Recommendation 16a) (2004 study)

That the Department of Foreign Affairs take immediate steps to ensure bilingual capability and active offer within the consular affairs sections of all diplomatic missions.

Measures taken by the Department since 2004

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), it is the responsibility of mission heads to take measures to ensure bilingual capacity and the active offer of bilingual services in the consular affairs sections of all diplomatic missions. This responsibility is part of their performance management agreement. Furthermore, the Department says that it regularly conducts audits, and if an audit reveals any shortcomings, the Department acts. Heads of mission are responsible for following up on the audits.

DFAIT also stated that, in December 2006, the Deputy Minister reminded all heads of mission that it is essential to have measures in place to ensure that the mission can meet Canadians’ needs in both official languages in the event of an emergency. The heads of mission responded very positively to this recommendation and submitted contingency plans for their respective missions. The Department added that before rotational staff are deployed to a country, they must meet the language requirements of the positions that they will occupy.

Occasionally, Canada entrusts some of its consular duties to other countries. For example, Canada has an agreement with Australia under which Australia undertakes to provide consular services to Canadian citizens in countries where there is no Canadian mission. Part of the agreement stipulates that Canadians be served in their language of choice.

Recommendation 16b) (2004 study)

That the Department of Foreign Affairs establish, by December 31, 2004, an effective mechanism for regularly monitoring bilingual service availability and capacity within these sections.

Measures taken by the Department since 2004

In response to this recommendation, DFAIT asserted that its main monitoring mechanism is the Office of the Inspector General. The Inspector General’s internal audits include a language component. For example, an audit of the embassy in Algiers revealed some shortcomings in the locally engaged staff’s ability to speak English.

DFAIT added that it intends to institute regular monitoring through its official languages program.

DFAIT informs the Commissioner that it is currently hiring a full-time employee in the position of Official Languages Advisor. One of the functions of the Official Languages Advisor will be to implement a monitoring mechanism to assess the availability of bilingual services in consular affairs offices.

The Audit Division (ZIV) at DFAIT states that audits are only one way of monitoring the availability of bilingual services in the missions. On average, a mission is audited every seven years, which ZIV believes is not enough. To audit the bilingual capacity of missions, ZIV conducted telephone spot checks and asked for services in the other official language. DFAIT has asked ZIV to monitor this on an annual basis.

According to the Department, all missions are required to have an official languages coordinator. In principle, these coordinators will prepare an annual report and will keep track of how the mission serves the clients and describe the internal official languages capacity.

Recommendation 17 (2004 study)

That the Department of Foreign Affairs revise, by December 31, 2004, provisions contained in its Official Languages Policy governing the language of publications with a view to ensuring that Canada’s bilingual image is fully reflected at all times, and ensure that Canada’s diplomatic missions are provided with adequate tools and financial resources to meet the requirements.

Measures taken by the Department since 2004

DFAIT officials pointed out that all departmental publications, whether in print or electronic format, are available to the Canadian public in both official languages.

The Directive on the Use of Official Languages on Web Sites, which came into effect in July 2005, states “the English and French versions of a Web site of an institution are of equal quality and are available simultaneously.” The Directive outlines the special circumstances under which only one language may be used. Information may, as a courtesy, be published in one official language only in three cases: when the information is provided by entities not subject to the Official Languages Act, when the information is not a work tool widely used by the employees of an institution subject to the Act and when the institution is not responsible for the information in terms of communications with and services to the public and employees.

DFAIT officials also indicated that, under the Official Languages Act, only one official language may be used when the information comes from a third party. A document drafted by the Department, or jointly with the Department, is not deemed to be information from a third party, and as such, must be made available to the public in both official languages.

Although there are no guidelines that set out the language to be used by ambassadors and heads of mission in speeches given abroad, officials indicated that, in their pre-departure training, ambassadors and heads of mission are made aware of the importance of demonstrating linguistic duality while representing Canada abroad. For example, it is now common practice for Canada’s ambassadors to the United States and France to systematically post their speeches in both official languages.

With regard to the use of foreign languages on the Internet, the information on the Web site of a mission must include a notice to the effect that the content is intended for a non-Canadian audience only.

The Department advised the Office of the Commissioner that a committee has been established to monitor the quality of the content on DFAIT Internet sites. The committee’s mandate is to oversee the application of the government’s electronic communications policies, including the official languages policy. An ad hoc editorial committee will provide support and have the authority to refuse to post any content on-line that is not provided in both official languages. The committee can even disable sites that do not comply with the Department’s requirements.

The Department also stated that with respect to foreign audiences, it is DFAIT’s standard practice to provide summaries in both official languages on Web site content that was originally and solely produced in local languages.

Recommendation 18 (2004 study)

That the Department of Foreign Affairs take steps, by December 31, 2004, to ensure that security services at all Canadian diplomatic missions are actively offered and immediately available in both official languages.

Measures taken by the Department since 2004

In its initial response to the recommendation in the 2004 study, the government stated the following: “Security services at missions are normally provided by a third party. As such, requirements for the security clearance of individuals providing those services will often take precedence over the official languages competence. The Department will undertake a review of processes and systems to ensure that security services are actively offered and immediately available in both official languages.”

In response to the current follow-up study, the Department again reiterated that it would undertake a review of processes and systems to ensure that security services are actively offered and immediately available in both official languages.

The Department stated that all security personnel are required to refer Canadians to bilingual Canada-based employees so that they are served in the official language of their choice. Awareness initiatives have been undertaken in some cases. In Tunis, for example, a memorandum was sent to all employees, including locally engaged staff, to raise awareness about the importance of linguistic duality.

According to the Department, in some cases the host country provides security guards for the missions, and sometimes missions do not have a say in the choice of security guards, as is the case in China.

The Department pointed out that, in some countries, it is difficult enough to find reliable security guards who can read and write in one of the official languages. In its opinion, it is often impossible to find reliable security agents who are bilingual.

The Department mentioned a success story from the Canadian embassy in Rome, Italy. A clause was written into a security firm’s employment contract that requires it to provide language training to its employees. The Department states, however, it is important to remember this measure cannot be applied in all countries.

In its response to a draft of this report, DFAIT responded that it has reviewed procedures to ensure security services are offered immediately in both official languages and implemented a specific procedure to deal with this issue. For example, should the security guards at missions not be able to communicate effectively in one or both of the official languages, a bilingual representative from the mission intercedes. Should this occur after business hours, the security guards will provide the individual with a card indicating the direct phone number to DFAIT’s bilingual security services call centre, which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.