Government Response to the Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages: Internet, New Media and Social Media: Respect for Language Rights ! (October 2012)

INTRODUCTION

In fall 2011, the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages (the Committee) began a study on the use of the Internet, new media and social media and respect for Canadians’ language rights. Its objectives were to provide a picture of the legislative, regulatory and political frameworks in place in that area and to determine whether they adhered to language rights pursuant to the Official Languages Act (OLA). The Committee’s Report, entitled Internet, New Media and Social Media: Respect for Language Rights! was approved by the Senate on December 6 , 2012.

The Report highlights numerous achievements and best practices on the part of federal institutions and emphasizes the need for the Government to continue its efforts by taking into account the following four key ideas: i) the Government must ensure that all Canadians have access to broadband and digital networks and provide support to official language minority communities (minority communities) in implementing innovative projects in this area; ii) as is the case for any other types of service, online services must be provided based on the principle of the substantive equality of both official languages; iii) because it is important to connect with youth where they are and in the language of their choice, the Government must support the development and the use of social media and mobile applications in both official languages and acknowledge the needs of official language minority schools; and iv) the Government must promote exemplary behavior within its institutions and place a more formal focus on the way in which the Government’s social media operate with respect to official languages.

The Response to the Report’s recommendations is structured around two main themes: institutional bilingualism—Service to the Public and Language of Work, and the federal government’s commitment to promote the development of official language minorities and to foster the full recognition and use of English and French in Canadian society.

The Government’s actions and engagement are consistent with the spirit of the Committee’s recommendations. The Government will ensure the success of the federal institutions’ efforts to respect the language rights of Canadians as the new communications technologies evolve.

LANGUAGE OF COMMUNICATION AND SERVICES AND LANGUAGE OF WORK

The Committee recommends that federal institutions engaged in Web 2.0 activities comply with all existing official languages standards and establish an appropriate governance structure.

Since the Government shares the Committee’s opinion, the new suite of official language policies put in place by the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer of the Treasury Board Secretariat, which came into effect on November 19, 2012, reiterates the official languages requirements and obligations with which federal institutions must comply regarding people management, the delivery of services to and communications with the public.

The new policy suite takes into consideration the rapid development of information technologies.

Every federal institution subject to the OLA and its deputy head are responsible for the application of the Act and for compliance with the obligations set out in the Regulations, the policy and the guidelines within each organization.

The Official Languages Policy is intended for deputy heads, and it gives them an overview of all the strategic considerations that they must know and monitor in a single document. It stipulates that the deputy heads of institutions must put in place an appropriate governance structure to support them in the exercise of their official languages responsibilities. The Treasury Board Secretariat has reported on official languages governance in its annual report for several years and a number of institutions have already implemented the key elements of official languages governance.

The Communication Policy of the Government of Canada also refers to official languages obligations related to the Internet and electronic communications. It is the responsibility of the deputy heads of institutions to ensure that all the Policy requirements are met in all of the activities of the institutions they administer, and they are supported in their work by a senior executive who is designated as head of communications. This executive is in charge of managing communications activities and overseeing the content of the Websites of their institutions.

The Directive on Official Languages for Communications and Services is more specifically intended for managers and functional specialists, such as communicators and Web site managers. It covers, in particular, electronic communications, Websites, Web pages, including Web applications, and reiterates the obligations related to the use of official languages on Websites (including Web applications). For clarifications on the definition of these key concepts, the reader is referred to the definition in the Standard on Web Accessibility. Social media services are thus included in communications with the public covered by the official languages policy suite.

A number of best practices regarding the use of official languages are included in the current Government of Canada Guideline on the External Use of Web 2.0 which will be updated and replaced with a Guideline on Official Use of Social Media. In addition, many federal public servants consult and share best practices on the use of social media and other new media on GCpedia, the wiki available to public servants.

Use of social media by federal institutions

Federal departments are encouraged to use the tools and services of Web 2.0 as effective and efficient means of interacting with the public and their employees, while meeting their official languages obligations under the Official Languages Act. For many Canadians, Web 2.0 is increasingly becoming a way to send, receive and generate information. Because of the participatory nature of Web 2.0, it can facilitate the interactive and rapid participation and communication among departments, their partners and their clients.

The Committee recommends that the Government conduct formal research into how social media are used by federal institutions and share good practices with all federal institutions.

In 2011–2012, federal institutions were called on to take stock of their presence in various social media. In his 2011–2012 Official Languages Annual Report, tabled in January 2013, the Treasury Board President discussed the use of social media by 72 federal institutions based on reviews submitted. In fact, 40 of them reported they were present in at least one social media: 38 use Twitter, 12 Facebook and 19 YouTube. Most of these institutions said they meet their obligations regarding communications with and service to the public in their use of social media. The Government plans to continue to monitor the situation and will provide observations on this subject in the next official languages annual report.

The Treasury Board Secretariat also fosters the sharing of official languages best practices, including in social media, through the activities of its departmental and Crown corporation advisory committees, Official Languages champions and the Best Practices Forum.

PROMOTING ENGLISH AND FRENCH IN CANADIAN SOCIETY

Access to broadband

The Committee stresses the importance of access by Canadians to broadband digital networks. The Government of Canada recognizes that high-quality telecommunications networks are essential for enhancing local opportunities and improving access to valuable services, including for those in English-speaking and French-speaking minority communities.

While the private sector investment has been the principal driver of increased broadband coverage, the Government has targeted initiatives to extend broadband coverage. For instance, and as noted by the Committee, the Broadband Canada: Connecting Rural Canadians Program, in Budget 2009, extended broadband coverage to 218,000 households. In March 2012, the Government imposed spectrum auction conditions that are aimed at seeing that Canadians in rural areas receive advanced wireless services in a timely manner. In addition, broadband and connectivity infrastructure has been an eligible category under most of the Government of Canada’s infrastructure programs administered by Infrastructure Canada, including through the Building Canada Plan 2007. Through these programs, a number of investments have been made. For example, the Eastern Ontario Regional Network project, supported by a $55 million contribution under the Building Canada Fund, will connect local access networks, expanding broadband access to an estimated one million residents and businesses in rural areas in Eastern Ontario. The Economic Action Plan 2013 included the announcement of a New Building Canada Plan. While the details of the new programs will be determined in the coming weeks, the new Building Canada Fund will include $10 billion for a Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component for projects of national, regional and local significance. Connectivity and broadband have been identified as eligible categories under this component. In addition, the Economic Action Plan 2013 announced the expansion of the eligible categories under the Gas Tax Fund portion of the Community Improvement Fund. As a result, communities will also be able to use the Gas Tax Fund to invest in connectivity and broadband infrastructure. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission also plays a role through its regulation of the telecommunications industry. In addition, other levels of government have initiatives to extend broadband coverage.

Support for culture

The Committee stresses the importance of developing digital content in both official languages in arts and culture, having found in particular that French remains underused.

The Government is committed to ensuring that Canadians have access to content in both official languages in the online environment. In particular, Canadian Heritage is focused on helping to create an environment in which creators, artists, and cultural stakeholders can create high-quality content in English and French and can make it accessible to Canadians. In 2009, a number of cultural programs, such as the Canada Media Fund, the Canada Book Fund, the Canada Music Fund and the Canada Periodical Fund, were modernized and given a digital media focus that is now bearing fruit. These arts and culture programs give special consideration to official-language minority communities.

In addition, Canadian museums are able to network with one another and with the public using digital technologies through Canadian Heritage’s Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN). As a centre of excellence, CHIN provides investment programs and resources, including the Virtual Museum of Canada portal. Over 1,500 CHIN member institutions contribute online exhibits and images of artifacts on this website to educate Canadian and international audiences concerning Canada’s history and heritage. Therefore, through CHIN, the Department is providing products and services that further the creation, management, presentation and preservation of digital content on Canada’s heritage in both English and French.

