1.0 Executive Summary
1.1 Introduction/Background
This report presents the findings from a qualitative research project with
federal government employees. The overall objective of this process was to
investigate the perception that official languages policies pose a specific
barrier to career advancement for visible minorities in the Federal Public
Service in order to better understand the nature of the concern. This
qualitative research process is one part of a larger research initiative, and is
intended only to shed light on the perceptions surrounding these issues, and the
perceived nature of problems encountered. Additional investigational elements
are planned.
One of the imperatives for this project stems from the often-heard, but
unverified premise that visible minorities are disadvantaged with respect to
advancing their careers in the federal Public Service because of the
requirements of the official languages policies. In this light, it was
determined that it would be important for Official Languages Branch (OLB) and
Employment Equity Division (EED) to gain a better understanding of individual
experiences and perceptions in order to identify and adequately address any
perceived barriers presented by the Official languages policies, including
access to language training. The mandate for this project states:
A review of the literature conducted for the Official Languages
Branch/Employment Equity Division of the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) did
not find that Visible Minorities as a group (nor sub-groups comprising Visible
Minorities) have any greater difficulty as an entity in the second language
acquisition. Findings from this study suggest that rather than any existence of
systemic or cultural-based barriers with respect to language training, there
appears to be a number of individual attributes and characteristics that may
contribute to an increased difficulty in acquiring a second official language.
This particular qualitative research component consisted of ten focus groups
held in Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver (seven in English and three in French)
and four individual interviews, all with federal public servants representing a
variety of departments and positions within the public service hierarchy. All
groups were held between January 19th and February 5th, 2004. The individual
interviews were conducted in December 2003.
1.2 Study Limitations
Readers of this report are asked to consider the limitations of this
study. This study addresses the perceived existence of barriers to career
mobility for public servants who are of visible minority status. In so doing, it
is important to consider the degree to which qualitative methods such as the
ones employed both shed light on the perceptions of barriers, but are limited in
their ability to measure "barriers" in tangible forms.
For the purposes of this study, "barriers" to career mobility
are construed as those manifestations of attitude, culture, procedure or process
that may obstruct or constrain one's ability to be promoted. Barriers may be
both tangible and intangible, and may exist either in the perceptions of the
obstructed or individuals around them. Accordingly, this study would recognize
reluctance on the part of managers to accord second language training to visible
minorities as a barrier, as well as reluctance on the part of visible minority
participants to ask for it. Both of these kinds of barriers would likely be
transparent to quantitative methods. Qualitative methods allow the researcher to
discuss such perceptions at length in a responsive and probing fashion, and
investigate on how and why they exist.
By the same token, these methods have important limitations: because the
methodology employed in this study is qualitative in nature, our conclusions
should not be construed as representative of the larger population of
federal public servants in any statistically significant manner. In this
case, the findings derived from this process may shed light on the perceptions
of these barriers and the nature of the problem, but cannot shed light on
the magnitude of the problem.
Readers of this report are thus cautioned to consider the implications of the
findings reported herein with care.
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