The Action Plan for Official Languages Coordination Program Summative Evaluation
2. Description of the Coordination Program (DOJ component)
-
2.1. Policy context
-
2.2. Program logic
-
2.3. Management structure
-
2.4. Program resources
2. Description of the Coordination Program (DOJ component)
This section of the report describes the overall policy context relating to the Coordination Program, the Department of Justice Canada component of the Coordination Program, including its goals, activities, management structure, and resources.
2.1 Policy context
The Action Plan includes two central components:
To support horizontal coordination among federal departments, the Coordination Program initially assigned both funding and responsibility to the Official Languages Branch (Intergovernmental Affairs) within the Privy Council and to the Department of Justice Canada. Over a five-year period, the Coordination Program allocated $13.5 million to the Privy Council Office and $2.5 million to the Department of Justice Canada to pursue two objectives:
- to maintain a coordinated approach to the initiatives of federal institutions in order to respect the Official Languages Act
- to promote respect for rights and freedoms, the law and the Constitution, and provide high-quality legal service and counsel to the government.
On February 6, 2006, the federal government transferred the funding and related responsibilities previously assigned to the Official Languages Branch (Privy Council), to the newly formed Official Languages Secretariat with Canadian Heritage (PCH). In practical terms, this means that for the last two years of the Action Plan (2006–2007 and 2007–2008), the Official Languages Secretariat (PCH) is managing the remaining $4 million originally allocated to the Privy Council.
2.2 Program logic
This sub-section describes the program logic linking activities that the Department of Justice Canada undertakes as part of the Coordination Program and their expected results.
2.2.1 Program goals
The Department of Justice Canada is expected to engage and support coordination activities that the Official Languages Secretariat undertakes in the areas of communications, consultations, liaison, strategic planning, research, and evaluation and to provide legal advice related specifically to the implementation of the Action Plan, its Accountability and Coordinating Framework, and more generally the Official Languages Act, constitutional language rights provisions, and other federal, provincial and territorial laws and regulations relating to language rights.
2.2.2 Program activities and outputs
As part of the Coordination Program, the Official Languages Law Group, within the Department of Justice Canada, is expected to undertake the following activities:
- Actively monitor official languages issues affecting the federal government. These activities include legislative, case law and media monitoring to identify, early on, legal risks related to official languages that could affect the federal government.
- Support legal council in departmental legal services units in their efforts to address legal issues relating to official languages.
- As needed and applicable, promote awareness within federal departments of the requirements under the Accountability and Coordination Framework and the Official Languages Act. This includes the development of appropriate tools to support federal departments.
- Systematically examine initiatives, programs and policies (including Memoranda to Cabinet and Treasury Board submissions) that could have an impact on official languages to ensure consistency with constitutional, statutory, and other requirements relating to official languages.
- Support the work of the Committee of Deputy Ministers on Official Languages (now the Committee of Assistant Deputy Ministers on Official Languages), as well as federal ministers involved in official languages issues.
2.2.3 Expected impacts
Activities of the Department of Justice Canada are expected to increase awareness among federal institutions of the spirit and purpose of the Official Languages Act and to strengthen horizontal coordination among federal institutions in their efforts to fulfill their obligations in the area of official languages.
2.3 Management structure
The Official Languages Law Group, within the Department of Justice Canada, manages the resources allocated through the Coordination Program. The General Counsel and Director of the Official Languages Law Group manages these resources and is directly accountable to the Associate Deputy Minister.
2.4 Program resources
Under the Coordination Program, the federal government allocated $500,000 annually to the Department of Justice, starting in 2003–2004. All resources are Vote 1 resources, applicable to salary, operating, and other related expenditures.
[1] In addition, since 2003, the federal government made the following allocations to support the objectives of the Action Plan: Human Resources Development Canada ($36 million), Health Canada ($10 million), and Statistics Canada ($10 million).
- Date modified: