Towards real equality of official languages : Vers l'égalité véritable des langues officielles : la langue de travail dans les institutions fédérales au Nouveau-Brunswick

This is the third study from the Commissioner of Official Languages about the language of work in federal bilingual workplaces as defined in subsection 35(2) of the Official Languages Act.1 Overview of findings In September 2005, the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages surveyed 1,800 federal public service employees who occupy bilingual positions within 22 federal institutions located [...] Personal and central services One of the obstacles to the respect of language rights is the provision of central and personal services in the employee’s language of choice. [...] Consequently, the report carefully examines all of the possible differences in the way the representatives of the groups reacted to the questions. [...] To fully understand the respondents’ reality, we looked at: • the differences in employment categories, • use of the official languages in the workplace, • the respondents’ self-assessment of their language skills, • changes in language skills since joining the federal government, • the availability of work instruments and personal and central services in both official languages, and • directives [...] Directives on the equitable use of the two official languages in the workplace Three-quarters of respondents said that their organization has developed and implemented policies aimed at ensuring equitable use of the two official languages in the workplace.