commission of Canada

On the

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the government’s ability to deliver information in both official languages

House of Commons’

Standing Committee on Official Languages

December 8, 2020

4:30pm to 5:30pm

Check against delivery

Introduction

Mr. Chair, thank you for inviting me to appear before the Committee today. I want to begin by acknowledging that we are on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabeg people.

I am pleased to have in attendance with me my colleague Susan Dubreuil, acting Director General of the Personnel Psychology Centre.

I would like to share what my organization has done to quickly adapt and ensure that our obligations under the Official Languages Act were respected during the pandemic. I will also discuss actions the Public Service Commission (PSC) took to ensure that departments and agencies were able to staff bilingual positions, including those in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Finally, I will provide some data on public service staffing that I hope the committee will find useful for its study.

What the PSC has done to quickly adapt and ensure that obligations under the Official Languages Act were respected during the pandemic

To respect our obligations under the Official Languages Act (Act) during the pandemic, the PSC quickly adapted to changing circumstances. The department took action, both internally with its employees, in accordance with Part V of the Official Languages Act as well as in communications and services with its clients and with the public, in accordance with Part IV of the Act.

Since last March, all communications with employees have continued to be in both official languages (OL) simultaneously. This includes frequent email messages from myself, COVID-19 updates, and any other internal communications to employees.

Over the past 9 months, we held three virtual bilingual all-staff meetings. We have been finding innovative solutions to deliver these events with simultaneous interpretation. In my role as leader of the organization, I raise official languages obligations with my executive management team on a regular basis, and I insist that employees have the right to write and speak in their preferred official language.

When dealing with the public, all communications with Canadians have continued to be in both official languages, and released simultaneously in both French and English.

This includes the content on our website and social media, answering public inquiries, and providing information sessions to job seekers. Prior to, and throughout the pandemic, I have ensured that, when invited to participate in any event, I always deliver my remarks in both official languages.

In response to the pandemic, the PSC has partnered with Health Canada, in establishing an inventory of volunteers to support provinces, territories and the Canadian Red Cross in their urgent health services human resource needs. All materials were bilingual and communications with Canadians were in the official language of their choice.

The safety, security and well-being of our clients and employees is critical to our service delivery and in designing new staffing and assessment solutions, but never at the expense of the Official Languages Act.

Organizations’ responsibilities regarding official languages within the federal public service

There are several organizations with responsibilities regarding official languages within the federal public service.

In accordance with the Public Service Employment Act, Deputy Heads are responsible for establishing official language proficiency as an essential qualification required for the work to be performed. They are also accountable for ensuring their employees meet the official language requirements of their positions.

The Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, part of the Treasury Board Secretariat, is responsible for policies related to languages in communications and services to the public, as well as official languages in the workplace. They are also responsible for establishing second official language qualification standards.

The PSC’s primary role is in the assessment of official languages, including the provision of second language evaluation (SLE) tests.

For the assessment of proficiency in the second official language for bilingual positions, the PSC Appointment Policy requires that all departments and agencies in the core public administration use PSC tests. These second language evaluations are administered in PSC test centres across the country, as well as in selected departments and agencies. In addition, our tests are widely used by separate employers such as the Canada Revenue Agency and the Canadian Armed Forces.

These second official language tests ensure that merit is met with respect to staffing bilingual positions so that Canadians can be served in the official language of their choice, and public servants can work in the official language of their choice.

On an annual basis, the PSC conducts or oversees more than 100 000 second language tests. Our databases hold over 4 million test results, the majority of which are second language test results.

There are close to 86 000 bilingual positions in the federal core public administration, not counting separate agencies. This represents 43% of all core public administration positions.

Actions the PSC took to ensure that other agencies and departments were able to staff critical positions related to COVID-19

The pandemic has impacted government operations in many areas. In our case, it has affected the capacity to conduct in-person second language evaluation testing.

The PSC promptly put in place two temporary policy measures and supporting guidance. They provide more flexibility to departments and agencies in assessing second language requirements for appointments to bilingual positions. Both measures are meant to ensure that merit with regard to official languages and linguistic obligations provided by the Official Languages Act are respected.

These measures allowed Deputy Heads to recruit the bilingual talent needed to support efforts related to COVID-19 or to ensure the effective functioning of the Government of Canada.

A Pulse Survey with organizations was conducted to obtain feedback on these temporary measures and to give us a sense of their use. The Survey showed that 90% of respondents indicated that the two measures were useful to respond to their staffing needs.

