Formative Evaluation of the Language Industry Initiative

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Background to the Study

Industry Canada requested a formative evaluation of the Language Industry Initiative (LII) in 2005–2006. The Initiative was created in 2003 under the Action Plan for Official Languages, announced the same year, with its accountability framework and three axes for development (education, communities and public service). Amongst other things, the Plan is intended to help develop the language industry in order to support development along the three axes. The three sectors of the industry that are targeted are translation, language training and language technologies. By consulting industry stakeholders, Industry Canada first identified weaknesses hindering the development of these sectors.

Under the Action Plan, Industry Canada received a total of $10 million to implement the component of the LII that focuses on networking and coordination activities as well as marketing and branding over a period of five years (2003–2008). The LII includes an additional $10 million to improve research and development (R&D) and skills in the language technologies sector. This component of the Initiative is administered by the National Research Council (NRC) and is not part of this evaluation.

A Results-based Management and Accountability Framework (RMAF) was drawn up for the LII and presents the industry's situation in 2003, the Initiative's logic model, as well as its evaluation and performance measurement strategies. Given its content, the RMAF is a key document for evaluating the LII.

1.2 Report Outline

This report presents a profile of the LII, the evaluation methodology, and the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the formative evaluation of the Initiative. The profile is described in Chapter 2 and includes the language industry situation, the Initiative's mandate and its organizational structure. The evaluation issues and items for consideration and the methodology used to review the documents available, the interviews and the survey are presented in Chapter 3, while the list of documents consulted, the list of individuals interviewed, the interview guides and the survey guides appear in appendices A to D respectively. Chapter 4 contains the findings and analysis, while Chapter 5 presents the conclusions and recommendations.