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This directive comes into effect on July 15, 2005. This directive and the Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites replace the following policy:
The institution respects its linguistic obligations regarding communications with and services to the public, as well as language of work, when it uses electronic communications. Electronic communications issued by the institution reflect the equality of status of English and French. The English and French versions of electronic communications are of equal quality and are available simultaneously. Subject to the requirements set out in this directive, electronic communications may be in one or both official languages.
This directive applies to all institutions subject to Parts IV or V of the Official Languages Act (OLA), with the exception of the Senate, the House of Commons, the Library of Parliament, the Office of the Senate Ethics Officer and the Office of the Ethics Commissioner.
The institutions in question must also apply the following policies:
Institutions must also respect the official languages obligations set out in the list of related policy instruments.
Deputy heads are accountable for implementing this directive in their institutions.
The institution respects its linguistic obligations when it communicates electronically with the public.
An office or facility designated bilingual respects the public's right to communicate with and receive services in the official language of the public's choice, in accordance with the requirements set out in the Policy on the Use of Official Languages for Communications with and Services to the Public. Electronic communications issued by an office or facility designated bilingual are available simultaneously in both official languages.
An office or facility designated bilingual ensures that a third party acting on its behalf respects the public's language rights. The contract or agreement with a third party includes clauses setting out the office or facility's linguistic obligations with which the third party must comply. The office or facility designated bilingual ensures that the two official languages are of equal quality when a third party provides communications and services on its behalf.
An office or facility designated bilingual may issue electronic communications in only one official language when using the preferred official language of:
Under certain conditions, an office or facility designated bilingual may, as a courtesy, make available to the public:
The office or facility issues a notice explaining that the information is not available in both official languages because the source of the information is not subject to the OLA.
The circumstances set out above do not exempt the institution from its obligation to serve the public in both official languages.
The unilingual office or facility communicates electronically with the public in the official language of the majority of the population of the province or territory where the office or facility is located when the communication is intended exclusively for the public served by that office or facility. The same obligations apply to a third party acting on behalf of a unilingual office or facility.
The institution respects its linguistic obligations when it communicates with employees.
It is the institution's responsibility to create and maintain a workplace conducive to the effective use of both official languages by enabling its staff to use either language. The institution respects the right of employees to work and communicate with it in the official language of their choice, in accordance with the requirements set out in the Policy on Language of Work. The institution ensures that electronic communications with and services to employees are in both official languages simultaneously, regardless of the entity to which this responsibility is given.
The institution may issue electronic communications in only one official language when using the preferred official language of:
Central and common services agencies respect employees' language of work rights in institutions over which they have authority or that they serve.
Under certain conditions, the institution may, as a courtesy, make available to employees:
The institution issues a notice explaining that the information is not available in both official languages because the source of the information is not subject to the OLA.
The circumstances set out above do not exempt the institution from its obligation to communicate with employees in both official languages.
Subject to the requirements set out in the Policy on Language of Work, the institution communicates with employees located in unilingual regions for language-of-work purposes in the official language that predominates in the province or territory where the employees are located when the communication is intended exclusively for them.
The institution may provide its employees located in unilingual regions for language-of-work purposes with access to bilingual work instruments or services. However, in doing so, the treatment of the two official languages must be comparable between regions where one language or the other predominates.
Service providers acting on behalf of the institution communicate electronically with employees located in unilingual regions for language-of-work purposes in the official language that predominates in the province or territory where the employees are located.
The institution communicates with employees in unilingual regions with different languages of work by choosing one of the following options:
The institution communicates with employees in bilingual and unilingual regions for language-of-work purposes by choosing one of the following options:
Subject to the institutional responsibilities set out above, employees apply the principles established under individual responsibilities when they communicate electronically with one another.
When the institution communicates with the public or employees using an electronic means of communication that requires the use of a Web site, such as an electronic bulletin board, it respects the obligations set out in the Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites.
The Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada (PSHRMAC) is responsible for determining the method for assessing performance and monitoring implementation of this directive in institutions.
Each institution is responsible for keeping its records and information systems up to date and assessing results in order to report on them to the PSHRMAC on request. At a minimum, the institution assesses the following:
When assessment of the results reveals that the directive has not been respected, the institution reports the situation to the PSHRMAC and takes appropriate corrective action.
