ARCHIVED - Survey on the Use of the Official Languages Among Federal Employees in Northern Ontario - 1998 Survey of Official Languages - Language of Work - Ontario - Number 26

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1.0 Executive Summary

The Financial and Information Management Branch, Evaluation and Review Audit Group, of Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat engaged Statistics Canada to undertake a survey of federal government employees in Northern Ontario on the 'Use of the Official Languages at Work'.

The objectives of the survey were to determine:

1) if federal employees in Northern Ontario have been informed of their 'language of work rights',

2) whether the work environment for federal employees in Northern Ontario is conducive to and accommodates the effective use of both official languages, and

3) if federal institutions in Northern Ontario are meeting their obligations in making available specific services in both official languages.

A survey of active federal employees in Northern Ontario was conducted in January - March, 1998. The survey sample was selected by Treasury Board Of Canada Secretariat and provided to Statistics Canada. It consisted of a census of 662 Francophones and a sample of 636 Anglophones.

Useable survey questionnaires were returned by 928 employees for a response rate of about 71%. Of those questionnaires that were returned, 14 employees were retired from Federal employment at the time of the survey. Thus the final effective number of returned questionnaires is 914.

1.1 Survey Highlights

Some of the highlights of the survey findings as they pertain to the survey objectives are as follows:

Employee Data

• English was identified as the first official language by 54% of all respondents while 46% identified French as their first official language.

• Less than half (44.2%) of survey respondents are in bilingual positions. About 72% of Francophone respondents are in bilingual positions while approximately 21% of Anglophone respondents occupy such positions.

• Virtually all Francophone respondents in bilingual positions perceive themselves as fluent in both official languages. About 9 of 10 Anglophone respondents in bilingual positions feel that they speak French either 'Fluently' (54.1%) or 'Relatively Fluently' (36.7%).

Objective 1: To determine if federal employees in Northern Ontario have been informed of their 'language of work rights'.

• Nearly three-quarters (71.7%) of responding employees have been informed of their rights/obligations concerning the use of the official languages at work. The remaining almost 30% either have not been informed (13.3%) or do not know (14.9%) if they have been informed of these rights/obligations.

Objective 2: To determine whether the work environment for federal employees in Northern Ontario is conducive to and accommodates the effective use of both official languages.

• Overall, 9 of 10 respondents are satisfied with the opportunity to work in their language of choice when they are 'not serving the public or other employees or providing supervision'. However, a higher percentage (95.5%) of Anglophone respondents are satisfied with this choice than the percentage (84.1%) of satisfied Francophone respondents, a difference of just over 11%.

• Over 90% of Anglophone respondents use 'English Only' or 'Mostly English' in carrying out their duties. By contrast, very few (2.6%) Francophone respondents use 'French Only' or 'Mostly French' in carrying out their duties. Francophone respondents are more likely to use 'English' or 'Mostly English' (52%) or 'English & French Equally' (45.3%). This result is at least partially due to the fact that nearly three-quarters (71.7%) of Francophone respondents are in 'bilingual' positions and another almost one-quarter (23.8%) are in 'English-Essential' positions.

• Better than 9 of 10 survey respondents have the opinion that English is spoken between 80% and 100% of the time at internal staff meetings. In addition, three-quarters of respondents reported that English is used exclusively at such meetings.

Objective 3: To determine if federal institutions in Northern Ontario are meeting their obligations in making available specific services in both official languages.

• 91% of responding employees who use internal services are satisfied with the provision of these services in either official language. However, in comparing the responses of Anglophone respondents with those of Francophone respondents, there is a difference of around 17% in the percentage of satisfied respondents - 96.9% of Anglophone respondents versus 84% of Francophone respondents are satisfied with the provision of internal services in either official language. Perhaps it is surprising that satisfaction amongst Francophone respondents is even this high given that 38% of these respondents reported that internal services are 'Seldom' or 'Never' offered in French, their first official language.

• Approximately 87% of all responding employees who use computer programs at work are satisfied with the availability of computer programs in either official language. Almost all (95.4%) Anglophone respondents are satisfied with this availability. However, just over 1 in 5 (22.1%) of Francophone respondents would prefer to see computer programs available more often in French.

• 91% of responding employees who use work instruments are satisfied with the availability of these instruments in either official language. However, comparing the Francophone respondents to the Anglophone respondents there is a difference of around 12% in the percentage of responding employees who are satisfied with this availability - 85% of the Francophone group are satisfied with the availability of work instruments in either official language versus 97% of the Anglophone group who are satisfied.

