Scope of the Audit and Methodology
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Our audit aimed to determine whether EC, and more specifically the MSC, complies fully with its obligations under Part IV of the Official Languages Act where delivery of weather services in both official languages is concerned. During our audit, we focused exclusively on weather services offered to the Canadian public on the MSC automated telephone network. Thus, we chose to exclude from the scope of our audit other means of communicating weather information, such as Weatheradio and the MSC Web site. We also excluded specialized weather services available on 1-900 telephone lines, as well those intended for a specific clientele (National Defence, NAV CANADA, etc.).
We conducted our audit from June to October 2007. Our findings result from the following activities:
- An analysis of the Department’s key documents, including its accountability framework, policies, directives and action plan for official languages;
- Some 20 interviews with senior managers, including the Official Languages Champion, managers and employees of EC and the MSC. These interviews were conducted face-to-face and on the telephone at the head office and the six MSC regional offices;
- Spot-checks of 35 answering machines installed at designated bilingual points of service in the various provinces and territories. Our monitoring took place in the minority official language of each region.
Legislative and administrative framework
The purpose of Canada’s Official Languages Act is to ensure respect for English and French as the official languages of Canada as well as equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all federal institutions. The Act guarantees the public’s right to communicate with federal institutions and receive services from them in either of the two official languages. This obligation is incumbent on the head office or central administration of federal institutions and offices where there is a significant demand for English or French. The Act covers all federal institutions, including EC.
Thus, the Department is responsible for taking the necessary measures to fulfill its obligations under the Official Languages Act and the Regulations, and to implement the relevant policies in the context of its own mandate. Under the Act and the Regulations, there are 133 designated bilingual MSC points of service that provide weather forecasts on automated answering machines across Canada.
