Action Plan Concerning the Implementation of Section 41 of the Official Languages Act - Measures Planned for 2002-2003

The Treasury Board (TB) is a statutory committee of Cabinet, established under the Financial Administration Act. It consists of six ministers, including the President of the Treasury Board and the Minister of Finance. In June 1997, the Prime Minister designated the TB as the government's management board. The Board's administrative body is Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS). In addition to the traditional roles of the TB and its Secretariat as employer and expenditure manager, the management board is also expected to have a comprehensive view of government operations and to provide sustained leadership in improving management practices.

As expenditure manager, the TB is responsible for preparing the government's expenditure budget, which is tabled annually in Parliament, and for monitoring program spending in government departments.

As the employer, the TB sets the terms and conditions under which the federal Public Service attracts and retains the staff it needs. TB is also responsible for the general direction of the federal policies and programs relating to implementation of provisions set out in the Official Languages Act (OLA) - language of service to the public, language of work, and the equitable participation of English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians - in all federal institutions.

As management board, the TB provides strategic direction in such areas as access to information, accounting, audit and evaluation, contracting, financial management, information technology, real property, as well as on the management of the government's assets, privacy, security, and personnel management in the Public Service.

Assistant Secretary responsible for the file:

Co-ordinator responsible for section 41 of the Official Languages Act:

This action plan covers the period from April 1, 2002, to March 31, 2003.

• Hold consultations, when necessary, on the policies and initiatives that could have an impact on official language minority communities.
• Participate in meetings of national co-ordinators organized by Canadian Heritage within the framework of its mandate to co-ordinate the implementation of section 41 of the Act in federal institutions.
• Participate in annual general meetings of advocacy associations of official language minority communities and in meetings with representatives of these associations.
• Scan weekly and bimonthly newspapers from official language minority communities.
• Participate in interdepartmental co-ordinating mechanisms established by Human Resources Development Canada.
• Hold consultation or information activities in connection with meetings of advisory committees on official languages (departments and Crown corporations) and the networks of official languages champions (departments and Crown corporations).
• Use the network of official languages representatives responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Official Languages Program within their institution.

Official language minority communities would like TBS to use its influence as a central agency to increase awareness among federal institutions of the governmental objectives established under section 41 of the OLA, namely with respect to fostering the development of the communities. The communities' expectations of TBS are thus in terms of a central agency, not a department.

• Undertake a detailed analysis of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Canadian Heritage and TBS concerning the implementation of section 41 of the Act in view of its renewal. Consider the possibility of including other partners (proposed timeframe: March 2003).
• Encourage federal institutions, particularly those mentioned in the MOU signed by Canadian Heritage and TBS, to integrate the government's commitment set out under section 41 of the Act in their planning process for departmental activities (ongoing).
• Ensure that federal institutions respect the guiding principles for official languages in the initiatives relating to diversification of service delivery methods and the submissions they present to TB (ongoing).
• Facilitate official language minority community access to TBS official languages networks so that they can make institution representatives aware of issues affecting them and of development projects that are high on their agenda (ongoing).
• Support efforts by the federal regional councils to establish official languages committees and collaborate on the implementation of initiatives aiming to improve service delivery in both official languages or to foster the sustainable development of official language minority communities (ongoing).
• Support the Interdepartmental Co-ordinating Committee on Language Industries and contribute to the national strategy and the integrated action plan aimed at supporting and fostering the development of the country's language industries, given their crucial infrastructure role for linguistic duality and their potential to contribute to the development of official language minority communities (ongoing).

• feedback from official language minority community associations
• feedback from Canadian Heritage
• feedback from the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
• feedback from official languages committees from federal regional councils
• visits to regions

• Post the action plan on the Web site of the Official Languages Branch of TBS.
• Table in Parliament, by the President of the Treasury Board, an annual report on official languages in federal institutions, including an update on the results following from the implementation of the MOU signed by the President of the Treasury Board and the Minister of Canadian Heritage.
• Distribute, electronically, the action plan by the Secretary of the Treasury Board to all TBS personnel.
• Distribute the action plan to associations representing official language minority communities, notably during regional visits, to the Commissioner of Official Languages, and to the Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages.

This action plan is distributed to national, provincial, and territorial associations representing the official language minority communities, the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, and the Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages.