1.3.4.1 Memorandum of Understanding

Chapter 1

An Organizational Story

1.3.4.1 Memorandum of Understanding between the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages and the Office of the French Language Services Commissioner of Ontario

1. Introduction

1.1 In their respective capacities as language rights ombudsmen, the Commissioner of Official Languages and the French Language Services Commissioner of Ontario consider it beneficial to explore the opportunities for collaboration in order to help achieve shared objectives.

1.2 This Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is intended to formalize the collaboration between the two Commissioners and the consolidation of their efforts to maximize their support to citizens, communities, and all other stakeholders that they serve. Like other organizations in Canada with a mandate of protecting language rights, the Participants will share the results of their collaboration with all interested parties. The Participants may also decide to implement similar memoranda of understanding with other organizations in the future.

2. Objectives and scope

2.1 With a view to better serving the public, the objective of this MOU is to record the agreement reached between the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages and the Office of the French Language Services Commissioner of Ontario (“the Participants”) in order to collaborate in carrying out their respective mandates, within the reasonable limits of their operations and in accordance with the applicable legislation.

3. Participants’ responsibilities

3.1 When a Participant receives complaints or information requests falling under the jurisdiction of another Participant in the agreement, it will send them directly to the Participant who has jurisdiction, with the authorization of the complainant or client (for an information request).

3.2 The Participants commit to sharing the findings and recommendations of their investigations and any other mechanism for evaluating institutions’ performance and compliance, when they find it beneficial to do so, in accordance with the applicable legislation.

3.3 The Participants will explore possibilities for creating opportunities for professional development for their employees through workplace placements or joint learning activities.

3.4 The Participants will share study and project proposals annually and will explore their common interests.

3.5 The Participants will discuss monitoring and oversight of shared interests on a regular basis.

3.6 When presented with opportunities for partnership in the context of strategic interventions, the Participants will commit to studying them, taking into account their respective areas of interest and strategic objectives. Depending on the circumstances, specific collaboration agreements may be made for these interventions, separate from the present MOU.

3.7 The Participants commit to continuing to share good practices as needed.

3.8 Given the similarity of the Participants’ roles in terms of raising the public’s and the public service’s awareness of language rights and obligations, including prevention activities for government institutions, the Participants commit to:

Including a link to the other Participant’s Web site;
Sharing the other Participant’s messages on social media, where appropriate;
Participating in joint promotional efforts;
Informing the other Participant of any event, or information request related to a shared interest, and referring the media to the other Participant as needed.

4. Financial provisions

4.1 The present MOU will not impose any financial responsibilities on its Participants, except that each Participant will be responsible for the funding costs it incurs in its own interest as it relates to the implementation of this MOU.

5. Mechanisms and liaison

5.1 At least once a year, the Participants will meet to discuss information sharing and identification of strategic approaches of shared interest.

5.2 The Participants will agree on a meeting schedule.

5.3 To effectively implement this MOU,the Participants will identify resource persons from their respective teams and ensure that this information is kept up to date (list of current resource persons is attached in Appendix A).

6. Interpretation

6.1 Any question about the interpretation or implementation of this MOU will be resolved through consultation between the Participants.

7. Confidentiality

7.1 The implementation of this MOU will comply with the applicable legislative requirements in terms of disclosure of information gathered or created in the course of the Participants’ respective activities and with data security policies. Each Participant is responsible for the security and integrity of the data and information in its possession.

8. Modification

8.1 This MOU may be modified at any time with the written consent of both Participants.

9. Review

9.1 This MOU will be reviewed in 24 months from the effective date, in order to take stock of results obtained.

9.2 Either Participant may end its participation in this MOU upon sixty days’ written notice to the other Participant, or with the written consent of both Participants.

10. Effective date and signature

10.1 This Memorandum of Understanding shall take effect on the date of signature set out below.

______________________________________________

Graham Fraser

Commissioner
Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages