Contraventions Act Fund for Implementation of Language Obligations Evaluation

1. INTRODUCTION

This document is the final report from the evaluation of the Contraventions Act Fund for Implementation of the Language Obligations (hereinafter referred to as the “Implementation Fund”). The Department of Justice Canada established the Implementation Fund in 2003, further to a Federal Court decision on the language obligations connected with implementing the Contraventions Act. The Implementation Fund was first included in the Action Plan for Official Languages announced in 2003 and was subsequently included in the Roadmap for Linguistic Duality 2008-2013. In accordance with the accountability requirements associated with the Implementation Fund, the Department conducted this evaluation.

1.1. Context for the Evaluation

Since its creation in 2003, the Implementation Fund has been the subject of two evaluations. In 2006, the Department completed its formative evaluation, which more specifically targeted the activities funded in Ontario and Manitoba.[1] In 2007, Justice conducted the summative evaluation of the Implementation Fund, which more specifically targeted the activities funded in Nova Scotia and British Columbia.[2]

In addition, in 2010, the Department conducted the evaluation of the Contraventions Act, which better documented the broader context in which the Implementation Fund must be operationalized.[3]

This current evaluation has purposes that are largely complementary with the other evaluation exercises mentioned in this subsection and, as such, refers to those documents as needed.

1.2. Scope and Objectives of the Evaluation

This evaluation covers all the activities carried out over the five-year funding period of the Roadmap for Linguistic Duality from 2008 to 2013. It is intended to provide information on the relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency and economy of the Implementation Fund.

The evaluation is also intended to provide information that may support the broader evaluation of the Roadmap for Linguistic Duality.

1.3. Structure of the Report

This evaluation report contains six sections, including this introduction. Section 2 describes the Implementation Fund, and Section 3 describes the methodology used to complete this evaluation. Section 4 summarizes the findings from the evaluation, Section 5 presents the conclusions and lessons learned, and Section 6 presents the recommendations and management response.