1.3.4.3 Memorandum of Understanding

Chapter 1

An Organizational Story

1.3.4.3 Memorandum of Understanding between the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages for New Brunswick 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 for New Brunswick and the French Language Services Commissioner of Ontario consider it beneficial to explore 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 Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages for New Brunswick and the Office of the French Language Services Commissioner of Ontario (the Participants) will share the results of their collaboration with all interested parties. The Participants may also decide to implement similar MOUs with other organizations in the future.

2. Objective 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 Participants in order to collaborate in carrying out their respective mandates, within the reasonable limits of their activities and in accordance with the applicable legislation.

3. Participants’ responsibilities

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

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

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

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

3.5 When presented with opportunities for partnership in the context of strategic interventions, the Participants agree to consider 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.

3.6 The Participants agree to continue to share best practices as needed.

3.7 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 agree to:

include a link to the other Participant’s Web site;
share the other Participant’s messages on social media, where appropriate;
participate in joint promotional efforts;
inform the other Participant of any event, information request or topic of shared interest, and refer the media to the other Participant as needed.

4. Financial provisions

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

5. Mechanisms and liaison

5.1 At least once every two years, 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 terminate its participation in this MOU by providing 60 days’ written notice to the other Participant, or upon the written consent of both Participants.

10. Effective date and signature

10.1 This MOU will take effect on the date of signature set out below.

Signed in Fredericton, this 6th day of the month of March 2013.

______________________________________________

Michel A. Carrier

Commissioner
Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages for New Brunswick