Government Response to the Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages: The Vitality of Quebec's English-Speaking Communities: From Myth to Reality (March 2012)
Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages
- I - Introduction
- II - Better Understanding of the Issues Facing English Speakers in Quebec
- III - Support and Guidance to Federal Institutions
- IV - Communication with Community Organizations
- V - Cooperation with the Government of Quebec
- Conclusion
I - Introduction
In the winter of 2009 the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages (the Committee) undertook a study on Quebec's English-speaking communities. Following the study, the Committee's report, The Vitality of Quebec's English-Speaking Communities: From Myth to Reality, was passed by the Senate, first in March 2011 and again on October 18, 2011.
Our Government wishes to highlight the contribution of the Senate report, which provides a comprehensive portrait of these communities based on recent supporting data and testimony on the challenges English speakers face in Quebec. By using testimony from about 60 groups (over 200 people), the Committee has contributed to a greater understanding of the issues unique to these English-speaking communities. This contribution is an important complement to the initiatives the Government of Canada has undertaken over a number of years to understand the reality of the lives of Anglophones in Quebec in terms of a wide range of issues, including demographic, institutional and political.
The Government of Canada is committed to preserving and promoting the vitality of both official language communities in Canada. In this context, the Government supports the development of Quebec's Anglophone communities and the promotion of French across the country, a language whose core is located in Quebec. The testimonials clearly showed that English-speaking communities are asking to participate fully in Quebec society, where French is the common public language. Considering this reality, the Government will continue to meet its responsibilities for the development of Quebec's Anglophone communities.
The Committee's recommendations involve a variety of existing administrative structures. The response to the Committee highlights the Government's recent activities, and the recommendations have been grouped under four major headings: Better understanding of the issues facing English Speakers in Quebec; Support and guidance to federal institutions; Communication with community organizations; and Cooperation with the Government of Quebec.
II - Better Understanding of the Issues Facing English Speakers in Quebec
The Government of Canada is fully committed to fulfilling its official language obligations as set out in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Official Languages Act. Thus, English and French have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in federal institutions, the Government ensures that its services are available in both languages, that its employees can work in the official language of their choice and that English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians have equal opportunities for employment and advancement within the institutions. Moreover, in accordance with the Official Languages Act, federal institutions are to take positive measures to support the development of official-language minorities and foster the recognition and use of English and French in Canadian society.
Like the Committee, the Government recognizes that Quebec's English-speaking communities need to fully benefit from these rights as guaranteed by the Charter and the Official Languages Act, and that a good understanding of the issues and the needs facilitates taking positive action towards these communities.
On a number of occasions, the Committee's report raises the importance of having a better understanding of the needs of English-speaking communities in Quebec. To this end, the Government of Canada has been very active since 2005, funding a series of studies and conferences on the trends and prospects for these communities. The Government also contributed to creating the Quebec English-Speaking Communities Research Network at Concordia University affiliated with the Canadian Institute for Research on Linguistic Minorities. In addition, since 2009 the Coordinating Committee on Official Languages Research has shared the annual inventory of official languages research. This inventory includes information on research conducted or funded by federal departments and organizations on linguistic duality and official-language minority communities. A complement to this initiative, the Symposium on Official Languages Research held in September 2011 was an opportunity to provide an update on the research and give communities, researchers and the government information on issues specific to official languages and solutions proposed by stakeholders.
As their spokesperson highlighted, the main concern for English-speaking communities in Quebec is not the future of English, which is largely dominant in North America and, overall, is not threatened in Quebec. Rather, it is the communities' level of vitality, which varies greatly from one region to the next. In the greater Montreal region, for example, English-speaking communities have a fairly strong socio-economic base, a certain institutional completeness and a renewed vigour in the area of arts and culture; however, they are experiencing challenges linked to the multi-ethnic and multicultural nature of their communities. On the other hand, in the regions of Quebec, English-speakers have experienced different degrees of economic, demographic and institutional loss and difficulties accessing public services.
