ARCHIVED - Official Languages Audit - Service to the Public - West - Number 20

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VANCOUVER

Managers' Responsibilities

The managers that we interviewed in the Vancouver Region demonstrated a good knowledge of their responsibilities regarding the provision of service to the public in both official languages. The managers at the Pacific Division Office, Canada Post Corporation, and the concessionaires at the VIA Rail Station were the exceptions to the rule. Except at the VIA Rail Station, the offices we visited have controls in place to ensure the provision of service in both official languages at all times.

Three institutions, the Vancouver Airport Administration, the Public Service Commission, and the Revenue Canada Surrey Taxation Centre, conduct regular opinion surveys on language of service. Meetings between department representatives and representatives of minority language groups vary according to the type of institution.

Organization

All the Vancouver offices visited have sufficient bilingual capacity to provide continuous service in both official languages except the concessionaires at the airport and at the VIA station. Work instruments necessary for provision of service in both official languages are available.

Active Offer

Telephone reception is in both official languages, except at the RCMP and the Pacific Division Office of Canada Post.

At the reception areas, service is generally offered in both official languages. However, the receptionist at the Income Security Office, with the consent of the office team leader, does not always greet the public in both official languages. This is due to the fact that negative responses on the part of the public have been received in the past. However, when the bilingual receptionist is on duty, she responds in French, if she detects a French accent.

At the Langley township detachment of the RCMP and at the Canada Post, Pacific Division Office, the receptionists greet the public in English. If spoken to in French, they direct visitors to bilingual employees.

Almost all the offices have permanent signage in both official languages. However, at the RCMP Langley Detachment, the Revenue Canada Surrey Taxation Centre and at concessionaires' booths at the VIA Station, temporary signage is in English only. The official languages symbol is highly visible except at the Pacific Division Office of the Canada Post Corporation and at concessionaires' booths at the VIA station where the official languages symbol is not shown. In the offices visited, publications are generally available in both official languages although there were problems in some offices.

Service

Service in both official languages is not always actively offered, although most offices visited can provide comparable service in both official languages, at all times. The service provided by concessionaires at the Vancouver International Airport and at the VIA Station is not always in both official languages.

Minority Organizations in Vancouver

The federal points of service most often used by members of the French-speaking community in Vancouver are those of the following departments: Passport and Citizenship offices, the Public Service Commission, Human Resources Development (Canada Employment Centres, Unemployment Insurance and Income Security Programs), the RCMP, Canadian Heritage, and Canada Post. According to representatives of the Francophone minority associations, the French-speaking public is not always served in the language of its choice when dealing with the designated federal offices.

Complaints have been lodged against Health Canada, the Department of Justice and Canadian Heritage.

In May 1994, la Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique conducted an audit of the services offered to the French-speaking community. At that time, service was available in only 60% of the cases. A few departments inform their clients of where they can obtain services, but the Fédération also does a lot in this regard. It feels that the departments are not providing enough information in this regard.

It is suggested that federal departments take advantage of Francophone Week to let people know where bilingual services are available.

Survey Results

We conducted the survey in the following offices: British Columbia District Office, Public Service Commission of Canada; Immigration and Refugee Board; Canada Employment Centre, Human Resources Development Canada; Income Security Programs, Human Resources Development Canada; Langley Detachment, Royal Canadian Mounted Police; and Surrey Taxation Centre, Revenue Canada.

In almost all cases, visitors reported to us that the signage in these offices indicated that service can be obtained in the language of their choice. Visitors were generally greeted in English, with some exceptions when a bilingual greeting was used. Visitors were served in English, their language of choice. They also expressed satisfaction with the service provided.

 

The table below summarizes the results with respect to the clients' satisfaction with the language of service for each office where the survey was conducted.

	SIGNAGE INDICATES AVAILABILITY OF SERVICE IN BOTH OFFICIAL LANGUAGES	OFFICIAL LANGUAGE USED DURING GREETING	THE CLIENT COULD USE LANGUAGE OF CHOICE	SATISFIED WITH QUALITY OF LANGUAGE USED
British Columbia District Office Public Service Commission of Canada (eight clients surveyed)	YES (8)	Both (8)	YES (8)	YES (8)
Immigration and Refugee Board (eight clients surveyed)	YES (5) NO (3)	English (4)* Both (3)	YES (8)	YES (7)*
Canada Employment Centre, Sinclair Centre Human Resources Development Canada (nineteen clients surveyed)	YES (19)	English (7)* Both (7)	YES (16)*	YES (13)*
Income Security Programs, Vancouver District Office Human Resources Development Canada (eight clients surveyed)	YES (8)	English (3)* Both (4)	YES (8)	YES (6)*
Langley Detachment Royal Canadian Mounted Police (six clients surveyed)	YES(6)	English (6)	YES (6)	YES (6)
Surrey Taxation Centre Revenue Canada (thirteen clients surveyed)	YES (12)*	English (5)* Both (7)	YES (13)	YES (12) NO (1)

 

* The variance is due to some of the visitors not responding to all questions.

