2015 to 2016—Report on results—Implementation of section 41 of the Official Languages Act

Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) works proactively to help official language minority communities (OLMCs) take full advantage of the programs and services offered by the Department to Canadians. We also ensure that our policies and programs reflect the priorities of OLMCs and promote linguistic duality in Canadian society, as outlined in section 41 of the Official Languages Act (the Act).

We are constantly on the lookout for new and innovative approaches to support OLMCs under Part VII of the Act. We also maintain ongoing relationships with national organizations representing OLMCs through the Department's OLMC Secretariat.

Key initiatives in relation to the development of official language minority communities and the promotion of English and French in Canadian society

Language Portal of Canada

The Language Portal of Canada is a key initiative of the Translation Bureau, a Special Operating Agency under PSPC, which contributes to the development of OLMCs. OLMCs are among the Portal's target groups.

The Portal offers a wide range of links to websites related to Anglophone and Francophone minority communities, language training offered in Canada, Canadian language tools and reference works, and resources and articles from the provinces and territories on the language situation in Canada.

In 2015 to 2016, the Portal had nearly 4.9 million views, a 17.4% increase from the previous year. Of the 156 headline articles posted on the Portal in 2015 to 2016, 38 were related to OLMCs, nine more than the previous year.

The Portal provides OLMCs with language tools and resources in both official languages and announces activities and events that concern them and are related to either official language. With access to French language tools and resources, Francophone OLMCs have what they need to strengthen their language proficiency, preserve their language and increase their sense of belonging to the Francophonie.

The Language Portal of Canada's content allows all users to discover the vitality of OLMCs and to better understand their importance in Canada.

The Portal gives a number of Canadian organizations, including the Canadian Language Museum, the Canadian Association of Immersion Teachers, the Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue, the Government of Manitoba (Francophone Affairs Secretariat), the Government of Prince Edward Island (Acadian and Francophone Affairs Secretariat) and the Government of Nunavut (Department of Culture and Heritage), the opportunity to collaborate in the development of the site.

The organizations related to OLMCs that contribute to the Portal or are featured in the headlines of the site feel they are considered important members of Canadian linguistic communities and are happy to be able to increase their visibility with the Canadian public and to contribute to the success of a high-quality Portal.

The Portal also contributes to the promotion of English and French in Canadian society. It helps Canadians communicate in both official languages, disseminate and promote language resources developed in Canada and highlight Canadian expertise in the area of language. It offers the Canadian population a free one-stop access point to a vast array of tools and resources, including TERMIUM Plus® (the largest terminology databank in Canada), a search engine for the Translation Bureau's tools, a collection of links to linguistic resources and many articles authored by associates.

In this way, English- and French-speaking Canadians can improve their language proficiency in both languages. Newcomers also have resources available to them to support their learning of the official languages.

The Portal contributed significantly to the success of Les Rendez-vous de la francophonie 2016 by preparing dictations for the Write it right! contest and sending out tweets and promotional messages.

TERMIUM Plus®

TERMIUM Plus® is an ongoing Translation Bureau success story: a specialized terminology bank available to everyone in Canada. The bank includes vocabulary not only specific to the federal government and communications with citizens, but also vocabulary in a wide variety of leading edge technology and science fields, for example. In addition, it contains a unique array of 16 linguistic resources in English or French (conjugator, grammar tools, dictionary of suggested equivalents, language advice and so on). There is nothing like it in Canada and the entire package is available free of charge on the Web.

This outstanding collection is especially helpful in areas of Canada where OLMCs have access to very few language resources locally. Used in conjunction with the Portal, which posts headlines related to OLMCs with links to topics that they find of particular interest, TERMIUM Plus® enables OLMCs to take advantage of a set of language tools and content that would otherwise be inaccessible to them.

Office of Small and Medium Enterprises

The Department's Office of Small and Medium Enterprises (OSME) helps small and medium enterprises, including those of OLMCs, better understand how the government buys goods and services by raising awareness of opportunities through free seminars and webinars, participation in events organized by OLMCs and events attended by OLMC small and medium enterprises.