For further information, please contact the person responsible for official languages in your institution.
Central and common services agencies: Agencies that are obliged to respect official languages use by personnel in the institutions over which they have authority or which they serve. These institutions include the Privy Council Office, Treasury Board Secretariat, Department of Finance, Public Service Commission, Department of Justice, Canada School of Public Service, Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada and Public Works and Government Services Canada.
Conditions: For information to be posted in only one official language as a courtesy, the following three conditions must be met:
Consequences: Official
Languages Policy Framework
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/hrpubs/OffLang/olpf-cplo_e.asp.
Contract or agreement: When an office or facility of an institution subject to Part IV of the Official Languages Act entrusts a third party with delivery of its services to or communications with the public, it ensures that the third party complies with the linguistic obligations of the office or facility through a contract or other legal instrument. Contracts or agreements with third parties should not be confused with transfer payments (grants and contributions). For information related to transfer payments, please see http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/dcgpubs/TBM_133/ggcotp-gscapt_e.asp.
Deputy heads: This term is equivalent to "deputy minister", "chief executive officer" or some other title denoting this level of responsibility.
Diacritics: A sign, e.g. an accent, diaeresis, cedilla, used to indicate different sounds or values of a letter.*
* Source: The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Second Edition, edited by Katherine Barber.
Copyright © 2004 Oxford University Press. Reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press.
Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites: Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites.
Effective use: Actual, routine use of either official language in a work environment where employees can work in the official language of their choice.
Electronic communications: Communications carried out by various means of written and verbal electronic communication, on-line (real-time) or off-line (delayed), such as electronic bulletin boards, e-mail, discussion forums, chat rooms and voice mail.
A computer-operated message center, accessed by modem, intended for a particular interest group.*
* Source: Termium
Correspondence in the form of electronic messages transmitted between computer workstations, servers or terminals over an electronic telecommunications network.
Electronic discussion group consisting of collections of written messages on a particular topic that are posted to a server, which are then redistributed to and/or accessed by other participants. Also called Internet forum or discussion board.
A virtual meeting place that Internet users can access to have real time conversations on a given topic or issue.
A computerized answering service that receives voice messages without a tape recorder plugged to the telephone.*
* Source: Termium
Encoding schemes: The representation of the information circulating in the network requires use of a particular code. Among other things, the scheme used must allow for the representation of characters specific to each of the two official languages.
For communications between employees in different regions, the following principles apply:
For communications with and services to the public: the information is intended exclusively for the public served by the unilingual office or facility. If such is not the case, please note that:
For language of work: the information is intended exclusively for employees in one or more unilingual regions for language-of-work purposes where the language of work is the same. If such is not the case, please note that:
List of related policy instruments:
Note:For example, the note could state "La version française suit le texte anglais" if the English version comes first, or "English version follows the French text" if the French version comes first.
Notice: The notice appears in both official languages. The following is an example of a notice used when information is provided in one official language as a courtesy:
Please note that access to this section is provided as a courtesy only. Therefore, comments are in the language in which they were communicated to us.
Veuillez noter que l'accès à la section suivante est offert à titre gracieux seulement. Ainsi, les commentaires sont dans la langue dans laquelle ils nous ont été transmis.
Office or facility designated bilingual: An office or facility is designated bilingual if it meets criteria:
OR
An office or facility may take various forms, such as:
A list of offices and facilities designated bilingual is available in Burolis at the following address: /burolis/home-accueil_e.asp. In addition to providing contact information for each office or facility of institutions subject to the OLA, Burolis provides the rationale for the obligation to provide services in both official languages (see "Provision" in the "More Info" section). The codes refer to the sections of the OLA or the Regulations.
Official Languages Act: http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/O-3.01/index.html
Other languages: The Official Language Act states:
83. (1) "Nothing in this Act abrogates or derogates from any legal or customary right acquired or enjoyed either before or after the coming into force of this Act with respect to any language that is not English or French."
83. (2) "Nothing in this Act shall be interpreted in a manner that is inconsistent with the preservation and enhancement of languages other than English or French."
Person responsible: http://www.hrma-agrh.gc.ca/ollo/common/Listinstitution_e.asp
Policy on Language of Work: http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/hrpubs/OffLang/plw-plt1_e.asp
Policy on the Use of Official Languages for Communications with and Services to the Public: Policy on the Use of Official Languages for Communications with and Services to the Public.
