Memorandum of Understanding between Canadian Heritage and Treasury Board

Memorandum of Understanding Between the Minister Of Canadian Heritage and the President of the Treasury Board Regarding the Implementation of Section 41 of the Official Lanuguages Act

Preamble

WHEREAS the Government of Canada, pursuant to section 41 of the Official Languages Act, is committed to enhancing the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada and supporting and assisting their development, and fostering the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society;

WHEREAS to that end, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, in accordance with section 42 of the Official Languages Act, shall encourage and promote a co-ordinated approach to the implementation by federal departments of this commitment;

WHEREAS the Government's decision of August 1994 created an accountability framework for the implementation of sections 41 and 42 of the Official Languages Act, which requires key federal institutions to consult with the official language communities, develop action plans and identify the results achieved, and requires the Minister of Canadian Heritage to submit an annual report to Parliament;

WHEREAS the Government Response to the Second Report of the Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages (Implementation of Part VII of the Official Languages Act) states that:

"The Government recognizes the need for more rigorous accountability and this requires a role for the Treasury Board Secretariat, the central agency responsible for the review of departmental Business Plans. To this end, the President of the Treasury Board and the Minister of Canadian Heritage will formalize an agreement to set out new, more accountable approaches to the implementation of sections 41 and 42 of the Act."

CONSEQUENTLY, the Minister of Canadian Heritage and the President of the Treasury Board hereby agree that the following statement of objectives and arrangements relating to the implementation of section 41 of the Official Languages Act shall constitute the present Memorandum of Understanding.

1. Definitions

In this Memorandum of Understanding,

1.1

"Official-language minority community" applies to both of Canada's official-language minority communities, i.e. Francophone communities in provinces other than Quebec, and in the territories, and Anglophone communities in Quebec;

1.2

"Official-language minority community" applies not only to a linguistic community in a designated geographical area but also to a linguistic community scattered across a region, such as a province or group of provinces, as well as to everyone who lives in a minority situation and speaks one of the two official languages;

1.3

"Business Planning Process" applies to the process and to resulting documents which identify the medium and longer term strategies for the core activities of a department or agency, focussing on how the department will reach its objectives within the available budget. It normally includes commitments to perform major tasks, identifies levels of service and provides the basis for measuring and reporting performance.

1.4

"Action plan" refers to the annual or multiyear document submitted each year by key institutions to the Minister of Canadian Heritage in accordance with her mandate under section 42 of the Official Languages Act;

1.5

"Key institution" refers to any institution appearing on the list of 27 institutions established under the accountability framework, announced on August 16, 1994, for the implementation of sections 41 and 42 of the Official Languages Act (Appendix A and Appendix B); this list can be reviewed periodically to add or subtract other institutions, as the case may be.

2. Joint Objectives

2.1

To encourage the federal institutions, which are first and foremost responsible for implementing section 41 of the Official Languages Act within their spheres of jurisdiction in accordance with the statutory framework applicable to them, to include in their annual strategic planning, reporting and evaluation processes those activities aimed at fostering the development of official-language minority communities, in accordance with the government's commitment under section 41 of the Official Languages Act.

2.2

To facilitate and encourage efforts at sensitizing ministers and senior officials in the key institutions, and in any other institution which declares itself involved in implementing section 41 of the Official Languages Act, to their responsibilities.

2.3

To define the role played by the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Department of Canadian Heritage with regard to the implementation of sections 41 and 42 of the Official Languages Act, in accordance with the Government response of November 18, 1996.

3. Responsibilities of the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Department of Canadian Heritage regarding the implementation of section 41 of the Official Languages Act.