Furthermore, the PSC implemented new virtual Second Language Interviews for oral proficiency. These are administered remotely by PSC assessors to candidates in their own homes. Over 5 000 virtual interviews have been administered as of November 20^th, 2020.

We also launched unsupervised internet testing to evaluate second language reading and writing skills. These tests are performed online by candidates in their home.

We recognize that remote internet testing is the way of the future for second language evaluations. We are working diligently to incrementally enhance our remote testing to better meet the needs of departments and agencies, as well as those of Canadians who will no longer have to travel to our offices for tests. This is a priority for the PSC.

The PSC also continues to ensure that our tests are accessible to all Canadians, including those with disabilities. All new second language evaluations are reviewed by test development experts for accessibility and fairness. They are also available in multiple formats to accommodate the needs of diverse test takers.

I should note that we have informed the Office of the Official Languages Commissioner prior to implementing these measures.

Information regarding official languages

Before I close, let me share with you some interesting information and statistics on official languages and public service staffing.

The public service attracts bilingual candidates and we continue to see improvements to that effect. The percentage of candidates to externally advertised job opportunities who identify themselves as bilingual has increased from 37.5% in 2018-2019 to 38.4% in 2019-2020. And there are bilingual candidates in all parts of the country, not just in the National Capital Region.

We are also successful in attracting applicants from Official Language Minority Communities across the country. Last year, 10.8% of applicants to public service positions were from these communities, significantly above their representation in the Canadian population, which is 6.9%.

These results are a demonstration of the PSC’s commitment to official languages. In 2019-2020 alone, the PSC participated in 48 events with Official Language Minority Communities across the country to promote our recruitment programs. These included career fairs at bilingual or minority language academic institutions, as well as information sessions with official language community organizations and business groups.

These events help promote linguistic duality, enable the PSC to better understand the needs of these communities, and encourage their members to apply to federal public service jobs.

Conclusion

Linguistics duality is a fundamental value of the public service and is at the core of our merit-based, impartial staffing system. This is the responsibility of all federal organizations and all public servants. We recognize that the pandemic has brought many challenges to the delivery of programs and services to Canadians. We are committed to developing and deploying solutions that will protect and promote bilingualism and linguistic duality across the federal public service.

I am pleased to answer your questions.

Thank you.

Measures taken by the PSC to promote OL during the pandemic

On March 20, 2020, the Commissioner of Official Languages wrote to all federal OL champions to remind them of the importance of communicating in both OL. The Human Resources Management Directorate (HRMD), along with OL co-champions, posted Update at the PSC messages to remind employees of the importance to respect OL in time of pandemic.

The PSC made a particular effort during the pandemic to ensure that communication materials were released or posted simultaneously and of equal quality in both OL, including special measures throughout Q1 (April 1 to June 30, 2020):

Overtime by available editors, translators, web coders, social media staff, Parliamentary affairs staff, media officers, strategic communications advisors, managers, Director and Director General;
Translation and editing done by qualified personnel in all teams and levels within Communications;
New processes to handle internally distributed editing and translation work;
New contract with a private translation firm capable of responding to timeliness and quality requirements (ongoing); and
Continued engagement with senior management to obtain consensus and approval on re-prioritizing and/or deferral of less urgent work (ongoing).

The PSC ensured that Canadians would continue to be served in both OL during the pandemic:

The PSC conducts regular monitoring of Second Language Evaluation (SLE) results for its employees in bilingual positions. This monitoring is conducted by the Human Resources Management Directorate (HRMD).
Each Vice-President of the PSC receives a report concerning all employees, identifying OL test results that have expired or do not meet the profile of the position.
Management and managers must then take the necessary measures to ensure that their employees meet the language requirements of their position.
Two monitoring exercises roughly correspond to the pandemic period: the February 2020 monitoring and the August 2020 monitoring.
The monitoring of SLEs gives us a good indication whether resources need to be reallocated to front-line services so that Canadians can continue to be served in both OL.

The PSC had identified official languages considerations as part of its Business Continuity Plan or its Emergency Communications Plan ahead of the pandemic.

Official languages considerations are built into the structure of the PSC’s Business Continuity and Business Resumption Plan, which includes its Emergency/Crisis Communications Plan, via its governance. This applies to the version of the BCP (2015) that was in place in March 2020, as well as the recently updated BCP.

The organization ensured that translation and editing services during the pandemic were used consistently, including using special measures throughout Q1 (April 1 to June 30, 2020)

Overtime by available editors, translators, web coders, social media staff, Parliamentary affairs staff, media officers, strategic communications advisors, managers, Director and Director General;
Translation and editing done by qualified personnel within the entire Communications directorate;
New processes to handle internally distributed editing and translation work;
New contract with a private translation firm capable of responding to timeliness and quality requirements (ongoing); and
Continued engagement with senior management to obtain consensus and approval on re-prioritizing and/or deferral of less urgent work (ongoing).

Of note, the PSC is currently completing the departmental self-assessment against the OCOL OL Maturity Model even though it is not required by the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages to do so. We expect the analysis to be complete this winter, which will allow to identify any required actions to be added to our 2021-2022 people management activities.
Following the Executive Management Committee (EMC) meeting on August 27^th, 2020, the President of the PSC invited employees to find alternative ways to promote bilingual meetings in remote work context. Here are two ideas that have been identified and are in development:

Tips for conducting bilingual meetings could be included when we send an invitation to a meeting on TEAMS;
Creation of wallpapers on TEAMS with information on good practices for conducting bilingual meetings.

Background information on Second Language Evaluation (SLE) Temporary Measures

In normal circumstances, the PSC Appointment Policy requires all departments and agencies to use PSC tests for the assessment of proficiency in second language for all appointments to bilingual positions.
PSC tests are administered in PSC test centers across the country, as well as in departments and agencies
The pandemic situation has had an impact on government operations in many areas; in our case, it has affected PSC and departments’ capacity to conduct in-person testing.
The PSC has therefore taken steps to provide additional flexibility so that departments and agencies can continue to meet their needs to staff bilingual positions.
The Office of the Official Language Commissioner was consulted on the proposed measures before they were implemented.
On March 24, 2020, the PSC implemented 2 temporary policy measures for the assessment of second official language qualifications for appointments to bilingual positions. These measures are currently available until March 31, 2021.
Deputy heads are exempted from the requirement to use PSC’s second language evaluation (SLE) tests when assessing second language proficiency (reading, writing and oral).
The alternate tests used by departments and agencies must respect the guiding principles established by the PSC.
This measure is similar to a pilot that the PSC started a few years ago with a few departments, allowing hiring managers to assess themselves oral interaction proficiency of candidates in their second official language.
Extension of the validity period of expired SLE results for all appointments.
For all appointments over 12 months, appointees must have their official language proficiency confirmed through PSC SLE tests within 24 months of the appointment.
A similar measure was used at the time of the Deficit Reduction Action Plan (DRAP) (from April 2012 to March 2015), when the federal government had to proceed with workforce adjustment. This measure facilitated the reappointment of persons who were laid off or declared surplus.
Departments and agencies will be asked to report on the use of these measures in their regular annual reporting to the PSC.
Both measures are meant to ensure that merit with regard to official languages and linguistic obligations provided by the Official Languages Act are respected. The deputy head must ensure that their institution is able to continue to communicate and serve Canadians and public servants in both official languages, to supervise bilingual employees in bilingual regions in the official language of their choice and to create a work environment conducive to the use of both official languages.

Supporting tools.

The PSC has implemented and promoted guidance and hands-on toolkits on how to develop second language reading, writing and oral tests.
Questions and answers and other tools have been developed to help managers and human resources specialists.

Second Language Evaluation

1. Moved to remote fulfillment of e-test orders.

PSC shifted staff to remote work and continued to fill departmental orders for its standard e-tests to departments able to administer the tests at their own test centres (e.g. Canadian Forces).

2. Implemented new remote oral test.

PSC implemented new Second Language Interviews (for oral) which are administered remotely by PSC assessors to candidates in their own homes. Over 5000 interviews have been administered as of November 20.
Shortly, PSC will release a new version of these interviews with portable results, valid for 5 years. This new release responds directly to feedback received from departments about the need for portable test results.

3. New UIT reading and writing tests.

The PSC launched new unsupervised reading & writing tests for staffing processes posted to the Public Service Recruitment System on GC Jobs.
Departments (HR users) can invite job applicants to take these tests remotely in their own homes. PSC has approved the use of these tests on over 319 processes as of November 15^th.
PSC also heard from departments regarding their interest in having these tests expanded to other uses. Consequently, we piloted a new service with several departments and will soon offer more widely UIT testing for language training, students, non-ads, updating test results, etc.

