Community of Official Languages/References/Policy Instruments

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Policy Instruments


The official languages policy suite is made up of a number of laws, policies and directives. Below is a non-exhaustive list of the policy instruments that inform you of how to comply and of your language rights in the workplace.

Policy Instruments

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Official Languages Act

The Official Languages Act (OLA) is a piece of federal legislation that informs you of your rights and obligations as a federal public servant as they pertain to communications with and services to the public, language of work, equal rights and privileges and the development of linguistic minority communities.



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Official Languages Regulations

If your federal institution is subject to Part IV of the OLA and communicates with or provides services to the public, the Regulations will tell you when these activities must be carried out in both French and English. In specific, the Regulations will help you comply with Part IV of the OLA.



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Policy on Official Languages

If your federal institution is subject to Parts IV, V and VI of the OLA, the Policy on Official Languages will help you apply this legislation to your operations.



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Directive on Official Languages for Communications and Services

If your federal institution communicates with or provides services to the public under Part IV of the OLA, this directive gives you specific instructions on how to respect your obligations.



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Directive on Official Languages for People Management

This directive informs federal institutions subject to Part V of the OLA on how to comply with their language of work obligations, establish the language profile of a position and staff a bilingual position.



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Directive on the Implementation of the Official Languages Regulations

Enables the Government of Canada to minimize the risks of applications for remedy before the courts because of an institutions’ violation of the public’s rights to communicate with that institutions and receive services from it in the official language of their choice.