Thank you, Mr. Chair and honourable members of the committee, and good afternoon.
I’m honoured to be speaking to you today on behalf of the Canada School of Public Service from Ottawa, the traditional unceded territory of the Anishinabe people.
Our mandate is to provide common, standardized curricula and training to support federal public servants with the knowledge, skills and competencies necessary to fulfill their responsibilities in serving Canadians.
The school provides online self-paced and instructor-led courses, learning events and numerous other learning products. The school has over 350 course offerings and over 500 additional learning tools, including videos, job aids and articles, on its learning platform and website. So far this year, over 290,000 public servants have participated in courses at the school.
As you can see, the school has many areas of learning. However, today, I will be speaking to you about areas pertaining to official languages.
The school was established in 2004 when the legislative provisions of part IV of the Public Service Modernization Act came into force. The school was created as an amalgamation of three organizations, namely, the Canadian Centre for Management Development, Training and Development Canada and Language Training Canada.
Prior to 2004, Language Training Canada was responsible for providing language training to departments.
Beginning in 2006, a series of government decisions stipulated that the school would no longer provide language training for acquisition of a second language and transferred the responsibility to departments.
In simpler terms, the school is no longer offering courses to learn a second language. Instead, it now offers learning products to help maintain the language skills already possessed.
The school offers access to 15 online second-language training tools and job aids, in English and in French, to help public servants maintain language skills and to support their preparation for their second-language evaluation tests. These tools include self-directed evaluation, simulations, and interactive tools designed to improve oral and written comprehension, pronunciation, grammar, written expression and fluency in their second official language. The school also offers two courses on the Official Languages Act and hosts various learning events to raise awareness about linguistic diversity and to promote an inclusive environment in the public sector.
This year, two events on official languages were already held. These events were attended by over 3,500 public servants.
The school's learning products and courses are offered in both official languages and are compliant with the Official Languages Act.
I thank the committee for having me here today and for their interest in the work of the Canada School of Public Service.
I'm happy to answer any questions that committee members may have.