Moreover, the major federal cultural institutions have long reflected Canada’s linguistic duality in all of their practices and structures. Their efforts include support for arts and culture within minority communities. Their support for official languages is clearly expressed within the digital world. In fact, as the Committee noted, a number of these institutions—particularly those working in the audiovisual sector—provide an active, online presence in both languages for a wide range of clienteles, including young people. The Government expects these institutions to take into account the observations and recommendations in the Committee’s Report in order to better guide action to be taken.

Support for community organizations and education

The Committee calls on the Government to provide ongoing support to minority community organizations, media and schools for the development of new technologies.

Canadian Heritage provides financial support to close to 400 organizations throughout Canada in order to help them establish and invigorate living spaces in the official language of the minorities they represent. These organizations work in many areas, including youth, culture or media . Whether they are national organizations or members of these organizations, they are all able to use the funding allocated to build their capacity to use the new methods of communication. They use the Internet regularly to make themselves known to the public and communicate with members of the communities, and a growing number of them are incorporating social media into their regular activities. For example, the vast majority of member organizations of the Fédération culturelle

canadienne-française say they have access to all of the equipment they require to meet their Internet and social media needs . Further, through its Official Languages Support Programs, Canadian Heritage is able to support projects aimed specifically at developing Web use and social media capacity within minority communities.

In the field of education, agreements concluded between Canadian Heritage and the provinces and territories are helping to establish distance learning networks for remote communities, the use by students of computers in the classroom and access to educational resources .

Also in the field of education, the National Film Board (NFB) provides audiovisual content in both official languages. CAMPUS, launched in January 2012, is a specialized resource that provides teachers with innovative solutions for incorporating NFB films into their teaching. CAMPUS provides access to over 2,500 Canadian productions in both official languages and makes media and navigation tools available to teaching staff. Five provincial education ministries/departments are licensed to use CAMPUS.

Consultations with minority communities

The Committee requests that the Government work in consultation with minority communities to take measures suited to their needs.

The Government agrees with the Committee. A number of the institutions targeted by the Committee’s Report maintain ongoing dialogue with minority communities. Through the consultation mechanisms available to them, these institutions give the communities an opportunity to highlight their issues, concerns and development priorities. Industry Canada has therefore established two discussion committees that encourage the participation of Francophone and Anglophone minority language communities, where issues involving digital networks and technologies can be addressed. The CRTC conducts a discussion group with over 20 minority cultural and media organizations from every region of Canada and both official language groups. This cooperation is aimed at maximizing minority community participation in CRTC public processes so that the CRTC can take their realities into account in its analyses and deliberations leading to decisions. Moreover, the Agreement for the Development of Francophone Arts and Culture in Canada, coordinated by Canadian Heritage, has been bringing federal cultural institutions and organizations in Francophone minority communities together since 1998. The parties to the Agreement propose that it be renewed until 2018 and that it address issues surrounding the development of digital technologies. In addition, in 2010, Canadian Heritage created a working group on arts, culture and heritage with its federal partners and representatives of Quebec’s English-speaking communities.

Renewal of the Official Languages Roadmap

The Government would like to stress that its new official languages strategy, which also bears witness to the importance of its commitment to Canada’s linguistic duality, supports activities associated with the digital world, such as access to the Government of Canada’s Language Portal, which is available to all Canadians, or the promotion of language technologies, thanks to the work of the National Research Council .

FOLLOW-UP ON FEDERAL ACTION

The Government would like to assure the Committee that it has the necessary follow-up mechanisms to ensure that the federal institutions comply with their language obligations in the context of the new digital world, which is constantly changing within Canadian society. These mechanisms include numerous guidance and support activities and accountability exercises. Federal institutions thus benefit from advice, tools for reflection and networking activities. The reviews on official languages they produce enable the Treasury Board Secretariat and Canadian Heritage to report annually to Parliament on OLA implementation.

CONCLUSION

The Government thanks the Committee for its work in conducting this review. It wishes to assure the Committee that it will continue to work in the spirit of the observations and recommendations contained in its report, thus ensuring that the language rights of all Canadians are respected.