Horizontal Results-based Management and Accountability Framework

It has enacted laws, formulated regulations, developed policies and programs, and funded community initiatives. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms even entrenches certain guarantees relating to language rights. Today, at the federal level, equal access to services in English and French is a fundamental right. Linguistic duality is as much a part of the collective Canadian identity as winter, the Rockies or maple syrup.  

The Official Languages Act  

The Official Languages Act gives effect to sections 16 to 20 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In particular, it guarantees access to federal government services in both official languages and commits all federal government institutions to enhancing the vitality of official language minority communities and to fostering the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society.  

In the 2001 Speech from the Throne, the Government of Canada renewed its commitment to promote Canada ’s linguistic duality. It reaffirmed its support for minority official language communities — English-speaking Quebeckers and Francophones outside Quebec . In April 2001 the Prime Minister named a Minister Responsible for Official Languages with a mandate to revitalize the policy framework and programs that support Canada’s official languages.  

Call for more effective accountability

Some critics allege that the Act has not been applied consistently. They cite declining budgets and inadequate attention by federal institutions to the needs and priorities of official language minority communities as evidence that the government’s commitment to linguistic duality is waning.

Consultations with representatives of official language minority communities and other stakeholders from 2001 to 2003 called for an official languages accountability and coordination framework. In 2002 the Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages delivered a similar message in its report on the implementation of Part VII of the Official Languages Act.

In the 2002 Speech from the Throne, the Government promised to present an action plan to re-energize its official languages policy. The Next Act: New Momentum for Canada’s Linguistic Duality — The Action Plan for Official Languages, made public on March 12, 2003, is the Government of Canada’s formal policy statement on official languages. With this Action Plan, the federal government is implementing a series of initiatives costing more than $750 million over five years.

The cornerstone of the new policy statement is an accountability and coordination framework that will raise awareness of the Official Languages Act in all federal institutions, strengthen consultation mechanisms with communities and improve coordination of the federal government’s entire Official Languages Program. The framework recognizes the statutory responsibilities of federal institutions as set out in the Official Languages Act and assigns some new responsibilities. A key element of the accountability and coordination framework is the role of the Minister Responsible for Official Languages who is charged with horizontal coordination of the Official Languages Program.

Soon after the new official languages policy statement was released, program and policy experts from the 10 federal institutions funded under the Action Plan began working together to develop a Horizontal Results-based Management and Accountability Framework (HRMAF) for the government’s Official Languages Program. Starting in 2004 a working group held consultations with representatives from other federal departments and agencies, official language minority communities, provinces and territories, and the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages to generate a set of performance indicators that would have meaning for all federal institutions. The working group, whose membership also included technical experts in evaluation and performance measurement, refined the indicators in collaboration with Treasury Board Secretariat.

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