Canada. Official Languages Branch : In 1973, following a resolution by Parliament to ensure the application of the Official Languages Act of 1968 within the Public Service, Treasury Board Secretariat created the Official Languages Branch. Prior to the creation of the branch, official languages policy was implemented and enforced by a unit within Manpower Division called the Bilingual and Bicultural Group, which later became the Bilingualism Division. Reorganization to a branch level allowed for better implementation of official languages policy which stipulated that all Canadian citizens should be able to receive services from the federal government in the official language of their choice and that public servants may work in the official language of their choice.
Until 1975, the Official Languages Branch emphasized the recruitment of francophones, the promotion of the French language in the public service, and the identification of language requirements for all public service positions. But later, under a revised language policy (1977), the branch emphasized the formulation of general guidelines and technical assistance to departments rather than the enforcement of centrally formulated standards.
Throughout the period after 1977, the Official Languages Branch continued to be responsible for developing and communicating government policies and programs, for the application of the Official Languages Act within government departments and agencies and to monitor, audit and evaluate their implementation and effectiveness.
The Branch was one of the major players in the recasting of the Official Languages Act in 1988 which essentially codifies policy and procedures for administration of the Act within the Public Service that the Branch had worked out in the previous 15 years. In 1992 the Branch was expanded to include employment equity programs for a time and hence the altered name, Official Languages and Employment Equity Branch. This entity was merged into one consolidated Human Resources Branch in 1996. In 1999-2000, an Official Languages Branch was reconstituted separate from the main Human Resources Branch, responsible for all other human resources management functions of the Treasury Board as a management board for the Government of Canada.
In December 2003, the Official Languages Branch along with many other elements of the human resources management function of Treasury Board Secretariat was hived off in what was first known as the Canada Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada (PSHRMAC) and later as the Canada Public Service Agency (CPSA). This separate secretariat of the Treasury Board Cabinet Committee was re-merged with the Treasury Board Secretariat in 2009. Throughout this extended period from 1973, a distinct organizational entity administered the full scope of the Treasury Board mandate for Official Languages. In the merger of 2009, Official Languages became a directorate- sized entity with the status of a division under the Government Planning and Policy Sector of the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer (OCHRO).