 

VICTORIA

Managers' Responsibilities

We did not audit the Victoria subdivision of the RCMP. The RCMP headquarters manager considers that it is an administrative office that does not provide direct service to the public. The summary of results does not take this office into account.

In four of the nine offices visited, managers do not fulfil their responsibilities regarding the Official Languages Act. At the Canadian Citizenship Centre, the Court manager believes that service in the second language need only be provided in response to a request by a client. At the Canada Employment Centre, the manager does not want employees to actively offer service in both official languages. Finally, the manager of the district office of the Health Protection Branch, Health Canada, was not aware of his responsibility to provide service in both official languages.

Six of the offices visited have control mechanisms in place to ensure service is always provided in both official languages. These mechanisms consist primarily of administrative arrangements when bilingual employees are absent, availability of different telephone lines depending on the clients' language of choice, and a sufficient number of bilingual positions. Several federal institutions will shortly move to a new federal government building. This will probably create a pool of bilingual staff.

The offices visited have no mechanism to assess their clients' satisfaction. Additionally, the only ones to meet with the representatives of minority language groups are the Passport Office, the Health Branch, Health Canada, and the Canada Post Corporation.

Organization

Two offices, Veterans Affairs and the Canadian Citizenship Office, do not have any bilingual capacity. Except for the District Office of Veterans Affairs, the work instruments necessary for the provision of service in both official languages, are available.

Active Offer

On the telephone, an active offer of service is made in both official languages, but administrative arrangements must be relied upon to provide services in French. The District Office of Veterans Affairs, the District Office of the Health Protection Branch and the Canada Post postal counter located on Yates street, greet their clients in both official languages. Generally, permanent signage is in both official languages, but not all temporary signs are in a bilingual format. The official languages symbol is visible in approximately 60% of cases. Publications are not always available in both official languages.

Service

Except for Income Security Programs, Human Resources Development Canada, and the Pacific Division of the Canada Post Corporation, the service provided in French is not comparable to the service provided in English. Service in French is often slow and inefficient. Regarding third party services, contracts that we reviewed at the Canada Employment Centre do not require that the third party be bilingual nor that the services be of comparable quality.

Minority Organizations in Victoria

The federal points of service most often used by members of the French-speaking community in Victoria are the following: Unemployment Insurance, Income Security Programs, Canadian Heritage and Canada Post. According to their representatives, the French-speaking community considers that it is served very well in the language of its choice, particularly by Human Resources Development Canada and by Revenue Canada. However, in many departments, members of the public must endure long delays before they are served in the language of their choice. There have been complaints, mainly verbal, regarding various aspects of the service.

The minority-language public believes it has been adequately informed of the offices where services are provided in both official languages. However, there should be more publicity in newspapers.

Survey Results

We conducted the survey in the following offices: Victoria District Office, Veterans Affairs Canada; Passport Office, Victoria Office, Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Canadian Citizenship Centre, Citizenship and Immigration Canada; Canada Employment Centre, Human Resources Development; Income Security Programs, Human Resources Development; Victoria Branch, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Pacific Division, Canada Post Corporation.

Visitors reported to us that the signage in these offices indicated that service can be obtained in the language of their choice. Visitors were generally greeted in English, with some exceptions when a bilingual greeting was used. Visitors were served in English, their language of choice. They also expressed their satisfaction with the service provided.

 

The table below summarizes the results with respect to the clients' satisfaction with the language of service for each office where the survey was conducted.

