Intergovernmental Cooperation

Intergovernmental Cooperation aims to help provincial and territorial governments, directly or through the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), offer young Canadians activities enabling them to learn English and French as second official languages.

1. Cooperation framework
2. Eligible recipients
3. Funding decisions and evaluation criteria
4. Eligible expenditures
5. Funding terms

I. Cooperation framework

Investments are made within the framework of a five-year protocol for agreements reached between the Government of Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), the key partner for federal intervention in the field of education, or directly with the provinces and territories. Whether within or outside the Protocol, contributions may be granted through annual or multi-year cost-sharing agreements reached with each of the provincial and territorial governments for second-language teaching, or with the CMEC or the provinces and territories for interprovincial, interterritorial, and pan-Canadian projects or the administration of language learning and development programs. These agreements must include an action plan that describes planned measures, funding amounts for each party and targeted outcomes based on the objectives of the three following types of support: Support for the Maintenance and Improvement of English or French Second-Language Programs; Support for the Implementation of the Government of Canada's Action Plan for Official Languages ; and Complementary Support for Language Learning.

Support for the Maintenance and Improvement of English or French Second-Language Programs aims to maintain and improve programs for the teaching of French or English as a second language and provide students with opportunities to understand and appreciate second-language culture. These investments are intended to fund activities related to the support and administration of English and French as second official languages instruction, program development, teacher training and development, student support and other key areas.

Support for the Implementation of the Government of Canada's Action Plan for Official Languages aims to offer complementary funding to that funded through the Support for the Maintenance and Improvement of English or French Second-Language Programs to support the achievement of specific objectives related to learning English and French as second official languages, as identified in the Government of Canada's Action Plan for Official Languages:

• between now and 2013, increase from 24 per cent to 50 per cent the proportion of secondary school graduates with a working knowledge of their second official language;
• increase the number of post-secondary programs offered.

Measures taken must correspond to the investment sector and key strategies outlined below:

Complementary Support for Language Learning aims to support activities or interventions that contribute to the learning and development of language skills. Investments focus on:

1. providing bursaries to young Canadians to improve their second official language through a five-week summer immersion course in an accredited post-secondary institution; and

2. funding full-time and part-time monitor positions in primary, secondary and post-secondary institutions to enable post-secondary students to work with teachers to enrich French or English second-language courses and to support the teaching of the second language.

The bursaries and funding of monitor positions are administered by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, (CMEC) within the framework of the Second Language Summer Program (Explore) and the Language Assistant Programs (Full-Time: Odyssey and Part-Time: Accent), in cooperation with the Department of Education or the provincial or territorial department responsible for post-secondary education. Young people interested in bursaries and monitor positions should consult the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada web site at www.cmec.ca/olp or the following program web sites:

www.myexplore.ca
www.myodyssey.ca
www.myaccent.ca

II. Eligible recipients

Provincial and territorial governments and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada.

III. Funding decisions and evaluation criteria

Funding decisions are based on available funds, priorities, particulars of negotiated agreements and an analysis of requests in accordance with the following criteria:

• Quality of the action plan, which must include:
  • a status report on the areas of jurisdiction covered;
  • a written description of planned programs, services or activities, expected outcomes and performance indicators;
  • links with the objectives and priorities of the Second-Language Learning component;
  • a status report on community consultations carried out;
  • a time frame for implementation;
  • a budget with a breakdown of projected expenditures and the financial contributions of each party (revenues) for planned programs, services or activities;
  • and, in the case of Complementary Support for Language Learning,
    • a description of service levels and standards of the party carrying out the program;
    • a description of the selection criteria and procedures for bursary recipients and monitors;
    • a description of monitoring procedures.
      
• Effectiveness of the action plan as an instrument for:
  • achieving results for the Second-Language Learning component and producing expected outcomes.
    
    
• Adequacy of the budget in relation to activities carried out.  
  

IV. Eligible expenditures

Eligible expenditures include:

• costs incurred by the provinces and territories for support and administration activities for teaching English and French as second official languages, program development, teacher training and development, student support and all other expenditures covered under federal-provincial/territorial agreements, including expenditures related to implementation of interprovincial/interterritorial or pan-Canadian projects undertaken by the provinces and territories through the CMEC;

• costs incurred for the training and development of teachers of English and French as second official languages;

• and, in the case of Complementary Support for Language Learning, costs incurred for the management and delivery of summer bursaries for students to learn their second official language and improve their language skills, and funding of monitor positions for second-language teaching.

V. Funding terms

The framework of a five-year protocol for agreements concluded between the Government of Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), provides for the negotiation of agreements with each province or territory on a multi-year basis, unless decided otherwise. Special agreements outside the Protocol may also be negotiated with each province and territory on an annual or multi-year basis. All agreements must include an action plan that sets out requirements for reporting and payments.

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