Dashboard on the status of the language of work recommendations

Launch an awareness campaign to raise the number of students who know and support federal language of work requirements and are taking concrete steps to improve their second language skills.

• The Public Service Commission (PSC) has developed informative videos for the public to demystify language requirements and the benefits of being and remaining bilingual in the public service.
• The Student Ambassador Initiative was launched in the fall of 2019. Twenty-one Deputy Minister University Champion departments participated at 23 universities, and 25 total student ambassadors were hired. They held office hours, offered information sessions and shared social media posts to promote and demystify careers in the public service, including raising awareness of the language requirements of positions as well as best practices for improving and maintaining skills in your second official language.

• The videos are being finalized prior to release in virtual information sessions and on the PSC website and social media.
• A year-end report on the Student Ambassador initiative has been drafted. It will include results of Year 1, and provide options and recommendations to senior management for Year 2.

During the annual consultations of the Committee of Assistant Deputy Ministers on Official Languages with Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs) in February 2020, the career opportunities for young Anglophones in Quebec were discussed and courses of action and collaboration were identified.

Develop a recruitment strategy to increase recruitment of bilingual employees and promote official languages on public service recruitment sites to make it easier for job seekers to find positions with language profiles that correspond to their current or future skills.

• In 2019–20, the PSC participated in 48 external events related to OLMCs across Canada. These included career fairs at bilingual or OLMC academic institutions, and information sessions with OLMC organizations and business groups. Approximately 4,476 participants were present at these events.
• The PSC conducts consultation and networking activities with OLMC associations and academic institutions across Canada through the above-mentioned outreach events. Many of the issues raised by OLMC students and potential candidates were similar to those mentioned by the general public; questions were related to the lack of knowledge about the federal public service as an employer and the application and recruitment processes. The PSC has developed a series of videos explaining the application process which also includes a section on official languages in the federal public service. The videos will be disseminated in 2020–2021 through their website as well as through information sessions.

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Canadian Heritage (PCH) is continuing its various awareness, communication and official languages promotion activities to foster the development of OLMCs. For example, the tool developed in collaboration with the communities on the guiding principles for the OLMC consultation process is now available on canada.ca and has been widely promoted within the public service.

Design and implement a mandatory component for all orientation programs for new staff to familiarize them with their language rights and obligations.

The Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) launched a GCwiki page and created a newsletter to provide Persons Responsible for Official Languages (PROLs) with a reliable platform for information sharing. In addition, the TBS Official Languages Centre of Excellence is offering PROLs training on official languages to support them in helping their respective institutions meet their official languages obligations.

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Incorporate automated prompts and reminders on the rights and linguistic obligations of public servants in information technology tools that they routinely use.

Given the shift to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, TBS provided departments with screen backgrounds that can be used on MS Teams during bilingual meetings to encourage and promote the use of both official languages.

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That the Public Service Commission of Canada, the Canada School of Public Service and the Treasury Board Secretariat build on existing work to establish an "OL: What Works" portal for the public service to coordinate the dissemination and exchange of best practices and intervention tools that are currently in use.

• The Working Group on the Centralization of Official Language Resources, which includes representatives from seven federal organizations, launched the Official Languages Hub^® on September 12, 2019. This search engine is available on the Language Portal of Canada website, which was consulted over 8 million times in 2019–2020.
• The names "Carrefour des langues officielles^®" and "Official Languages Hub^®" were officially registered in spring 2020.
• The Official Languages Hub^® was promoted in a government-wide campaign coordinated by the Language Portal of Canada. In addition to highlighting the tool in presentations and at kiosks, the Language Portal team prepared a bilingual promotional toolkit for federal organizations that would like to help the Portal promote the Hub. Several federal organizations have used content from the toolkit in their internal communications and on their social media accounts.

• Promoting of the Official Languages Hub^® is a key part of the Language Portal’s promotional activities.
• The next phase of the project began in fall 2020 in partnership with the Council of the Network of Official Languages Champions.