• Close to three-quarters of respondents have attended a professional training course provided by their department/agency in the last two years. Approximately 87% of these attendees are satisfied with the availability of these professional training courses in either official language. However, there is a difference of 21% between the percentage of satisfied Anglophone respondents (97%) versus satisfied Francophone respondents (76%). Of all the Francophone respondents, about 54% offered the opinion that these professional courses are 'Seldom' or 'Never' available in French.

• Most Anglophone respondents (95.3%) and even almost a two-thirds (64.7%) of Francophone respondents communicate with their supervisors 'In English' or 'Mostly English'.

2.0 Introduction

2.1 Objectives

The objectives of the survey were as follows:

1) To determine if federal government employees in Northern Ontario have been informed of their 'language of work rights'. (Treasury Board Manual - Official Languages, Chap 2-1, Appendix A)

2) To determine if the work environment for federal government employees in Northern Ontario is conducive to the effective use of both official languages and accommodates the use of both official languages. (Official Languages Act, Section 35)

3) To determine if federal institutions in Northern Ontario are meeting their obligations in making available specific services in both official languages. (Official Languages Act, Section 36)

2.2 Target Population

The population of interest for the survey was 'active employees of federal government departments in Northern Ontario'. Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat determined the federal departments and geographic locations to be included, and compiled a list of the target population for the survey.

2.3 Survey Methodology

A census of the Francophone population of 662 federal employees in Northern Ontario was undertaken. As well, a sample of 636 Anglophone employees was selected. Hence the total initial sample size for the survey was 1298.

The survey sample was selected by Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and the mailing list of the selected employees was provided to Statistics Canada.

The initial mailing of questionnaires took place by January 9, 1998. A reminder letter was distributed to all selected members of the target population by January 28, 1998. A second follow-up package consisting of a reminder letter and a survey questionnaire was mailed to all selected employees by February 13, 1998.

2.4 Response Rate

A total of 928 questionnaires or approximately 71% of the distributed questionnaires were returned to Statistics Canada. Of this total, 914 useable questionnaires were received from members of the target population for an effective response rate of about 70%. Fourteen questionnaires were from people who were no longer employed by the federal government at the time of the survey.

It should also be noted that 95 unopened survey envelopes were returned by Canada Post as undeliverable because the addressee was either 'Moved, Not On The Department List, or Could Not Locate Addressee'.

The count of the number of questionnaires returned by department name is presented in Table 101 below. (See Appendix II on Page 34 for a list of the department codes and the corresponding department names.)

NOTES:

1) OTHER DEPT

In cases where fewer than five employees responded from a department they were coded as OTHER DEPT.

2) NOT STATED
In these cases there was no response provided by the respondent to Question 1.

3.0 Structure Of The Questionnaire

The survey questionnaire consisted of four main sections:

1) Employee Data & Functions

This section of the questionnaire, consisting of Questions 1 - 6, provides a linguistic profile of federal employees in Northern Ontario.

2) Program Knowledge (i.e. Official Languages Program)

Responses to Question 7 yield the data to satisfy objective 1 - to determine if employees have been informed of their language of work rights.

3) Use of the Official Language at Work

Questions 8 - 11 pertain to objective 2 - to determine if the work environment is conducive to and accommodates the effective use of both official languages.

4) Department/Agency Duties

Questions 12 - 28 measure whether federal departments in Northern Ontario are meeting their obligations in making available specific services in both official languages, i.e. objective 3.

A copy of the questionnaire may be found in Appendix I, page 29.

4.0 Survey Results

The survey results are based on the 914 questionnaires received from members of the target population. The results of individual survey questions are presented as percentages, based on the total number of complete responses to those questions. No attempt has been made to extrapolate the survey results to the population of all federal employees in Northern Ontario.

In this report many results are reported by 'first official language'. The term 'Anglophone respondents' is used to describe those respondents who reported 'English' as their first official language and the term 'Francophone respondents' is used to describe those respondents who reported 'French' as their first official language.

A complete set of tabulations of the frequency of responses for each survey question can be found in Appendix III. As well, Appendix IV contains a complete set of tabulations of the percentage distribution of responses to each question cross-classified by first official language. Note that all tabulations contain the category 'Not Stated' meaning no answer was provided by the respondent to the relevant question. Also note that the 'n' column contains the number of responses for the pertinent question category.

4.1 Employee Data and Functions

Respondents were asked to indicate their 'first official language', their fluency in speaking each of the official languages, the language requirements of their position, and the reason(s) for the bilingual classification of their position where applicable.

4.1.1 First Official Language

TABLE 202: Count of Question 2 - First Official Language
Q2: First Official Language	No. of Responses	Percentage
ENGLISH	494	54.0%
FRENCH	420	46.0%
Total	914	100.0%

54% of respondents identified 'English' as their 'first official language' while 46% of respondents identified 'French' as their 'first official language'.

NOTE:

A breakdown of the distribution of first official language by department/agency can be found in Table 201 in Appendix IV.

4.1.2 Fluency in Each Official Language - All Respondents

Overall, 94% of respondents consider themselves fluent in speaking 'English' and about 51% of respondents feel they are fluent in speaking 'French'.

As shown in Table 203 on the opposite page, when the first official language of the respondent is taken into account, virtually all (99.5%) of the Francophone respondents reported that they speak 'English' either 'Fluently' or 'Relatively Fluently'. Exactly 90% of the Francophone respondents consider themselves 'fluent' in speaking 'English' and close to 10% feel they are 'relatively fluent' in speaking 'English'.

By comparison, as displayed in Table 204 opposite, approximately 30% of the Anglophone respondents reported that they speak 'French' either 'Fluently' or 'Relatively Fluently'. Just under 15% of the Anglophone respondents consider themselves 'fluent' in speaking 'French' while nearly 16% feel they are 'relatively fluent' in speaking 'French'. The remaining 70% of the Anglophone respondents believe they speak 'French' 'With Difficulty' (26.9%) or 'Not at All'  (42.8%).

The survey results regarding fluency in speaking the official languages may be most pertinent to respondents in bilingual positions as discussed in the following section.

TABLE 203: 'Q3 - Fluency in speaking English' by 'Q2 -
First Official Language'
'All Respondents'

TABLE 204: 'Q4 - Fluency in speaking French' by 'Q2 -
First Official Language'
'All Respondents'

4.1.3 Fluency in each Official Language - 'Respondents in Bilingual Positions'

For 'employees in bilingual positions', that is those who reported in Question 5 that their position had bilingual language requirements, it is evident from Table 204A below that neither the Anglophone respondents in bilingual positions nor the Francophone respondents in bilingual positions perceive any difficulty with their fluency in speaking English, as practically all respondents in each group feel they are 'fluent or relatively fluent' in speaking English.

Furthermore, overall, almost all (97.8%) of the 'employees in bilingual positions' perceive that they speak French either 'Fluently' (83.4%) or 'Relatively Fluently' (14.4%). The Francophone respondents in bilingual positions did not perceive any difficulty with their fluency in speaking French - all of them feel they are 'fluent or relatively fluent' in speaking French. For the Anglophone respondents in bilingual positions, just over 90% of them reported they speak French 'Fluently' (54.1%) or 'Relatively Fluently' (36.7%) - less than 10% feel they speak French 'With Difficulty' (8.2%) or 'Not at all' (1.0%).

TABLE 204A: Fluency in speaking the Official
Languages by first Official Language
'Respondents in Bilingual Positions Only'

4.1.4 Language Requirements of Position

Table 205 below contains the distribution of responses relevant to the language requirements of respondents. About 44% of all those who responded stated they are in positions identified as 'Bilingual'. The greatest percentage (48.7%) of federal employees in Northern Ontario are in 'English-Essential' positions.

A much greater percentage (71.7%) of Francophone respondents than Anglophone respondents (20.5%) are in 'Bilingual' positions.

TABLE 205: 'Q5 - Language Requirements of Position'
by 'Q2: first Official Language'

According to respondents in bilingual positions, the most common reason for identification of a position as bilingual is to provide 'Services to the Public' - 47.6% of those who indicated they are in a bilingual position gave this as the sole reason. As well, about one-quarter (25.9%) of respondents reported that the reason for identification of a position as bilingual was both to provide 'Services to the Public and to provide 'Internal Services to Other Employees'. The complete distribution of 'reasons for identification of a position as bilingual' is contained in Table 206 in Appendix IV.

4.2 Awareness of the Official Languages Program

Employees were asked if the department/agency had informed them of their rights/obligations concerning the use of either official language at work. The survey results in Table 207 relate directly to objective 1, i.e. to determine if federal employees in Northern Ontario have been informed of their 'language of work rights' (Treasury Board Manual - Official Languages, Chap 2-1, Appendix A).

As shown in Table 207 below, slightly less than three-quarters (71.8%) of respondents have been informed of their rights/obligations concerning the use of the official languages at work. Amongst the remaining responding employees, about the same percentage either have not been informed (13.3%) or don't know (14.9%) if they have been informed of their rights and obligations concerning the use of either official language at work.

The survey percentages are of a similar magnitude for both Francophone and Anglophone respondents.

Table 207: 'Question 7 - Informed of rights/obligations'
by 'Question 2 - first Official Language'

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