4. PSC Onsite Testing Centres

PSC recently opened its test centre in Halifax and will progressively resume the administration of its standard supervised reading and writing tests in this centre. Test administration services in other PSC test centres will resume when it is safe to do so.

Volumes - Second Language Evaluations

Test of Reading Comprehension

Test of Reading Comprehension	2018-2019	2019-2020	April 1 to October 31, 2020
Online	29,616	29,383	1,710
Paper	1,708	1,971	65
SLE UIT (New-Covid)	0	0	1,350
Total	31,324	31,354	3,125

Test of Written Expression

Test of Written Expression	2018-2019	2019-2020	April 1 to October 31, 2020
Online	35,906	36,192	2,056
Paper	1,732	2,144	69
SLE UIT (New-Covid)	0	0	1,966
Total	37,638	38,336	4,091

Oral Proficiency Test

Oral Proficiency Test	2018-2019	2019-2020	April 1 to October 31, 2020
TOP/MTOP	30,497	31,111	39
SLE interview (New-Covid)	0	0	4,159
Total	30,497	31,111	4,198

Recent engagement with Official Languages Minority Communities

In the current fiscal year, engagement with Official Languages Minority Communities (OLMCs) has been impacted by the pandemic with the complete cessation of in-person outreach events. While it has been challenging for organizations to adjust to completely virtual outreach forums, the Public Service Commission (PSC) continues to reach out to OLMC academic institutions and associations to promote careers in the federal public service and to provide information sessions on how to apply.

Examples of outreach events in 2020-2021 include:

On June 4, 2020, the PSC partnered with Canadian Heritage and participated in the Forum Communautaire, hosted by the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique, where an information session on employment and bilingualism in the federal public service was offered.
On August 20, 2020, an information session on employment in the federal public service was given in Toronto, in partnership with Connecture Canada. Approximately 75 people attended, the majority of whom were mid-career individuals. Connecture Canada is a group that focuses on the promotion and development of open environments that encourage francophone immigrants and bilingual individuals to explore opportunities for their careers.
On November 13, 2020, the PSC attended a career event for francophone universities in the Atlantic Region at the Université Sainte-Anne in Nova Scotia. Fifteen students attended an information session where we explained how to effectively apply to the federal public service. Attendees were largely foreign students.

In 2019-2020, the PSC participated in 48 external events related to OLMCs across Canada, with the objective of promoting careers in the federal public service and providing information to job seekers on how to apply. These included career fairs at bilingual or OLMC academic institutions, information sessions with official language community organizations and business groups. A total of 4,476 participants were present at these events. Examples of events include:

an information session for business students at the Université de Sainte Anne in Nova Scotia
a career fair in Halifax for bilingual high school student employment opportunities
the John Abbott College job fair in Montreal
an OL targeted career fair at York University in Toronto
a Speed Staffing career fair, organized by La Société de développement économique Colombie-Britannique
Le Forum Local (Vancouver and Victoria), organized by Français pour l’avenir
the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), funded by Heritage Canada
the annual Rendez-Vous de la Francophonie celebrations
a presentation to a group of francophone businesses in Charlottetown in partnership with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)
presented at Voice of English-Speaking Quebec, in partnership with Veterans Affairs Canada
an information session at Bishop’s University in Quebec, with CRA and Service Canada.

Other information

In 2020-2021, the PSC continues to:

Actively participate in OL interdepartmental committees such as the Federal Council Official Language Committees and sub-committees in all five PSC regions across Canada, to exchange best practices, lessons learned, and to explore interdepartmental partnership opportunities for outreach to OLMCs.
Ensure that all national outreach events are organized and scheduled to offer sessions in both official languages, and to respond to questions from the public in the OL of their choice. In addition, the PSC ensures that promotional material at information sessions and career events are always available in both languages.

Key Points

Applicant data:

In 2019-2020, the first official language of 76.5% (310,339) of applicants to external processes was English whereas 23.5% (95,567) was French. This is roughly consistent with previous years.
When we consider the public service’s ability to attract bilingual candidates we continue to see improvement.
The proportion of self-assessed bilingual[1] applicants to the public service increased from 37.5% in 2018-2019 to 38.4% in 2019-2020.
Within our student programs we also see a significant share of bilingual applicants.
The proportion of self-assessed bilingual applicants to the Federal Student Work Experience Program (FSWEP) program was 41.2% in 2019-2020, down slightly from 43.4% in 2018-2019.
The percentage of Official Language Minority (OLM) applicants[2] to the public service in 2019-2020 was 10.8%, slightly lower than a year prior, 11.4% in 2018-2019, but well above the departmental target of 6.9% (based on OLM representation in the Canadian population).