	SIGNAGE INDICATES AVAILABILITY OF SERVICE IN BOTH OFFICIAL LANGUAGES	OFFICIAL LANGUAGE USED DURING GREETING	THE CLIENT COULD USE LANGUAGE OF CHOICE	SATISFIED WITH QUALITY OF LANGUAGE USED
Victoria District Office Veterans Affairs Canada (four clients surveyed)	YES (3)*	English (2) Both (2)	YES (4)	YES (3)*
Passport Office, Victoria Office Foreign Affairs and International Trade (nine clients surveyed)	YES (9)	English (9)	YES (8)*	YES (7)*
Canadian Citizenship Court Citizenship and Immigration Canada (five clients surveyed)	YES (5)	English (4) Both (1)	YES (4)*	YES (5)
Canada Employment Centre Human Resources Development Canada (ten clients surveyed)	YES (8)* NO (1)	English (8) Both (1) French (1)	YES (9)*	YES (9)*
Income Security Programs Human Resources Development Canada (ten clients surveyed)	YES(10)	English (1) French (9)	YES (10)	YES (9)*
Victoria Branch Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (five clients surveyed)	YES (5)	English (1) Both (4)	YES (4) NO (1)	YES (4)*
Pacific Division Canada Post Corporation (ten clients surveyed)	YES (10)	English (6)* French (1) Both (2)	YES (8)*	YES (9)*

 

* The variance is due to some of the visitors not responding to all questions.

 

6. Recommendations

We recommend that those institutions included in the audit take necessary actions to ensure that problems related to service to the public be corrected, particularly the following:

• the active offer of service in the two official languages is made at all times, particularly when clients are greeted in person or by phone;
• concessionaires that have leases with Transport Canada for the provision of specific commercial services in airports, understand their obligation to serve clients in the two official languages and that Transport Canada includes such provision in the lease and has controls in place to verify that concessionaires fulfill this obligation;
• controls exist to provide services in the two official languages at all times, including conducting evaluations of client satisfaction with regard to the services provided in order to allow for corrective action. Measuring of client satisfaction should not solely be based on whether complaints are received;
• offices have adequate bilingual capacity at the reception and at counters, by example, by raising the linguistic profile of related bilingual positions;
• meetings (at the national and regional levels) with representatives of the minority official languages community take place on a regular basis to obtain input on their needs and concerns and to find solutions together to the problems identified; and
• services in the two official languages are available and comparable at all times.

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Appendix A - List of institutions visited

 

Winnipeg

Transport Canada
Winnipeg International Airport - Concessionaires

Human Resources Development Canada
Canada Employment Centre

Human Resources Development Canada
Income Security Programs

Royal Canadian Mounted Police
"" Division

Canadian Heritage
Prairies and Northern Region

Revenue Canada
Customs

Canada Post Corporation
Postal Counter

Canada Post Corporation
Postal Counter - Winnipeg International Airport

VIA Rail Canada Inc.
123 Main Street

 

Saskatoon

Veterans Affairs Canada
Federal Building

Business Development Bank of Canada
105-21st Street East

Human Resources Development Canada
Canada Employment Centre

Human Resources Development Canada
Income Security Programs

Human Resources Development Canada
Labour Affairs

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
446A-2nd Avenue North

Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Saskatoon Subdivision

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Prairies and Northwest Territories Regional Office

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Saskatoon Branch

 

Calgary

Calgary International Airport Administration
Calgary International Airport

Immigration and Refugee Board
Fording Place, 205 - 9th Avenue S.E.

Human Resources Development Canada
Income Security Programs

Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Calgary International Airport Detachment

Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Headquarters, Calgary Subdivision

Heritage Canada
Citizenship and Canadian Identity Programs

Revenue Canada - Customs
Calgary Regional and District Offices

Canada Post Corporation
Postal Counter

Canada Post Corporation
Post Office: Calgary International Airport

 

Vancouver

Vancouver International Airport
Customer Services Counter and Concessionaires

Public Service Commission of Canada
British Columbia District Office

Immigration and Refugee Board
Vancouver Regional Office

Human Resources Development Canada
Canada Employment Centre

Human Resources Development Canada
Income Security Programs

Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Langley Detachment

Revenue Canada
Surrey Taxation Centre

Canada Post Corporation
Pacific Division Office

VIA Rail Canada Inc.
1150 Station Street

 

Victoria

Veterans Affairs Canada
Victoria District Office

Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Passport Office, Victoria Office

Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Canadian Citizenship Court

Human Resources Development Canada
Canada Employment Centre

Human Resources Development Canada
Income Security Programs

Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Victoria Subdivision

Health Canada
Health Protection Branch

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Victoria Branch

Canada Post Corporation
Pacific Division

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