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Academics

Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality 2008-2013

The School's Participation

Canada School of Public Service participation in the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality 2008-2013: Acting for the Future

In the Speech from the Throne of October 16, 2007, the Government reiterated its support to Canada's linguistic duality and indicated that "it will renew its commitment to official languages in Canada by developing a strategy for the next phase of the Action Plan for Official Languages." The Government reaffirmed this commitment in its 2008 Budget.

In December 2007 and January 2008, the Government organized consultations in order to gather the perspectives of Canadians on important issues related to linguistic duality and the development of official language minority communities. These consultations are one of the sources of information that informed the development of the Government's new strategy for official languages.

Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality 2008-2013: Acting for the Future

The Canada School of Public Service plays a significant role in the renewal effort currently underway to attract and retain new public servants. It also plays a major role in achieving official language objectives in government organizations and contributes to linguistic diversity in the federal public service.

The Canada School of Public Service has acquired an internationally recognized body of knowledge in adult education and is recognized as the federal government's centre of expertise for language training and product design and development.

Under the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality 2008-2013: Acting for the Future, the Canada School launched a three-year pilot initiative to provide students of selected Canadian universities with access to its online, self-paced official language maintenance and acquisition products.

This initiative aims to contribute to the recruitment objectives of Public Service Renewal, especially with regards to post-secondary recruitment, and to further engage universities as partners in meeting the challenge of renewal.

Through this innovative initiative, the Canada School of Public Service proposes to facilitate the closing of the gap between official language levels currently acquired by university students and the official language competencies required when joining the federal government. This initiative aims to promote and foster bilingualism across Canada, to provide continuing opportunities for official language development and maintenance beyond high school, to contribute to the renewal of the Public Service and ultimately to help to draw to the Public Service a qualified and competent workforce that meets the current and future bilingual requirements of the Government of Canada.