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Unilingual regions are those not identified in the list of regions designated as
bilingual for language of work purposes.
Each federal institution should examine its language of work situation in light of its specific circumstances and adopt a
flexible and pragmatic approach to providing services to its employees working in regions referred to as unilingual. Nothing in
the guidelines should be construed as preventing the use of either official language in any circumstances that do not interfere
with the operational effectiveness of an office or work unit. It is important to keep in mind, however, that if an institution has
offices both in the unilingual parts of Quebec and in other unilingual regions, the treatment of both official languages must be
reasonably comparable.
Head offices
A federal institution with its head office in a unilingual region will already be providing central and personal services to
employees in both official languages if it has offices located in bilingual regions. It would be reasonable in such cases to
provide some or all central and personal services in both official languages to the employees in its head office and in any other
of its offices.
Supervision
A supervisor in a unilingual region may decide to provide employees with supervision in the official language of their choice
if this can be accomplished without affecting the language requirements of the position or functions of the supervisor.
For example, if a work unit in a unilingual region is working largely or entirely in the official language of the minority
(e.g., a group of English language teachers in Chicoutimi or a group of French language teachers in Halifax), it would be
reasonable for the supervision of this unit to be in the official language of the minority.
Work instruments
Whenever regularly and widely used documents or other material are already available in both official languages, federal
institutions should make them available in both official languages to employees in unilingual regions. It is important to ensure,
however, that within the same institution the availability of bilingual material in unilingual English regions is comparable to
the availability of such material in unilingual French regions.
Personal and central services
Federal institutions are encouraged to provide personal and central services in both official languages in unilingual regions,
whenever this is feasible, particularly when they currently provide such services in both official languages. For example, an
institution that has offices in a bilingual region may already have the capacity to provide personal services to all employees in
either official language.
Professional training and development
Within a federal institution, the possibilities for professional training and development in English for English-speaking
employees should be reasonably comparable to those in French for French-speaking employees, regardless of the location of their
offices.
Job-related training should be made available according to the language requirements of the positions or functions. Employees
who must work in both official languages should be able to choose the language in which they want to take courses.
Managers should make every reasonable effort to provide employees with career development training in the official language of
the employees' choice.
Federal institutions should inform employees of the availability of professional training and development courses in each of
the official languages and invite them to identify the language in which they wish to participate.
Even when relatively few employees express a desire to take a given course in the official language of the minority, a federal
institution should investigate all possibilities to ensure that the preference of the employee is respected. For instance, it
could consider administering a joint course with other institutions, or taking advantage of other existing courses. Alternatively,
the institution might investigate the feasibility of enrolling the employee in an appropriate course outside the region.
Meetings
When an intra- or interdepartmental meeting held in an unilingual region brings together representatives of both linguistic
communities who work either in bilingual regions or in English and French unilingual regions, the institution should consider
holding the meeting in both official languages.
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