Bilingual positions:

The following information comes from the TBS Annual Report on Official Languages 2018–19:

As of March 31, 2019, the percentage of bilingual positions under the Core Public Administration (CPA) was 42.7% (85,857).
In the fiscal year 2018-2019, 94.8% of employees in bilingual positions under the CPA met the position language requirements.
The majority of bilingual positions are found in Quebec – excluding the National Capital Region (where 67.1% of positions are bilingual), in the National Capital Region (where 65.1% of positions are bilingual), and in New Brunswick (where 49.9% of positions are bilingual).

[1] A bilingual applicant is defined as an individual that self-assessed their language proficiency as intermediate or higher in both official languages.

[2] Official language minority applicants refers to French-speaking applicants outside of Quebec and English-speaking applicants within Quebec

Unique Applicants (External) to the public service by first official language and fiscal year

Key Observations:

In 2019-2020, the first official language of 76.5% (310,339) of applicants to external processes was English whereas 23.5% (95,567) was French. This is roughly consistent with previous years. This is roughly consistent with previous year. These calculations exclude unknowns (1,768).

Slightly more than 3/4 of unique applicants were anglophones and slightly less than 1/4 were francophones.

Outlier Analysis:

No significant variance from previous year.

Unique Applicants (External) to the public service by first official language and fiscal year

Year	Anglophone	Francophone	Unknown	Total
2010-2011	137,095	52,640	113	189,848
2011-2012	164,147	58,147	63	222,357
2012-2013	116,563	35,713	66	152,342
2013-2014	133,756	43,015	0	176,771
2014-2015	148,426	54,691	0	203,117
2015-2016	176,137	63,819	0	239,956
2016-2017	183,959	67,990	14,267	266,216
2017-2018	221,628	78,916	23,832	324,376
2018-2019	329,482	100,578	2,648	432,708
2019-2020	310,339	95,567	1,768	407,674

Federal Student Work Experience Program

Year	Total
2016-2017	14,267
2017-2018	23,832
2018-2019	2,648
2019-2020	1,768

Share of Unique Applicants (External) to the public service by first official language and fiscal year

Year	Anglophone	Francophone
2010-2011	72.3%	27.7%
2011-2012	73.8%	26.2%
2012-2013	76.5%	23.5%
2013-2014	75.7%	24.3%
2014-2015	73.1%	26.9%
2015-2016	73.4%	26.6%
2016-2017	73.0%	27.0%
2017-2018	73.7%	26.3%
2018-2019	76.6%	23.4%
2019-2020	76.5%	23.5%

Source(s)

fiscaldb.psrs_applications_2010_2011, fiscaldb.psrs_applications_2011_2012, fiscaldb.psrs_applications_2012_2013, fiscaldb.psrs_applications_2013_2014, fiscaldb.psrs_applications_2014_2015, fiscaldb.psrs_applications_2015_2016, fiscaldb.psrs_applications_2016_2017, fiscaldb.psrs_applications_2017_2018, fiscaldb.psrs_applications_2018_2019, fiscaldb.psrs_applications_2019_2020

Technical Notes:

Includes organizations subject to the Public Service Employment Act.

Applicant data refers to information on selected characteristics (e.g. geographical area and educational profile) for applicants to externally advertised processes.

Excludes applications for cancelled advertisements.

Self-assessed language proficiency of external applicants, by fiscal year

Key Observations:

The percentage of self-assessed bilingual applicants to the public service increased from 37.5% in 2018-2019 to 38.4% in 2019-2020. This excludes applicants to the Federal Student Work Experience Program.

The percentage of self-assessed bilingual applicants to the FSWEP program decreased from 43.4% in 2018-2019 to 41.2% in 2019-2020.

Outlier Analysis:

No significant variance from previous year.

Self-assessed language proficiency of unique applicants to Jobs Open to the Public, Post-Secondary Recruitment Program, Research Affiliate Program, and Recruitment of Policy Leaders Initiative, by fiscal year

Language Proficiency	Count 2018-2019	Percent 2018-2019	Count 2019-2020	Percent 2019-2020
Bilingual *	139,685	37.5%	121,970	38.4%
Unilingual	232,822	62.5%	195,342	61.6%
Total	372,507	100.0%	317,321	100.0%