Public Service Official Languages Appointment Regulations

Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Canadian Heritage and the Public Service Commission, pursuant to section 21 of the Public Service Employment Act a, hereby makes the annexed Public Service Official Languages Appointment Regulations.

1. (1) In these Regulations, “Order” means the Public Service Official Languages Exclusion Approval Order.

(2) The other terms used in these Regulations have the same meaning as in the Order.

2. For the purposes of these Regulations, any period of leave of more than 60 consecutive days is not included in computing the two-year period referred to in any agreement to become bilingual or any extension of that period under section 7.

3. A person excluded under section 3, 4 or 5 of the Order may be appointed on a non-imperative basis to a bilingual position if the appointment would be on the basis of merit except that the person does not meet the qualifications of the position with respect to official language proficiency.

4. If a person is appointed on a non-imperative basis to a bilingual position after the person enters into an agreement to become bilingual, the deputy head must ensure that the person is provided with the language training that is necessary for the person to attain the level of official language proficiency required for the position within the two-year period referred to in the agreement to become bilingual.

5. If a person who accepts a non-imperative appointment to a bilingual position after entering into an agreement to become bilingual does not meet the level of official language proficiency required for the position during the two-year period referred to in the agreement, the deputy head must, within two months after the end of that period, appoint or deploy the person on an indeterminate basis to a position that is one for which the person meets the essential qualifications referred to in paragraph 30(2)(a) of the Act and that is of a similar level and salary as the bilingual position.

6. If, during the two-year period referred to in a person’s agreement to become bilingual, the person accepts, after entering into a new agreement to become bilingual, any other non-imperative appointment to a bilingual position requiring the same or a lower level of official language proficiency, sections 4 and 5 apply in respect of that subsequent appointment as if the references in those sections to the two-year period referred to in the agreement to become bilingual were references to the two-year period referred to in the first agreement.

7. For the purposes of sections 4 to 6, the Commission must extend the two-year period referred to in an agreement to become bilingual for one or more additional periods — of not more than two years in total — that the person is likely to need to attain the required level of language proficiency, if the person is not able to attain the required level of language proficiency within the two-year period referred to in the agreement because of

(a) exceptional operational requirements that were not foreseeable at the time of the appointment;

(b) exceptional personal circumstances that were not foreseeable at the time of the appointment;

(c) a physical, mental or learning impairment that hinders the learning of the other official language at the required level of proficiency; or

8. The Public Service Official Languages Appointment Regulations 1are repealed.

9. These Regulations come into force on the day on which section 12 of the Public Service Modernization Act, chapter 22 of the Statutes of Canada, 2003, comes into force.