The OSME also manages the Build in Canada Innovation Program (BCIP), which assists Canadian businesses in testing their innovative goods and services before they are commercialized. In 2015, Smartpods, from the Francophone company SPARX, of Moncton, successfully applied for BCIP to have a government organization test their product.

The OSME has regional offices across Canada to guarantee support to businesses, regardless of their location. The following are some of the activities carried out by these offices in 2015 to 2016:

In the Pacific Region, the OSME has actively engaged the Francophone community to promote business opportunities with the Government of Canada. This includes participating in events with the francophone Chamber of Commerce, the Société de développement économique de la Colombie-Britannique, as well as the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique.

Seminars and webinars on how to do business with the Government of Canada were delivered by the OSME in the Atlantic Region to business audiences in Francophone regions of New Brunswick (Shippagan, Moncton, Grand Falls, Campbellton).

The OSME in the Western Region established and maintained relationships with Franco-Albertan businesses and associations. In the past year, representatives from the OSME in the Western Region participated in events coordinated by OLMC associations, including the Réseautage d'affaires d'Edmonton, which invited the Francophone business community from Edmonton and the surrounding areas to participate in a cocktail networking event. Nearly 30 Francophone representatives and entrepreneurs participated and created linkages and partnerships. Representatives from the OSME exchanged business cards, circulated pamphlets and engaged in numerous dialogues with entrepreneurs. These dialogues generated a better understanding of the products and services offered by the various entrepreneurs in attendance. Information was shared about doing business with the Government of Canada, how to use buyandsell.gc.ca and how to find out more about the BCIP.

Representatives from the OSME participated in the tradeshow in Calgary. The information presented to over 100 small and medium sized Francophone businesses in Alberta included doing business with the Government of Canada and the BCIP.

Official language minority community media

As part of its role in the coordination of advertising for the federal government, the Department adopts a two-pronged approach to support the development of official language minority media. It provides advice, training and tools to ensure that the advertising plans of federal institutions respect official languages legislative and policy requirements. Among other things, it produces newsletter articles and shares best practices concerning the benefits of official language minority media to members of the Government of Canada's community of practice on advertising. It also supports official language minority media in better understanding the Government of Canada's advertising management process.

In this context, the Department maintains a web-based tool containing statistical information about OLMCs across Canada and the media that serve them to help departments effectively communicate with these communities. In 2015, the Department featured two articles about official language minority media in its quarterly newsletter: the first was written in cooperation with the Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada on the value of community radio to reach OLMCs, and the second highlighted research on the consumption habits of radio listeners of Francophone minority communities.

Since 2007, the Department has formalized its dialogue with the official languages minority media associations through the establishment of the Consultative Committee on Advertising and Official Language Minority Media. The Committee is a forum where government and OLMC media representatives discuss issues of mutual interest and practical solutions to help official language minority media strengthen their business practices. In 2015, within the framework of the Committee, the Department proposed to the representatives of the official language minority community media associations that they bring these associations together to build a digital network specializing in services to OLMCs. The Department presented the concept in order to facilitate their adaptation to the Government of Canada's transition to digital advertising. The associations developed plans aimed at studying the proposed concept.

Hotel Card Program

The Hotel Card Program allows OLMC organizations to benefit from the same reduced rates for accommodation as the federal government in participating hotels in Canada. In 2015 to 2016, organizations participating in the program were able to benefit from reduced rates for a total of 877 nights during business trips.

The Program also allowed organizations to offer regional workshops and activities that align with their mandate, allocate more of their budgetary resources to services that directly affect members of their community and promote gatherings, in order to break their members out of isolation and improve communication and discussion, since they are spread out across their province or territory.

On January 1, 2016, the program was renewed for a period of two years. A total of 111 OLMC organizations registered for the program, which will end on December 31, 2017.

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