Quebec's English-speaking population has long been perceived as an elite group with higher socio-economic status. However, many changes have taken place since the 1970s. Many English speakers left the province. This, combined with a huge influx of immigrants, has contributed to changes in the socio-economic fabric of these communities. The number of people in Quebec speaking English as their mother tongue has decreased since the 1970s, but this was in part counterbalanced by an increase in the number of Allophones whose first official language spoken is English. The Government of Canada bases its assessment of the size of the Anglophone population in Quebec on this broader definition of first official language spoken, particularly in relation to the provision of federal services.
III - Support and Guidance to Federal Institutions
a) Canadian Heritage's roles with respect to other departments
The Committee emphasized the importance of promoting ongoing dialogue between departments and communities in the implementation of policies and programs, and of having institutions take positive and sustainable measures.
The Official Languages Act gives the Minister of Canadian Heritage the mandate to encourage and promote coordination in the way federal institutions implement their obligations to support communities and promote the recognition and use of both official languages. This mandate involves awareness activities, training, the creation of information tools and networking by federal institutions.
Canadian Heritage has cooperated continuously with over 30 institutions whose activities are considered crucial to the development of official-language minorities. In cooperation with the Treasury Board Secretariat, it is preparing to extend its coordination activities to all federal institutions. In this way, Canadian Heritage will assist federal institutions to optimize their contribution to the development of these communities, to promote official languages in Canadian society and to be able to produce a comprehensive picture of federal actions.
As part of its interdepartmental coordination work, Canadian Heritage focuses on the development challenges and priorities of English-speaking communities in Quebec, in the same way as with French-speaking communities outside Quebec. The challenges facing Quebec's English-speaking communities are therefore included in regular and thematic meetings of the National Coordinators' Network responsible for the Implementation of section 41. The Quebec Community Groups Network has been invited to take part in these meetings. Canadian Heritage also encourages national and regional coordinators to maintain an ongoing dialogue with community spokespersons to optimize cooperation.
Over the past few years, federal stakeholders have increased their concerted efforts to address the development challenges and priorities of Quebec's English-speaking communities. For example, in response to a request from the Quebec Community Groups Network and the English-Language Arts Network, Canadian Heritage created the Discussion Group on Arts, Culture and Heritage with Quebec's English-speaking communities. The discussion group includes federal representatives from headquarters and regional offices in Quebec as well as representatives of Anglophone Quebec artists. Its first meeting took place in November 2010 and was aimed at strengthening dialogue and identifying possible avenues for cooperation. The group will hold another meeting in 2012 to continue its work.
In April 2011, Canadian Heritage brought together national and regional coordinators to share best practices tailored to the Quebec reality and promote cooperation among headquarters and regional offices responsible for Quebec. Canadian Heritage also organized a meeting to continue the discussion in cooperation with the Quebec Community Groups Network and the Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation. This second meeting, in June 2011, enabled representatives from 35 federal institutions and about 30 community organizations from English-speaking communities to discuss community development priorities and share success stories resulting from federal-community cooperation and future avenues for cooperation.
Finally, the Council of the Network of Official Languages Champions also assisted in making the development priorities of Quebec's English-speaking communities more widely known and understood. In March 2011, the Chair of the Council participated in the discussion forum on Part VII of the Official Languages Act organized by the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, to ensure that the Council could take the identified issues into consideration in its activities. The Council also invited the President of the Quebec Community Groups Network to an information session for official languages champions and co-champions held on April 26, 2011. The session provided an opportunity to inform the champions and co-champions of ways to promote interventions as influencers within their federal institutions.
These strategies address the Committee's concerns. The Government is committed to continuing with these tangible strategies to increase cooperation between federal institutions and communities.
b) Treasury Board requirements
Analysis of the impact of federal initiatives on official languages
The Committee is concerned about federal institutions' compliance with the directives set out in the Guide to Preparing Treasury Board Submissions. Under its current procedure, the Treasury Board Secretariat requests that all federal institutions ensure that initiatives submitted for Treasury Board approval are systematically analyzed for impact on official languages. This analysis must cover the measures taken or provided to ensure the programs or initiatives comply with official language requirements. Any impact an initiative may have on official languages must be set out concisely in the submission. The analysis is reviewed by the Treasury Board Secretariat analysts before final recommendations are submitted.
