2005-2006 Fact Sheet
Canadian Tourism Commission

a) An accountability framework, an action plan and accountability mechanisms are in place (5%)

Note: The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) is a Crown corporation that works in partnership with the country's tourism industry to promote Canada as a world-class tourism destination. On March 31, 2005, the Prime Minister announced that the CTC head offices would be relocated from Ottawa to Vancouver. The Vancouver office has been operating since December 1, 2005. As a number of employees decided not to move with their employer, the CTC found itself with a number of vacant positions.

The CTC does not have an accountability framework that describes all the roles and responsibilities for Parts IV, V and VI of the Official Languages Act (the Act). Furthermore, the institution does not have an official languages (OL) plan, except for an incomplete action plan on Part VII.

The institution has developed an OL policy, which it submitted to the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada (PSHRMAC) for comments. CTC is planning to finalize this policy once their comments are received.

There is no accountability mechanism in place to enable the CTC to assess the progress it has made with respect to OL.

The 2004-2008 strategic plan sets out the CTC's commitment to provide services in accordance with the Act.

OL are not part of internal audits.

The Senior Vice President and Corporate Secretary acts as the OL champion. She attends Board of Directors and Executive Committee meetings. OL are discussed by the Executive Committee, as needed; they are not discussed by the Board of Directors.

One person is responsible for Parts IV, V, VI and VII of the Act.

a) Bilingual services advertised to the public and sufficient bilingual staff (4%)

Services are listed in BUROLIS but not in the Blue Pages of telephone directories.

75% of incumbents of bilingual positions serving the public meet the language requirements of their position. (Source: Official Languages Information System II (OLIS II), December 31, 2004)

According to the findings of in-person service made by the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages (OCOL) in the fall of 2005, visual active offer was made in 100% of cases, active offer was made by staff in 100% of cases, while service in the language of the linguistic minority was adequate in 100% of all cases.

According to the findings of service on the telephone made by OCOL in the fall of 2005, active offer of service by staff or by an automated system was made in 100% of cases, while service in the language of the linguistic minority was adequate in 100% of cases.

The CTC's main clientele is composed of businesses and other stakeholders involved in tourism; the CTC does not deal directly with consumers (potential travelers). Partnership agreements do not include a clause requiring that services be delivered in both OL.

However, the CTC does include a language clause in its advertising contracts in order to encourage its partners to use the minority language press. There are no controls to determine whether its partners take this recommendation into account. The CTC is planning to include a language clause in future partnership agreements.

Over the year, the champion has issued a memorandum reminding all employees of their responsibilities related to OL and service to the public. A presentation on OL was also made for all CTC employees at the June 2005 retreat.

There are no formal mechanisms for monitoring the quality of service to the public. However, as all head office employees work in the same offices, it is easy to check whether service is provided in both OL.

a) Adequate bilingual supervision and language of work policy (12.5%)

77.2% of supervisors in bilingual positions, in bilingual regions, meet the language requirements of their position. (Source: OLIS II, December 31, 2004)

The OL policy (currently being reviewed by PSHRMAC) addresses the need to create a workplace conducive to the effective use of both OL. When the policy is finalized, it will be included in the kit given to new employees. In the meantime, there are support measures such as translation and revision services.

The Senior Vice-President issued a memorandum in September 2005 to inform all employees about their rights and obligations relating to Part V of the Act. The September 2005 presentation on OL also dealt with language of work.

Executive Committee meetings are conducted mainly in English, but presentations are sometimes made in French. Board of Directors meetings are conducted mainly in English, but simultaneous interpretation is always available.

There are no mechanisms that allow CTC to verify whether the workplace is conducive to the use of both OL.

a) Percentage of Francophone participation throughout Canada (5%)

a) Strategic planning and the development of policies and programs take into account the development of minority language communities (12.5%)

Since 2002, the CTC has been providing Canadian Heritage with reports on the implementation of Part VII of the Act and an action plan for 2001-2006. However, the action plan does not contain objectives with timeframes or clear measures that take into account the particular needs of the official language minority communities.

This year, as part of its annual cross-Canada tour (a series of roundtables on tourism to bring together various players in the tourism industry to identify their concerns), the CTC made a special effort to invite Francophone stakeholders to these roundtables.

Corporate advertising is always bilingual. However, advertising done jointly with partners is not always bilingual, since the partners choose which media to use, according to the target audience. However, the CTC encourages its partners to place advertising in the media outlets of both linguistic groups.

The CTC is planning to develop a communications policy that addresses the requirements of the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada. Employees were informed of these requirements at the presentation on OL in June 2005.

The CTC supports partnership projects from OL minority communities as long as these initiatives meet its programs' criteria. However, there are no specific measures to target these communities or support their development.

The CTC is one of the institutions required to submit a plan and annual reports to Canadian Heritage with respect to the implementation of section 41 of the Act. However, these documents hardly mention promoting Canada's linguistic duality.

Linguistic duality was promoted internally during the presentation on OL that was given to all employees in September 2005 and during the annual cross-country tour, where CTC representatives met with various players in the tourism industry to learn about their concerns.