3.1

Treasury Board Secretariat: The role of the Treasury Board Secretariat shall be in keeping with the following:

3.1.1

the relationship prescribed by the Financial Administration Act with the federal institutions in question, taking into account their status as either a department or agency (Appendix A) or as a Crown corporation (Appendix B) and the substantial differences in the accountability framework that these different statuses imply;

3.1.2

the role it plays in terms of providing the departments and agencies with a management and accountability framework, which requires it to work with them to enhance their Business Planning Process;

3.1.2

the role it plays in terms of providing the departments and agencies with a management and accountability framework, which requires it to work with them to enhance their Business Planning Process;

3.1.3

its role in reviewing and in discussing with departments and agencies their general direction as identified in their Business Plans;

3.1.4

its responsibility in terms of establishing and communicating a system of policies and guidelines to help the departments and agencies meet their planning and reporting obligations.

3.2

Within the framework set out in subsection 3.1 and through ongoing communications with key institutions, the role of the Treasury Board Secretariat consists in encouraging key institutions to:

3.2.1

take into account their particular responsibility for implementing section 41 of the Official Languages Act in their departmental Business Planning Process, including the component relating to audit and evaluation, and when reporting to Parliament on their activities;

3.2.2

consider how they will report to Parliament on their implementation of section 41 of the Official Languages Act;

3.2.3

ensure that their action plan for implementing section 41 of the Official Languages Act is in keeping with the overall departmental strategies.

3.3

The Treasury Board Secretariat and Canadian Heritage will work together, in cooperation with the key institutions, to develop and improve instruments which can be used by key institutions in reviewing their contributions to the implementation of section 41 of the Official Languages Act.

3.4

As appropriate, the Treasury Board Secretariat will include in its briefings on departments called to present their business plans to Treasury Board ministers an overview of their contributions to the implementation of section 41of the Official Languages Act.

3.5

The Department of Canadian Heritage: In accordance with the objectives set out in article 2, the Department of Canadian Heritage shall play the following role:

3.5.1

The Department of Canadian Heritage encourages and promotes a co-ordinated approach to the implementation of section 41 of the Official Languages Act, including the submission to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, by the ministers responsible for key institutions, of the annual or multi-year action plan. The Minister of Canadian Heritage reports annually to Parliament on these action plans

3.5.2

The Minister of Canadian Heritage reports to Parliament on the results achieved over the previous year, as reported by the key institutions.

3.5.3

The Department of Canadian Heritage identifies, as appropriate, in light of its analysis of the action plan of each key federal institution, certain strategic priorities likely to support the development of minority communities, which the Secretariat will, as the case may be, recall to the institutions concerned.

3.5.4

The Department of Canadian Heritage undertakes to sensitize the Regional Councils of Senior Federal Officials as appropriate to the government's commitment to support the development of official languages minority communities. This is consistent with the role of the Councils which bring together senior representatives of federal departments in each province in co-ordinating implementation of high priority federal initiatives.

3.6

The Minister of Canadian Heritage and the President of the Treasury Board will report on the implementation of this Memorandum of Understanding when they table their respective annual reports to Parliament.

4. Review of the Memorandum of Understanding

4.1

The Department of Canadian Heritage and the Treasury Board Secretariat agree to jointly review the appropriateness of the Memorandum of Understanding after three years.

4.2

This review is to take place in consultation with major organizations representing official language minority communities.

5. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have signed this Memorandum of Understanding this day of 1997.

_______________________ Minister of Canadian Heritage	_______________________ President of the Treasury Board
______________________ Witness	______________________ Witness

• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
• Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
• Canadian Heritage
• Canadian International Development Agency
• Citizenship and Immigration Canada
• Foreign Affairs and International Trade
• Federal Office of Regional Development - Quebec
• Health Canada
• Human Resources Development Canada
• Industry Canada
• Justice Canada
• National Film Board
• Public Works and Government Services Canada
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
• Statistics Canada
• Status of Women Canada
• Treasury Board of Canada, Secretariat
• Western Economic Diversification Canada

• Business Development Bank of Canada
• Canada Council
• Canada Post Corporation
• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
• Canadian Film Development Corporation (Telefilm Canada)
• Cape Breton Development Corporation
• International Development Research Centre
• National Arts Centre
• National Capital Commission