In addition, in the spring of 2012 the Treasury Board Secretariat will submit for approval an update to the Guide to Preparing Treasury Board Submissions, which will come into effect on April 1, 2012. As recommended by the Committee, this will provide an opportunity to remind federal institutions, particularly those with offices in Quebec, of the official language requirements in Appendix E of the Guide.
The update to the official languages guide reflects the courts' recent decisions on official languages, particularly the Supreme Court of Canada ruling in Desrochers (Caldech); clarifies the impacts on the participation of English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians in terms of the composition of the workforce of federal institutions; and clarifies the impacts on the vitality of official-language minority communities and the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society, in particular the need for consultation with the communities concerned based on the nature of the proposed initiative.
Participation in the public service
The Committee remarked on the under-representation of English speakers from Quebec in the federal public service. The Treasury Board Secretariat conducts an annual review, through reports prepared by federal institutions, to ensure that the institutions are fulfilling their commitment to provide equal opportunities for English-speaking Canadians and French-speaking Canadians to obtain employment and advancement in their organizations and that their staff tend to reflect the presence of both official language communities of Canada (Part VI of the Official Languages Act).
Generally speaking, the data indicates that English-speaking Quebecers are well represented when all the institutions subject to the Official Languages Act are considered. However, there may be under-representation in some sub-categories of institutions. As recommended by the Committee, as part of the annual reporting process the Treasury Board Secretariat will analyze the importance of addressing the issue of equitable participation by encouraging federal institutions, particularly those in Quebec or those that have regional offices in Quebec, to submit an annual review that includes issues related to measures taken to ensure the equitable participation of English speakers and French speakers in their staff.
Communication with the public and provision of services in both official languages
The Committee reminded the Government that communications and services provided in both official languages in Quebec must be of equal quality, and recommended that the review of its policy instruments be completed in a timely manner.
Under the Official Languages Act, each institution is responsible for enforcing the Act within its organization and the Government is to take measures to ensure this is done. Treasury Board is responsible for providing general guidance to institutions regarding the implementation of the Official Languages Program within their organizations.
Treasury Board has just completed a review of its policy instruments, and the changes will be implemented in the summer of 2012. The Board's policies and directives were tailored to reflect current jurisprudence. The principle of substantive equality, included in the Supreme Court of Canada's ruling in Desrochers (Caldech), was integrated into policy instruments.
The review of policy instruments for official languages was conducted in the context of the implementation of the new human resources management regime for the federal public service. Under the new regime, deputy heads are primarily responsible for managing the people in their institution, while central agencies concentrate on their enabling role. The review was also part of the measures taken by the Government to reduce the web of rules.
The review required extensive consultation with key official languages partners and stakeholders. Over 90 organizations, groups and committees were consulted, including departments, Crown corporations, the Official Languages Secretariat, the Fédération des Communautés Francophones et Acadienne du Canada and the Quebec Community Groups Network, to ensure that Treasury Board policy instruments addressed their concerns as much as possible.
Federal advertising in official-language minority media
The Committee points out the importance of community media to the vitality of communities and states that current program criteria limits access to funding opportunities. The Committee would also like to ensure fair distribution of income from government advertising.
The Government fully acknowledges the importance of using official-language minority media to reach official-language minorities. With regard to notices and advertisements, federal institutions must fulfil the requirements set out in sections 11 and 30 of the Official Languages Act. Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) ensures that these requirements are met by reviewing all federal institutions' media plans subject to the Treasury Board Communications Policy. Furthermore, the Department regularly informs the communications officers assigned to federal advertising activities of their responsibilities under the Act.
With regard to government advertising, Public Works and Government Services Canada is actively working to ensure that action is taken to promote the effective use of official-language minority media. The information systems that it put in place help monitor usage, conduct the appropriate follow-up and make the minority media expenditures public. For instance, it published a report on best practices in this area; it organizes information sessions, publishes articles, distributes media planning tools and discloses expenditures in an annual report on the Government of Canada's advertising. It has also established a consultative committee on advertising and official-language minority media, which includes representatives from Quebec Community Newspapers Association and the Quebec Alliance for Anglophone Community Radio. This committee is also mandated to discuss media issues within the communities; anticipate challenges that they may face; pool expertise and results from consultations and research; and discuss the eligibility criteria in order to certify the media used for Government of Canada advertising. Eligibility criteria, adaptation to changes in technology and federal expenditures related to official-language minority media are regularly on the Committee's agenda.