Policy on using the Official Languages on Electronic Networks: http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/hrpubs/OffLang/duolec-dlloce_e.asp.
Prescribed order: The order of official languages conforms with the principles in Appendix A of the Federal Identity Program Policy (FIP) http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/sipubs/tb_fip/fip-pcim2_e.asp#Appendice%20A.
For example, these principles apply to the order of the official languages for the institutional signature, domain name, signature block and any written or verbal message:
Institutional signature: The two official languages are used side by side and appear in the following sequence: French on the left for an office or facility located in Quebec, and English on the left for an office or facility located elsewhere in Canada.
For example:
English - French:
French - English:
Note: On a Web site, the English-French signature appears on a page in English, and the French-English signature appears on a page in French.
Domain name: When the two official languages must be used together, they appear in the following sequence: French first for an office or facility located in Quebec, and English first for an office or facility located elsewhere in Canada.
For example:
English - French: http://www.hrma-agrh.gc.ca
French - English: http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/
Signature block: When the two official languages must be used together, they appear in the following sequence: French first for an employee of an office or facility located in Quebec, and English first for an employee of an office or facility located elsewhere in Canada.
For example:
Jean Tremblay
Advisor, Strategic Planning / Conseiller, Planification stratégique
Treasury Board Secretariat / Secrétariat du Conseil du Trésor
Ottawa, Canada
John Smith
Conseiller, Planification stratégique / Advisor, Strategic Planning
Patrimoine canadien / Canadian Heritage
Gatineau, Canada
Written or verbal message: When a bilingual message is sent to several recipients, the message appears in French first for a communication originating from an office or facility located in Quebec, and in English first for a communication originating from an office or facility located elsewhere in Canada. Written messages appearing side by side are to be avoided as they cause accessibility problems, for example, when using screen-to-speech software (a software commonly used by people who are visually impaired).
Public: Any person, group of persons (professional associations or others) or organization or company (other than a Crown corporation) in Canada or abroad, any representative of another level of government communicating with or receiving a service from an institution, excluding officers and employees of institutions subject to the Official Languages Act when carrying out their duties.
Regions designated as bilingual for language-of-work purposes: http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/hrpubs/OffLang/CHAP5_1_e.asp.
Regularly and widely used work instruments: For example, the following work tools or instruments are available in both official languages in regions designated as bilingual for language-of-work purposes:
Note that this list is not exhaustive. The institution is responsible for deciding on a case-by-case basis whether work instruments meet the definition of "regularly and widely used." This obligation applies no matter what format is used to make the work instruments available to employees (paper, electronic, etc.).
With regard to computer systems, those provided to employees as information sources or work tools must allow navigation and access to information in either official language; the information must also be available in the official language of the user's choice. As with work instruments, the institution is responsible for deciding on a case-by-case basis whether computer systems meet the definition of "regularly and widely used."
Special circumstances: Circumstances in which the Official Languages Act allows the use of only one official language.
Third party: Under section 25 of the Official Languages Act, "Every federal institution has the duty to ensure that, where services are provided or made available by another person or organization on its behalf, any member of the public in Canada or elsewhere can communicate with and obtain those services from that person or organization in either official language in any case where those services, if provided by the institution, would be required [...] to be provided in either official language." Contracts or agreements with third parties should not be confused with transfer payments (grants and contributions). For information related to transfer payments, please see http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/dcgpubs/TBM_133/ggcotp-gscapt_e.asp.
Unilingual office or facility: An office or facility that is not required to communicate with or provide all of its services to the public in both official languages under the Official Languages Act or the Official Languages (Communications with and Services to the Public) Regulations. However, the unilingual office or facility has linguistic obligations it must respect, as set out in the section "Obligations of an institution and its offices or facilities" of the Policy on the Use of Official Languages for Communications with and Services to the Public.
Unilingual regions with different languages of work: For example, Vancouver and Québec City are located in unilingual regions for language-of-work purposes with different languages of work, English for Vancouver and French for Québec City.
Without changing the content: For example, rewriting, abridging or translating in whole or in part the material, or adding text or illustrations to it, changes the content. Electronic treatment for the purpose of posting the material is not considered to be a change of the content.
