Official Languages Committee on March 1st, 2012

[Nancie Cantin]

Thank you.

As soon as we received the funding, we called on the universities in the country that might be interested in taking part in the project so that we could have representation across Canada. Eleven of the universities that expressed interest were selected, although one of them subsequently withdrew. The pilot project therefore involved 10 universities. They were to find participants who were prepared to commit to the project for three years and who obviously were interested in Canada's linguistic duality.

At the start, 282 participating students expressed interest, although that figure varied over the following months. As of March 31, 2012, we are talking about 153 participants from across Canada.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Have those students been involved in a more defined program for three full years? If not, was this a single initiative within their study program? You mentioned students who had completed four years of university or more.

[Nancie Cantin]

These are students attending university, whether it be in public administration, political science or other fields. Regardless of the program, various groups took part in the initiative, including one guided group. In that case, we sought a commitment by both the university and students. The idea was for them, in addition to their university work, to devote between 5 and 10 hours a week to the project and to using the tools to develop their language skills.

In another group, spread over the 10 universities, we allowed the students to access the tools but gave them a little less guidance. Those students devoted the number of hours they wanted to allocate to learning their second language.

Lastly, there is what is called a control group. It is also spread across the country. So there is a guided group in which we provide students with self-learning tools. We guide them by providing them with a little more information and regularly sending them bulletins so they feel supervised. There is also a less supervised group to which we nevertheless offer self-learning tools, and, lastly, there is a control group which we offer no supervision. This approach is part of the study. We want to be able to observe what students' language skills are at the start and check to see whether there has been progress in that regard at the end of the project.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

I think the project is a good way to develop the skills of those students. With this extra university training, have they become potential candidates for Canada's public service? Have we been able to recover those students or have we simply lost them? Have they moved into other areas of activity? In Canada, finding competent bilingual people for the public service is a major challenge. I thought the project was initially supposed to help meet that need. Are we recovering the people who took part in the program?

[Nancie Cantin]

Yes, they are still at university; they haven't all graduated. The objective was very well explained to both participants and the universities. One of the interesting aspects is that they can progress and acquire what we call a linguistic profile, an evaluation of their language skills based the federal government's standardized tests.

However, we have no control over them; we can't force them to join the public service. As I said earlier, the evaluation is underway. That is part of the incentives. For the candidates and universities that expressed interest, the prospect of working for the public service was definitely attractive. That objective was clearly explained to them. It was one of the criteria used to select the universities and students.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Thank you very much.

Do I have any time left?

[An hon. member]

Yes.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

In the end, that's fine.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Mr. Bélanger.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Welcome, madam, gentlemen.

If I correctly understood, there was to be a mid-term evaluation of the Roadmap. Am I right in thinking that? Yes?

[Some voices]

Yes.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Was that supposed to be completed last month?

[Marc Tremblay]

Yes. It was to be completed in February.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Have you completed it?

[Marc Tremblay]

The Department of Canadian Heritage is responsible for the mid-term evaluation of the Roadmap.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Didn't every agency concerned by the Roadmap conduct a summative evaluation?

[Marc Tremblay]

Every agency concerned by the Roadmap made a commitment to complete a summative evaluation.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Is it finished?

[Marc Tremblay]

Not for the Treasury Board.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

For you, madam?

[Nancie Cantin]

Not for the School of Public Service.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

For you?

[Stephen Johnson, Director General, Evaluation Directorate, Strategic Policy and Research Branch, Department of Human Resources and Skills Development]

It isn't finished for us. However, we are in the process of doing it.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

If I understood correctly, then it will be completed in July, approximately at mid-year. Is that correct?

[Marc Tremblay]

In the case of the Treasury Board Secretariat, we hope to have preliminary results in May. It will probably be formally completed in September.