This policy comes into effect on April 1, 2004, and replaces the following policies:
English and French are the official languages of work in federal institutions. In regions
designated
as bilingual for language‑of‑work purposes, both official languages are the languages of work. In
unilingual regions, the language of work is generally the one that predominates in the province or territory.
Obligations to provide service to the public as well as supervision and personal and central services
to
employees take precedence over an employee's right to use one language or the other. These principles apply as defined
in the policy requirements.
This policy applies to all institutions subject to Part 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.
Deputy heads are accountable for implementing this policy in their institutions.
Regions designated as bilingual for language‑of‑work purposes
The institution creates and maintains a work environment conducive to the effective use of
both official languages to enable its staff to use either language. The institution implements measures so that
employees use their preferred official language:
The above obligations apply to institutions even if the office that supervises or provides personal and central
services to employees in a bilingual region is located outside that region.
The institution ensures that its senior management communicates effectively in both official languages with the
institution's employees and that it provides leadership in creating and maintaining a work environment conducive to
the effective use of both official languages.
Furthermore, the institution implements:
Regions that are unilingual for language‑of‑work purposes
The language of work is the one that predominates in the province or territory where the work unit is located.
There are, however, some exceptions:
- Employees for whom the Treasury Board (TB) is the employer have
the right to file grievances in their preferred official language anywhere in Canada. It is up to other institutions
subject to the OLA to adopt this policy, taking their own situation into account.
- Employees who are responsible for providing bilingual services
shall have regularly and widely used work instruments in both official languages in order to provide these services.
- An institution may give its offices in unilingual regions access
to bilingual work instruments or services. However, this must be done in a way that provides comparable treatment for
both official languages between regions in which one or the other language predominates.
Communications between regions
Responsibilities of institutions
An institution located in a bilingual region communicates:
- in both official languages with offices located in other
bilingual regions;
- in both official languages when the communication is addressed
to all federal institutions;
- in the official language of a unilingual region to which the
communication is addressed.
Central and common services agencies respect employee's language of work rights in
institutions over which they have authority or that they serve.
For communications between unilingual regions with differing languages of work, each institution implements the
measures necessary to enable its employees to communicate effectively with one another and with employees of other
federal institutions. This must always be done in a way that provides comparable treatment for all employees.
Employees in bilingual regions communicate with one another in either official language. In communicating with
employees in unilingual regions, they normally use the language of the region to which the communication is addressed.
In communicating, employees in unilingual regions respect the principle that the person who receives the message is
responsible for understanding it.
The Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada (PSHRMAC) is responsible for determining the
method for assessing performance and monitoring implementation of this policy 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 PSHRMAC on request. At a minimum, the institution uses the following indicators to
assess its situation:
- effectiveness of measures implemented to encourage the use of
both official languages in the workplace;
- number of complaints related to language of work that the Office
of the Commissioner of Official Languages determined to be founded.
When assessment of the results reveals that the policy has not been respected, the institution reports the
situation to PSHRMAC and takes appropriate corrective action.
Consequences
Any failure to respect TB policies and directives may be subject to an assessment, the results of which will be
included in the President of the Treasury Board's annual report to Parliament.
In the case of institutions for which TB is the employer, compliance with the OLA and promotion of its objectives
are to be integrated into annual performance assessments and influence ratings.
Failure to comply with this policy may be the subject of a complaint to the Office
of the Commissioner of Official Languages under Part V of the OLA and of a legal remedy in the Trial Division of
the Federal Court.
For further information, please contact the person
responsible for official languages in your institution.
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