• Resources from seven federal organizations can be accessed through the Official Languages Hub^®, including: official languages promotion and awareness tools, best practices, policy instruments, and resources to learn English or French as a second language and to help maintain second language competencies.
• The Canadian program for learning English and French as second languages (see Recommendation 8) will eventually be accessible on the Language Portal.

That all federal institutions be required to have an annual official languages plan to improve the language skills of its employees, including employees at offices based in unilingual regions and those who belong to employment equity groups.

• The Interdepartmental Official Languages Learning Task Team addressed recommendations 6, 7, 8, and 9 comprehensively by supporting initiatives aimed at improving second language training, better supporting learners, and increasing learner success.
• The Task Team developed the Mental Health Path to equip second-language learners with tools to promote mental health and well-being. This initiative also supports Recommendation 7.
• The Task Team has also developed a culturally adapted learning program to meet the needs of Indigenous Peoples while helping them successfully attain a second language profile of BBB or CBC. Due to COVID-19, a pilot of the program aimed at helping learners achieve BBB has been delayed until 2021–2022. For additional information on this initiative, please see Recommendation 7.

• Launch of second language learning Mental Health Path.
• Indigenous Language Learning Pilot for BBB level (2021–2022).

The Task Team developed a decision tree to help federal institutions to prioritize access to language training – the tool is available to institutions on Treasury Board Secretariat official languages community platforms (see Recommendation 8).

That the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS) conduct a comparative effectiveness study of the various second language teaching methods that are or could be offered to employees, taking into account the needs of members of employment equity groups.

• The Interdepartmental Official Languages Learning Task Team developed a culturally adapted language learning solution for Indigenous Peoples based on extensive consultations with subject matter experts on second language education and on teaching languages to Indigenous learners.
• A pilot of the second language learning program to help Indigenous learners achieve a BBB level will start in 2021–2022.

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That Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) work collaboratively with the CSPS to develop tools and offer language training in all regions of Canada, including the adoption of new approaches and innovative technologies.

• TBS completed the third-party study on the future of procuring second language training for the public service.
• The procurement study suggested the path forward for a new governance (TBS-CSPS-PSPC) to ensure a consistent government-wide approach for procuring and offering language training.
• Given the need for remote second language teaching, a Request for Standing Offers for a National Master Standing Offer for online training closed on February 1, 2021.
• A new standing offer for classroom language training will be implemented in the Western Region in the fall of 2021.

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That all federal institutions be required to create a personal language training account, enabling all employees to receive a certain number of hours of language training, in English or French, as a first or second language. For some employees, this could also include American Sign Language, Langue des signes québécoise, or an Indigenous language.

• For the implementation of a free online service for learning and maintaining English and French as a second language, "Mauril" was the name chosen, in tribute to Member of Parliament Mauril Bélanger, defender of Canada's official languages.
• A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Official Languages Branch of Canadian Heritage and CBC/Radio-Canada for the development of the online and mobile educational tool. The development and testing stages of the application have been completed.
• The Treasury Board Secretariat has published on its official languages (OL) community platforms the Interdepartmental Framework (decision tree) that was developed by the Interdepartmental OL Learning Task Team to help federal institutions to prioritize access to language training.

Mauril will be publicly launched in the winter of 2021. Once the mobile application is deployed, Mauril will also be available on tablets and on the Web in the spring of 2021.

Enriched with entirely Canadian cultural content, Mauril will help sustain the achievements of young adult immersion graduates and provide a larger pool of bilingual Canadians for public service recruitment. In addition, this service may be used as a complement by federal officials wishing to maintain their second language at their own pace.

Ensuring that all employees have access to a spell-checker and grammar checker on their computer that is integrated into word-processing and email software to improve their writing in both official languages.

Most departments have spell-checkers and grammar checkers integrated into email and word-processing software. In addition, the Language Portal of Canada offers tools and resources to help employees improve their writing skills in both official languages.

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That federal institutions take measures to ensure that all employees in bilingual positions maintain their second language skills and meet the requirements of their positions.

