Evidence of meeting #8 for Official Languages in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was languages.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
9:10 a.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
We are always open to the idea of consulting members of Parliament individually, or the committee, collectively.
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
9:10 a.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
I may want to ask Johane Tremblay to explain--
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
No, that won't be necessary.
I have a general question. Are you aware of any other umbrella acts which contain neither regulations, policies nor directives, other than the Official Languages Act?
9:10 a.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
As you know, I am not a lawyer by training.
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
October 25th, 2011 / 9:10 a.m.
Johane Tremblay General Counsel, Legal Affairs Branch, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
I am not aware of any such acts, but there may be some.
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
That is unlikely. I can tell you that there are not.
However, that is the case for Part VII of the Official Languages Act. So, Commissioner, I am delighted to see that you are recommending regulations and an amendment to the Act to provide powers to Treasury Board.
That takes me to a series of questions I would like to ask about Treasury Board. It received a B rating in this year's report. Yet this is Treasury Board's own assessment of its internal operations—in other words, whether or not its employees are able to work in French or English, whether they answer the public in French or English, and so on. That is what was evaluated, is it not?
9:15 a.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
It's not an assessment of its operations—
9:15 a.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
In relation to the Act.
9:15 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
I tried to do it myself.
Commissioner, if you don't mind, I would like to talk about the last 2009-2010 Treasury Board report. Of the 200 organizations—80 departments and 120 agencies and other organizations—which are subject to the Official Languages Act and are required to present an annual report, do you know how many actually did so?
9:15 a.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
I'm waiting for the answer.
9:15 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
The answer is 73, which is less than 40%. Do you feel that is satisfactory?
9:15 a.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
Before commenting, I should say we received a complaint about that. We are in the process of conducting an investigation. I am in the difficult position of not being able to comment.
9:15 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
All right. I will ask some other questions.
Do you know how many Treasury Board employees worked at the Official Languages Secretariat of that organization in 2006?
9:15 a.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
I believe there were approximately 50.
9:15 a.m.
Liberal
9:15 a.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
The number I recall is 13.
9:15 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Good for you; that's correct. Does that not concern you? I guess you won't be able to answer, because you are in the middle of an investigation.
9:15 a.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
Let's just say that I have already commented in past reports on my concern regarding the transfer to departments of the central agencies' authority. Given the investigation that is ongoing at this time, I cannot go any further than that.
In the recommendation, the idea of attributing more powers and authority to the Treasury Board is proof of the importance I attach to the central agencies in terms of the management—if I can call that—of the Act.
9:15 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
I would like to quote a paragraph from the 2009-10 report released by the Treasury Board Secretariat. It talks about the Board. OCHRO noted that most institutions [the 200 institutions we were talking about a moment ago] measured their performance [in other words, their official languages performance] based on the results of the Public Service Employee Survey (PSES), which is run every three years. Others used the number of complaints made to the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages. Only a few organizations have developed their own performance measurement system. Although sporadic activities were observed in some institutions, proactive and regular use of performance measurement does not yet appear to be a widespread practice. As Commissioner of Official Languages, do you have any comment to make on the paragraph I just quoted to you, which is taken from the Annual Report on Official Languages 2009-2010 for the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat?
9:15 a.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
One of the criteria we have used in the past to evaluate the departments is, indeed, that there should be an accountability framework. Are the results being monitored? Is there an internal reporting mechanism through which it can be determined whether the department or institution is or is not meeting its objectives under the Official Languages Act? Personally, I believe that when you analyze the way an institution is operating, there have to be clear objectives, those objectives must be understood, there needs to be a plan of action and the results have to be assessed.
9:15 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Are you in a position to tell us how many departmental or agency action plans are reviewed annually by the Treasury Board Secretariat?