1.0 Introduction

This draft report presents the findings of an evaluation of WD's Action Plan for the Implementation of Section 41 of the Official Languages Act (2000-2004). This first section presents the background to this study, including a description of the origin of the Plan and the Action Plan itself, as well as an overview of the previous evaluation. Section 2.0 presents the findings. Section 3.0 presents the conclusions and recommendations. Remove on final copy

1.1 Context

Part of the Government of Canada's commitment to official languages includes support to the economic development of minority languages communities across Canada. With other departments, WD shares the responsibility for four parts of the Official Languages Act (OLA):

Part IV: Communications with and Services to the Public;
Part V: Language of Work;
Part VI: Participation of English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians; and
Part VII: Advancement of English and French.

1.1.1 Section 41 of the OLA

WD's contribution to the implementation of the Official Languages Act is guided by a four-year Action Plan, which targets Part VII: Advancement of English and French, particularly Section 41. The objectives of this section of the Act are to:

enhance the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada and supporting and assisting their development; and
foster the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society.

1.1.2 Overview of Action Plan

WD's Action Plan for the Implementation of Section 41 of the Official LanguagesAct outlines WD's commitment to fostering entrepreneurial, innovative, and sustainable Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs) across Western Canada. WD has relied on unique partnerships with other federal departments, provincial governments and the community, to enhance community economic development opportunities within OLMCs.

A key aspect of WD's Action Plan has consisted of introducing in 2001 Francophone Economic Development Organizations (FEDOs) into the Western Canada Business Service Network (WCBSN). The FEDOs are independent, not-for-profit organizations in each western province, governed by volunteer boards of directors representative of the province, with a mandate for francophone community economic development with a particular focus on entrepreneurial development. They include La Société de développement économique de la Colombie-Britannique, La Chambre économique de l'Alberta, Le Conseil de la coopération de la Saskatchewan, and Le Conseil de développement économique des municipalités bilingues du Manitoba.

The FEDOs offer a full range of business development services to the Francophone community throughout each province in Western Canada, including the provision of information, mentoring, marketing advice, business counseling, support in the area of community planning information, access to capital, and the promotion of special economic development initiatives on a province-wide basis, comparable to other WD partnership network members.

In addition, WD collaborates with other federal departments such as Canadian Heritage under the Interdepartmental Partnership for the Official Languages Communities (IPOLC) program to meet the needs of the French speaking population in the West. It also participates in official languages sub-committees of the Councils of Senior Federal Officials in addition to partnership committees, which include provincial representatives. WD also ensures a presence in the francophone business communities.

1.1.3 Previous Evaluation

In 1997, Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) commissioned Praxis Management Consultants to perform an in internal evaluation of Part VII of the Official Languages Act. The purpose of the evaluation was to assess the degree to which the Department has taken the necessary measures to achieve, in accordance with its mandate, the two objectives set out in Section 41 and, to determine what measures should be taken in order to fully meet its obligations under this part of the Act.

Key Findings

The results indicate solid improvement in the quality of WD's planning from 1995 to 1997. The overall adequacy rating having risen from 9.63 percent in 1995-1996 to 60.16 percent in 1997 indicated that WD was on the right track to making the correct adjustments in terms of planning, called for by the Commissioner in his Evaluation Report on the First Generation of Action Plans for the Implementation of Part VII of the Official Languages Act of 1988.

Interviews with community stakeholders that follow the federal government's progress in implementing Part VII revealed their consensus of a gap between the content of an institution's Action Plan and an institution's desired results. The evaluation interviewees recognized that this gap occurred in the majority of federal institutions. However, when the WD's performance was examined, the gap between planning and implementation was considerably smaller than average. The high degree of convergence between WD's planning and its actions set it as a model for sister institutions.

According to results, the main strengths of WD's Action Plan include:

Leadership in interdepartmental co-ordination at the national level;
Important, ad hoc projects launched in co-operation with OLMCs;
Co-operation with Canadian Heritage in administering the Canadian Identity Program;
Providing appropriate information on WD programs to the communities;
The evaluation and awareness raising process inherent in the application of the Evaluation Framework of Part VII.

Many recommendations were also included in the evaluation. These appear in Appendix B.

1.2 Evaluation Objectives

This evaluation was initiated for two purposes. First, it is intended to meet accountability requirements to Canadian Heritage, which requests that each Department Action Plan be evaluated upon its expiry. As such, the evaluation will identify and report on WD's success in achieving its objectives as stated in its Action Plan 2000-2004, and on the challenges, gaps, and future undertakings with regards to the implementation of Section 41 of the Official Languages Act.

The second purpose of this evaluation is to provide timely, useful, relevant and credible information on the continued relevance of the department's implementation of the Official Languages Action Plan, Section 41. This information will guide WD's Official Languages Section 41 team, managers and other stakeholders in developing the Official Languages Action Plan, Section 41 for 2004-2008.

Evaluation questions addressed by this evaluation encompass the issues of relevance, success and effectiveness, including strengths and weaknesses, of the implementation and outcomes of WD's Official Languages Action Plan.

In particular, the evaluation covers the following questions:

Were the goals and targets developed clear and measurable?
Were the targets meaningful, realistic and attainable?
Were the targets met? Why? Or why not?
What were the outcomes and/or barriers?
What were the contributions or partnerships contributing to Section 41 of the OLA?
What has the department learned overall?
What needs to be addressed in the Action Plan for 2004-2008?
Were the resources employed to ensure the Plan's implementation the most appropriate and efficient?

1.3 Evaluation Scope

The scope of this evaluation is the following.

In terms of timelines, this evaluation covers the lifespan of the Action plan, that is, between 2000 and 2004. However, the bulk of the evidence was collected in Fall 2003.
The evaluation mostly relies on qualitative information. As presented below, the evidence was gathered through key informant interviews. Findings are therefore not necessarily representative of all views and great care was taken when the findings were analyzed/interpreted. Program documents were also reviewed.

1.4 Methodology

This evaluation was based on 30 key informant interviews with WD representatives, FEDO representatives, and stakeholders from other federal departments and the communities. Methodologies also included a documentation review and site visits in the four FEDOs. Fieldwork was conducted between September and November 2003.

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