Official Language Demand for Service Survey

Detailed information for 2004-2009

The purpose of this survey is to establish, in certain offices of federal government departments, the demand for services in English and French respectively. The results of the survey will determine which of these offices will be required to offer services in both English and French.

Data release - There was no official release in The Daily as this is done for administrative purposes. The data were posted on the CPSA website.

• Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s)
• Description
• Data sources and methodology
• Data accuracy

Description

The purpose of the survey is to determine the official language preference of the department's clients. These data will help departments decide if they need to provide services to clients in the minority language according to the rules of the Official Languages Act. According to the Act, every 10 years federal institutions must evaluate the linguistic designation of the offices providing service to the public based on the demand of clients. If 5% or more of the clients indicate that they prefer to be served in the minority language, the office must be designated as bilingual. The survey has been conducted for approximately 15 departments since 2004 (as this was the 10th anniversary of the Official Languages Act). The number of offices to be evaluated varies from a single office up to 75 offices. The Canada Public Service Agency (CPSA) is responsible for the implementation of the Official Languages Act and they select the offices that need to be evaluated within each department. In most cases, the Census of Population provides the appropriate information, but in some cases a special evaluation must be done.

The objective of the survey is to determine for each office to be evaluated if the demand for service in the official language of the minority (English in Quebec, French in other provinces) is equal to or greater than 5%. The results of the survey are then used to determine if the office evaluated must provide services in both official languages or only in the language of the majority. Each department must provide the results of the evaluation to the CPSA who will then post the results for each office on their web site.

Reference period: The reference period varied for each office depending on the type of service provided, volume of contacts and expected demand. The period varied from one week to one year.

Collection period: The collection period varied for each office depending on the type of service provided, volume of contacts and expected demand. The period varied from one week to one year.

Subjects

• Languages
• Use of languages

Data sources and methodology

Target population

For each government office assessed by this survey, the target population is all requests for, and instances of, service to public users (clients) during a one-year period. The survey population is all dealings with these clients during the survey reference period. Excluded from this survey are federal public servants contacting the office on official government business.

Instrument design

The questionnaire contains only one question asking for the preferred language when receiving service from the government office. The same question is used for all departments and did not need to be tested as it had not changed significantly since the last iteration of this survey.

Sampling

This is a sample survey with a cross-sectional design.

Statistics Canada assigns a reference period to each government office participating in this survey. During this reference period, the contact information of all clients is recorded in order for Statistics Canada to administer the survey at a later time.

Data sources

Responding to this survey is voluntary.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents.

Data were collected using a number of collection methods. The method selected for an office was dependent on the type of service provided, the volume of clients expected in the reference period and the working environment. To limit the costs, whenever possible, the first choice was always to use a questionnaire card given to the client at the time of the contact with the office and that he/she would return by mail or drop in a box in the office. In some cases, the department had a list of their clients for administrative purposes. Using these lists, the questionnaire card was mailed to the client who mailed it back. Finally, the last method used involved the employees of the department collecting the names and contact information of clients during the reference period and sending the information to Statistics Canada. Interviewers then contacted these clients by phone to obtain the information. Up to three telephone calls were made to reach the clients and proxy interviews were not allowed.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s).

Error detection

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Imputation

Not applicable.

Estimation

This methodological step does not apply to this survey.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any data which would divulge information obtained under the Statistics Act that relates to any identifiable person, business or organization without the prior knowledge or the consent in writing of that person, business or organization. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

Since only percentages are being released for each office and the survey is done anonymously, confidentiality is not a concern, therefore, no special measure is necessary.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

This methodology does not apply to this survey.

Data accuracy

Because the sampling is planned and implemented at the office level, response rates are not produced at the organization level. The response rate is calculated for each office in each organization. Response rates vary greatly according to the collection methodology. For offices where data collection was conducted by telephone, response rates vary between 70 and 85%. For the Canada Border Service Agency were the survey was conducted at road borders, the response rates were approximately 25 to 40% (response rates for other surveys conducted by Statistics Canada in similar situations are approximately 10 to 15%). For the mailout surveys, the response rates were around 70% as expected.

As these surveys were sample surveys, reports provided to the clients included coefficient of variation (CV) estimates for each office. As only one data item is produced, the CV's are calculated for each office for that item.