3. Section 41 of the Official Languages Act

Internal and external environmental scan implementation of Section 41 of the Official Languages Act Department of Justice Canada

3.1 Wording of Section 41 (1988)

Section 41 of the Official Languages Act states:

The Government of Canada is committed to:

• (a) enhancing the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada and supporting and assisting their development; and

• (b) fostering the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society.

Thissection links two distinct and interdependent components: the vitalityof the official language minority communities and what is commonlyknown as linguistic duality.

3.2 Federal Government Accountability Framework (1994)

InAugust 1994, the Government of Canada approved the establishment of anaccountability framework for the implementation of Section 41.

The accountability framework includes the following:

• Initially,measures willtarget a certain number of key institutions in areas ofintervention which are vital to the minority-language communities andhave the greatest impact. The key federal institutions are primarilythose involved in the areas of economic, human resources and culturaldevelopment.
• Eachkey institution develops an action plan for the implementation ofSection 41 which takes into account the specific needs of theofficial-language minority communities.
• Theaction plans are developed in consultation with official-languageminority communities in order to identify community needs and allowinstitutions to take these into account in their activities.
• Ministersresponsible for key institutions transmit these plans and report on theresults attained once a year to the Minister of Canadian Heritage.
• TheAnnual Report on Official Languages given by the Minister of CanadianHeritage will include a section on the implementation of thisgovernmental commitment. The Annual Report will highlight the actionplan of each key federal institution and the results attained duringthe previous year.

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