In addition to ensuring the proper use of official-language minority media, the Government provides direct support to organizations or projects associated with this media. The Canadian Heritage Official Languages Support Programs provide annual funding for regular activities of the Quebec Community Newspapers Association, among others. Also, the Programs reserve an annual amount to support projects from community newspapers and radio.
IV - Communication with Community Organizations
a) Changes made to the funding methods at Canadian Heritage
When the report was tabled, the Committee felt that the Government had to improve its communications strategies regarding the changes made to its funding processes and that this could be done as part of negotiations for the new Cooperation Agreement between Canadian Heritage and the community sector. The new agreement signed in June 2011 sets out that the community sector and Canadian Heritage will work to streamline administrative processes by promoting a better understanding of them, by sharing best practices and opting for a better use of technology. The way the Agreement is implemented will be subject to ongoing follow-up. Both parties agree to jointly review the effectiveness of the implementation methods and share their priorities in order to enhance the impact of the initiatives.
Canadian Heritage has focused its attention on issues raised by the official-language minority communities with regard to funding delays. In March 2010 and May 2011, the Department met with the Quebec Community Groups Network to review the measures it took to increase the effectiveness of its process and to discuss ways that the Department and community organizations could collaborate to make other improvements.
In cooperation with the community, Canadian Heritage set a universal deadline, namely October 14, 2011, to submit all the 2012-2013 funding applications. In conjunction with the Official Languages Support Program's published 24-week service standard to issue official written notice concerning funding-related decisions, this measure should reduce funding delays at the beginning of the 2012-2013 fiscal year.
Canadian Heritage will closely monitor the implementation of its service standards to ensure that the recipients receive funding in good time.
b) 2008-2013 Roadmap communications strategies
Witnesses heard by the Committee suggest that there is a lack of communication to increase awareness about available funding and that the communities' needs are not being heard. Yet, since 2009, the Government of Canada has set up a number of activities to educate these communities about various initiatives stemming from the Roadmap and to maintain dialogue on the implementation. Information exchanges with the communities took place as part of various events, such as symposiums and conferences, global and sector dialogue days (for instance, health, human resources development, economic development or arts and culture) and at regular Government-community coordination committee meetings, especially on economic development and employability.
These communication activities and exchanges have not only made it possible for the Government to inform Quebec's English-speaking communities of the activities stemming from the Roadmap, but have also promoted discussion on the measures needed to improve its implementation of the Roadmap initiatives and educate communities on available funding sources. The Government would like to point out the work completed by two issue tables that address the issues raised in the Senate Committee's report.
A first collaborative initiative follows a recommendation from representatives of Quebec's English-speaking community at the Industry Canada dialogue day held in Montreal in October 2010. A Government-community joint committee was put in place to ensure ongoing dialogue on Industry Canada's activities in Quebec, to identify the issues and attempt to address them, as well as to think about future policies on economic development for English-speaking communities.
A second collaborative initiative that addresses the committee's recommendations is the National Human Resources Development Committee for the English-speaking minority. This mechanism allows the Government and the communities to jointly review challenges related to economic and human resources development and it is a forum for developing strategies and plans focused on supporting community vitality. The National Committee is planning discussions on the challenges, needs and possibilities of fostering concerted action. During the last National Committee meeting in June 2011, a motion was unanimously approved whereby a working group with representation from the Government and the community was tasked with developing a National Committee Strategic Plan. The draft strategic plan is expected in early 2012 and will be discussed in the context of the next National Anglophone Committee meeting. The Committee will have to approve its contents, which will include success indicators and a strategy to measure progress and results.
V - Cooperation with the Government of Quebec
The Committee report describes the challenges and issues experienced by Quebec's English-speaking communities in various areas affecting their development. Several of these areas of focus are under provincial or shared jurisdiction, such as education, health, social services, and immigration. This last section groups the Committee's recommendations pertaining to the connection between provincial and federal policies and the transfer of funds from one order of government to another.
a) Transfer payments and language clauses
The Committee has twice recommended that Government institutions pay special attention to transfer payments related to areas that may affect Quebec's Anglophone communities.