• The Working Group on Second Language Retention has identified barriers to the use of an employee’s second official language and some 50 means of overcoming these obstacles.
• The working group is now consulting official languages networks on its findings.
• Approximately 95% of employees in bilingual positions meet the linguistic requirements of their position.

• The Working Group on Second Language Retention will continue its work by:
  1. Developing a strategy and mechanisms to promote the use and maintenance of second official language skills.
  2. Establishing an accountability framework to identify the responsibilities shared by employees, managers and executives.
  3. Presenting the results to the Committee of Assistant Deputy Ministers on Official Languages.

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That the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) and Canadian Heritage (PCH) support the improvement and maintenance of employees’ English or French skills by creating and managing an inter-institutional second language practice program. This program should enable employees of an institution to participate in short-term exchanges (micro-assignments) in offices where the predominant official language is different from their own and enable employees to take part in a structured language mentoring or coaching system.

• The Atlantic Federal Council (AFC), supported by PCH’s Atlantic Region, has been delivering the program for the past 4 years, and some 30 public servants have benefited from it. In 2019–20, 12 federal public servants from 5 federal institutions enrolled in the program. Eight public servants were matched with the same number of Francophone community groups in the four Maritime provinces. Four public servants were waiting for an internship at the beginning of the pandemic when the program was suspended. The AFC will only hold virtual internships for the 2020–21 fiscal year. A call for interest was issued to public servants in late summer 2020.
• PCH’s Prairies and Northern Region has completed a second round of internships. In 2019–20, nine public servants from five federal institutions completed an internship with eight Francophone community organizations in the three provinces. As a result of the pandemic, some internships were terminated prematurely. Options will be explored to continue the project in the current context.
• In collaboration with the Assemblée de la francophonie de l’Ontario, PCH’s Ontario Region surveyed the interest of Francophone community organizations in 2019. PCH’s Ontario Region contacted those interested to begin implementing the program. The region is developing a strategy to launch a round of virtual internships.

This initiative has now been implemented and continues to progress. In the context of the pandemic, options for continuing the initiative in virtual form are being explored.

Additional efforts to promote the program have been made in the Northwest Territories. PCH’s Prairies and Northern Region has encountered the same challenges in recruiting bilingual federal public servants, who are few in number and have not expressed an interest.

That federal institutions promote "receptive bilingualism" by hiring people who demonstrate a basic ability to follow conversations and read documents in their second official language, or by offering and encouraging employees to participate in basic language training to achieve this level of comprehension.

• In collaboration with the University of Ottawa, the Treasury Board Secretariat completed a pilot study in one federal institution (Natural Resources Canada) on the use of both official languages by employees in the context of their work.
• Findings from this pilot study support the need to give more importance to oral comprehension as a receptive language skill and to better help employees to participate more fully in bilingual meetings while lessening anxiety on the part of some.

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Further progress on this recommendation would require modifications to the qualification standards, which are dependent on additional funding.

That the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) initiate discussions with the National Joint Council to repurpose the bilingualism bonus to establish a new fund to be used exclusively for the development of non-executive employees’ language skills, and co-managed with the bargaining agents.

TBS has initiated discussions with bargaining agents, given the need to achieve consensus when considering modifying benefits.

Continue analysis of considerations.

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That the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS), in consultation with the Public Service Commission of Canada modernize the language qualification standards for bilingual positions to ensure that the standards align with the functional expectations for daily tasks, and allow for a concrete way to assess basic oral and written comprehension.

TBS developed a methodology to identify second language needs in relation to the qualification standards and conducted a pilot study on the frequency of use of official languages at Natural Resources Canada.

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Further progress on this recommendation is dependent on additional funding.

That the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS), in consultation with the Public Service Commission of Canada take action to increase the linguistic profile for bilingual supervisory positions to a superior proficiency level (e.g., CBC or equivalent).

TBS studied recommendations from the Official Languages Commissioner, the report called The next level and the Senate report on the issue and worked with departments seeking to proactively implement CBC for bilingual supervisory positions in bilingual regions.

Consider policy options for implementation.

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