Canada’s Official Languages

Policy Versus Work Practice in the Federal Public Service

Helaina Gaspard (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

162 Seiten

2019
University of Ottawa Press (Verlag)
978-0-7766-2335-1 (ISBN)

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In 1969, Canada officially embraced and wrote into law the equality of English and French, and in 1988, both were legislated as working languages in its federal institutions. With the half-century mark fast approaching, this book takes an unflinching look at the divergence between policy and practice.

Canada's official languages policy makes English and French the country's official languages in federal institutions. The policy has succeeded in fostering equitable representation of both official language groups in the federal public service and has improved capacities for the public service to serve the citizenry in its official language of choice. It is a puzzle, however, that the Canadian federal public service continues to operate predominantly in English-despite the legislative equality of both official languages as languages of work. This begs the question: why is there still inequitable access to French as a language of work in the federal public service despite the promise of the Official Languages Act (OLA) in 1969 for choice in language of work and the OLA 1988 that made the choice a claimable right? This book argues that the "virtual" failure of language of work is a function of how the official languages program was implemented: ultimately, it was unable to challenge the path dependency within the federal public service to operate predominantly in English.
Only a close examination of the roles of actors and institutions that influenced the process, and a critical look at the lack of structural change, inadequate managerial engagement and the false sense that official languages are engrained in the public service, can explain the persistence of English as the dominant language of work. Rooted in extensive archival analysis and semi-directed interviews with former and current political and bureaucratic officials engaged in the implementation of the OLA, this book undertakes a historical analysis of efforts related to official languages in the federal public service in the National Capital Region from 1967-2013, providing the first in-depth study of this formative Canadian issue.

Helaina Gaspard holds a PhD from the University of Ottawa's School of Political Studies and is Senior Research Associate at the University of Ottawa's Jean-Luc Pepin Research Chair in Canadian government. Her research focusses on institutions, their foundations, stakeholder environments and sustainability.

Preface by Graham Fraser

Introduction
Official Languages and the Federal Public Service

CHAPTER 1: Theoretical Foundations
The Politics of Language
Representative Bureaucracy
Historical Institutionalism and Layering

CHAPTER 2: Check Your Hat and Your Language at the Door (1867-1967)
Introduction
The Early Civil Service
Historical Context
The Strike at Trois-Rivières
Ernest Lapointe—Prime Minister King’s
Quebec Lieutenant
L’Ordre Jacques Cartier
The Jean Committee
Early Reform Efforts
The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, and Prime Minister Pearson’s Promise
Conclusion

CHAPTER 3: The Official Languages Act, 1969 (1968–1972)
Introduction
Adopting the OLA 1969
Charting a Course for Implementation
French-Language Units (FLUs)
Bilingual Districts
Linguistic Designation of Positions
Conclusion
CHAPTER 4: If At First You Don’t Succeed, Layer, Layer, and Then Layer Again (1973–1981)
Introduction
The 1973 Parliamentary Resolution on Official
Languages
Decentralizing Program Management
The Gens de l’Air Crisis and National Unity
Reorganizing and Restructuring the Public
Service
Management-centric Changes to the Official
Languages Program (1981)
Conclusion

CHAPTER 5: The OLA and Part V: The Right to Choose
Your Language of Work (1982–2013)
Introduction
Maintaining the Status Quo
Prime Minister Mulroney’s Progressive
Conservatives and the Official Languages Act
The Official Languages Act, 1988
Part V: Official Language of Work Rights
Implementing Part V
Giving Meaning to Part V
Conclusion
Conclusion: Ideas, Institutions, and Actors
Ideas
Institutions
Actors
Conclusion

Appendix: Principal Actors
Department of the Secretary of State
Treasury Board Secretariat
Public Service Commission (PSC)
Office of the Commissioner of Official
Languages
Staff Unions

Bibliography
Index

Erscheinungsdatum	08.01.2019
Reihe/Serie	Politics and Public Policy
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	220 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Sprachwissenschaft
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Staat / Verwaltung
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Empirische Sozialforschung
ISBN-10	0-7766-2335-4 / 0776623354
ISBN-13	978-0-7766-2335-1 / 9780776623351
Zustand	Neuware