Towards a Modern and Bilingual Public Service
Summary of proposals made by the Commissioner of Official Languages to the President of Treasury Board, in the context of the Human Resources Modernization initiative, in September 2001.
Dr. Dyane Adam - Commissioner of Official Languages
Thanks to the Official Languages Act and efforts by various levels of government in the last thirty years, the federal Public Service has evolved in a way that generally reflects a fundamental characteristic of Canadian society: its linguistic duality. The rate of progress has varied a great deal during this time, however, subject to economic, social, and administrative factors. As a result, the official languages have not been a consistent priority of the federal government. After all these years, the official languages are not yet integrated into operational and human resources management in the Public Service. Too often, they remain a secondary concern.
The reform of the federal government human resources management, underway since April 2001, presents an ideal opportunity to correct this significant weakness. The changes announced by the government must take into account the requirements of the Official Languages Act and the fact that Canada's linguistic duality is one of its fundamental values, as set out in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Efforts in this area will have to focus on three main objectives: 1) official languages must be fully integrated into the operations of the Public Service and become a permanent element of the culture of each institution; 2) emphasis must be placed on increasing the awareness and responsibility of all staff, through an approach based on values and that focuses on the benefits of the presence of both languages and cultures in the Public Service; and 3) such efforts should not neglect the use of new incentives that is central to the new human resources management trends.
The following suggestions are inspired by these three governing ideas; they are derived from a presentation made by the Commissioner of Official Languages to the Treasury Board Secretariat in the context of its initiative to modernize the human resources management.
Time for a change in culture
New approaches are needed to make the official languages a living part of federal institutions. As in human resources management, we must move from an approach based largely on rules and codes to one based on values. The government must promote the official languages in a way that fosters a deeper commitment among all staff by placing greater emphasis on the cultural and social dimensions of the program, including better knowledge and appreciation of the other group's identity, a better understanding of how the presence of the other language group enriches the Public Service, and the openness to diversity that can develop from an acceptance of bilingualism.
Although an approach placing greater emphasis on values is required, we must also make it clear that these values are based on rights. Thus, while it is important to acknowledge the need for flexibility, one must ensure that the legal basis of the Official Languages Act is fully respected.
A responsible senior management
How can this change in culture be effected? First, Treasury Board must maintain and even expand its current role in making managers and employees aware of the importance of Canada's official languages. Second, everything suggests that the reform of human resources management will lead to more delegation of responsibilities to senior Public Service officials. We must ensure that this greater accountability extends to official languages and that it is reflected in management contracts between deputy ministers and the Clerk of the Privy Council and, within each department, between the deputy minister and senior officials.
Finally, we believe that, to accurately reflect the importance of linguistic duality as a key value in the Public Service, deputy ministers should be bilingual and every effort should be made to meet the requirement that all incumbents in EX positions in regions designated bilingual for language of work reach the CBC level of bilingualism by March 2003.
Accountability
In our view, Treasury Board should take a different approach to setting policies. Its role in this regard would be to establish basic policy principles and set expected results, rather than issue rules or specific instructions. Treasury Board should retain a key role in monitoring and auditing the implementation of the principles established and the results expected of institutions. This role should not, however, limit the responsibility of each institution for having its own monitoring systems to ensure that the deputy minister is able to effectively assess the performance of the institution and its senior managers.
Bilingualism as a basic skill
If the official languages are to receive their due in a modern human resources management system, knowledge of both official languages must be regarded as a basic skill, just like the other professional skills required. As shown by the increasing number of Canadians who are bilingual, learning a second language is a normal way to build one's skills.
To highlight the importance of knowing both languages, we will have to ensure that the points allocated for this skill are sufficient to have a real impact on the rating of positions. A corollary to this new approach is to move towards the general use of the imperative staffing method. The use of non-imperative staffing could have been justified in a context in which unilingual individuals, especially unilingual Anglophones, had limited opportunities to learn the second language. This would have created unfair obstacles to obtaining bilingual positions. However, the resources allocated to language training programs and the opportunities that exist today to learn the other official language make it increasingly difficult to justify non-imperative staffing. The time is ripe for the government to seriously consider ways of eventually doing away with this staffing method and the impact this might have.
In the same vein, we also suggest that the bilingualism bonus be eliminated. Since knowledge of both languages would be part of the rated requirements in the classification of positions (or duties), its remunerative value would be placed on the same footing as that of other skills.
Identifying the language requirements of positions
An important element in the implementation of the Official Languages Act is the identification of the language requirements of each position in accordance with the need to serve the public and to allow employees to work in their preferred language. Although the system is not perfect, we believe it is a good way of meeting the requirements of the Act.
If the government's reform of human resources management includes a decision to hire employees who may be assigned to various duties according to operational needs, rather than to specific positions, care must be taken to ensure that: 1) the assignment of staff takes full account of bilingualism requirements for service to the public and language of work; and 2) the basic principle of the official languages program, namely institutional bilingualism (under which only some employees are required to be bilingual in order to meet the requirements of the Act) is respected.
Receptive bilingualism
To create an environment more conducive to the use of English and French as languages of work, we believe that the government should find ways that would allow employees to develop a very good passive knowledge of their second language, thereby allowing both language groups to use their preferred language more frequently, especially in preparing written material.
In view of the emphasis placed on horizontal initiatives in each department and among institutions, we believe that even the incumbents of unilingual positions should have some passive knowledge of their second language. Otherwise, written communications and discussions in meetings will continue to be primarily in one language as soon as there is one unilingual person in the communication chain.
Rethinking language training
The current language training system has received much criticism for its inability to produce truly bilingual people, its worrisome waiting lists, etc.
Significant changes in language training are required. Language Training Canada should review its teaching methods and the content of its programs and focus on knowledge that is more closely related to the needs of the workplace, rather than offering general training. Moreover, the structure of the training could be divided into periods of classroom training and assignments in a workplace where the student's second language is used on a regular basis. Finally, language training needs should be included in each department's training and development plans.
Conclusion
Linguistic duality is a fundamental characteristic of Canadian society. For an increasing number of Canadians, it is a source of great pride and a reflection of our openness to diversity. Thus it is normal, even expected, that Canada's Public Service reflect our linguistic duality and core values.
The current initiative to modernize human resources management provides an ideal opportunity to fill certain gaps resulting from the fact that official languages have not always been an integral part of the federal apparatus. Leadership on the part of managers and mobilization at all levels are required to give the official languages a new impetus that will lead to further significant progress in the Public Service.