Each institution is responsible for applying the Act within its organization and work is currently underway within the Government to better equip and inform Deputy Heads of their responsibilities regarding the inclusion of appropriate language clauses in the federal-provincial-territorial agreements. The Official Languages Secretariat is working with central agencies on this file to provide negotiators with the proper tools to meet the Government of Canada's language obligations, where appropriate, especially in the wording of language clauses.
Currently, in accordance with the Policy on Transfer Payments, federal departments must, when transfer payment programs support activities that benefit both official-language communities, ensure that their design and implementation meet the Government of Canada's obligations under Part VII of the Official Languages Act and that the services and benefits will be accessible in both official languages. This policy applies to transfer payments to other levels of government.
b) Education agreements
A number of the Committee's recommendations focus on the importance of educational needs and on the role of Canada-Quebec Agreements and consultations to address them.
Canadian Heritage and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, maintain a long-standing relationship in the area of official languages in education. For over 40 years, they have supported shared objectives, namely providing Canadian English- and French-speaking minority youth with a quality education in their own language and cultural enrichment. Furthermore, they provide the entire school clientele with the opportunity to learn their second official language and benefit from cultural enrichment through contact with the other official-language community.
Cooperation between Canadian Heritage and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, takes the form of a multi-year Memorandum of Understanding and a series of shared-cost agreements with all the provinces and territories. Under the Memorandum of Understanding, provinces and territories are responsible for developing action plans that address their specific priorities and issues specific. Provisions for consultations are included to encourage provinces and territories to develop their action plan in cooperation with their main program stakeholders namely school boards and other community organizations. These agreements also stipulate that each province and territory is to make public the annual financial statements and biennial reports on results achieved through its collaboration with the federal government.
As part of our agreement with the Government of Quebec, Canadian Heritage encourages the province of Québec to formally consult educational and community stakeholders in developing its action plan. This is done as part of the action plan's midterm review. The Agreement with Quebec allows support for the needs of Anglophone school boards that arise out of these consultations. The Government of Quebec also holds annual meetings with stakeholders in English-language education to guide its educational plan.
As for Canadian Heritage, the Quebec English School Boards Association and the Quebec Community Groups Network are taking part in discussions to promote the needs, priorities, issues and challenges related to education for Quebec's English-speaking communities. This dialogue is in the spirit of what was included in the 2011 Cooperation Agreement between Canadian Heritage and Quebec's English-speaking communities, represented by the Quebec Community Groups Network. Both parties committed to providing an update on educational development as described in the Canada-Quebec Agreement. This action item will make it possible for Canadian Heritage to relay the information to government stakeholders.
Like the Committee, Canadian Heritage is pleased with the success of the Community Learning Centres (CLC) and would like to continue supporting the Government of Quebec in this initiative. The organizations representing Quebec's English-speaking community would also like a closer relationship with the Anglophone school boards to further engage community members in school life. To the extent that Quebec will make it a priority, Canadian Heritage will continue supporting the province in the implementation of CLCs or any other project that could lead to the establishment of school and community life environments. Discussion in this regard may be held throughout the implementation of the agreements.
Furthermore, the Department also remains open to priorities that are or may be stated by the province, be it the CLCs, keeping students in schools, providing services for students with special needs, new technology, professional and technical education or any other priority, and is prepared to contribute to a provincial action plan that promotes the development of Quebec's English-speaking communities.
Conclusion
In this response, the Government points out the quality of the Committee's work, and shows that its actions and commitments are fully in line with the report. Since the Committee's work began in winter 2009, several consultation activities have taken place in Quebec to increase federal institutions' awareness of the needs of the English-speaking community.
In its future work, the Government will consider the Committee's analyses and recommendations. The Committee's observation could help clarify choices to be made in the follow-up to the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality 2008-2013, the renewal of its programs and the Deficit Reduction Action Plan.
The Government would like to assure the Committee that it intends to actively monitor and support all federal institutions so that they fully implement their obligations to Quebec's English-speaking communities, while taking into account policy objectives that focus on the use of French throughout the country, a language whose core is located in Quebec.