LANG Committee Report

It remains generally very difficult to evaluate the actual impact of measures designed to improve the situation of the official languages in the public service. People readily mention momentum, awareness, a willingness to do things better or, on the other hand, exhaustion, a lack of coordination and so on. These are essentially subjective impressions, which may be entirely well founded and real, but which cannot replace a thorough evaluation comparing the situation at the time the Action Plan was introduced with what it will be at the time it expires, and how investments have contributed or not to achieving the desired results. The same observation was made in the May 2007 report regarding education and immigration measures. The Committee is of the view that a full evaluation of the Action Plan’s impact is an essential condition for the success of the initiatives the government intends to bring forward for the Plan’s renewal.

Recommendation 17

That the Government of Canada conduct a full and independent evaluation of the results achieved by each of the measures implemented under the Action Plan for Official Languages.