I am pleased to submit the Departmental Results Report for the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada (FJA) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021. This report provides parliamentarians and Canadians with information regarding what we accomplished and achieved in the last year.

The challenges posed by COVID-19 this past fiscal year resulted in all federal departments having to adapt quickly to alternative working solutions. FJA managed with a goal of communicating frequently and striking the right balance to ensure the health and safety of employees, while maintaining programs and improving services in order to fulfill our mandates.

We leveraged technology to support our ability to work remotely while maintaining standards in the delivery of our core activities in Finance and Compensation and Benefits services provided to more than 1,200 judges and 1,000 retired judges and their survivors. The various technological applications also allowed for successfully administering the judicial appointment process on behalf of the Minister of Justice for appointments to superior courts; providing language training to judges; publishing Federal Court of Appeal and Federal Court decisions; as well as coordinating international cooperation initiatives involving the judiciary. In response to the requirements of Bill C-58, An Act to amend the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, we also published on our website judges’ expenses reimbursed under the Judges Act.

Staff supporting the Canadian Judicial Council also made use of technology in order to assist the Council to carry out its core mandate regarding the conduct of judges and judicial education, and to coordinate the activities of its various committees.

I want to extend my thanks and appreciation to all members of FJA’s personnel for their resilience this past year, and for their continued support and efforts in providing quality and efficient services to the Canadian judiciary and public.

Marc A. Giroux
Commissioner

Results at a glance

What funds were used?

The department’s actual spending for 2020-21 was $627,116,632.

Who was involved?

The department’s actual full-time equivalents (FTEs) for 2020-21 were 63.

Key results

ü Following the enactment of Bill C-58, An Act to amend the Access to Information and the Privacy Act and to make consequential amendments to other acts, FJA publicly published expenses reimbursed to judges on a quarterly basis, starting on July 30, 2020, in accordance with the Act.

ü As with all GC departments, investment priorities were focussed on increasing remote access capacities in response to the pandemic. Numerous internal digital strategies were employed, including the transformation and digitization of paper-based processes, and the deployment of mobile solutions including video-conferencing. The journey to a Cloud platform was initiated to enable the continuation of several business functions including virtual language training sessions and educational programs for judges, virtual judicial advisory committee meetings, and the digitization of the Federal Courts Reports publishing process.

For more information on FJA’s plans, priorities and results achieved, see the “Results: what we achieved” section of this report.

Results: what we achieved

Core responsibility

Support to federally appointed judges

Description

To provide services and support to the federal judiciary in a manner which contributes to the independence of the judiciary and the confidence of Canadians in our judicial system.

Results

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was such that operations across all sectors (public and private) experienced adverse effects related but not limited to activities such as travel, in person meetings and in some cases general service delivery, in adherence to health and safety protocols as dictated by officials on both the provincial and federal levels. The results detailed in the ensuing sections will be reflective of these impacts and effects.

Federally appointed judges are provided with centralized services in a timely and effective manner

While we adapted our processes so as to maintain a 100% audit function on all claim payments, delays, due to remote accessibility limitations, resulted in a slight decrease of our target 90% service standard on processing claims within 10 days of receipt. Relative to prior years, we experienced a significant drop in claims made against travel and conference allowances. We continue to work on improving our remote and virtual services in order to successfully maintain our service standards in anticipation of an increase in claims with the gradual reopening across various sectors.

FJA’s Judges’ Language Training Program continued its mandate to provide language training to judges in both official languages and randomly assess the second official language proficiency of candidates seeking judicial appointment in order to strengthen bilingual capacity in the Superior courts. To this end, tools to assess second official language proficiency were refined, including the active quality control of service delivery in several areas of training. All in-person immersion sessions were cancelled in 2020. However, we successfully delivered a virtual session in January 2021. The success of this session has laid the groundwork for future sessions, not as a replacement for face-to-face sessions, but rather as a possible complementary service. Through the language training program, federally appointed judges kept on developing their proficiency to preside over hearings, understand testimony, read legal texts, write decisions, participate in legal conferences and make presentations in their second official language, thus enabling the judicial system to increase its bilingual capacity.

With respect to the Federal Courts Reports, the process for notifying the Courts Administration Service and Judges’ Chambers of decisions selected for publication was digitally streamlined as we adapted to working remotely. The principal human resources risk facing the Federal Courts Reports continues to be the loss of expertise and corporate memory from the departure of experienced staff. However, on-the-job training of other staff has mitigated this risk. The Federal Courts Reports continue to show resilience in ensuring the accurate production and timely publishing of Reports despite key absences in personnel.

FJA also continued to support and coordinate the efforts of the federal judiciary in international engagements. As a result of newly approved core funding for the International Programmes Division, FJA began revamping its in-house capacity to effectively support the implementation of the Canadian Judicial Council Policy on International Judicial Activities. The Policy envisages that FJA serve as a liaison and secretariat for judges on international matters. This requires a serious effort on the part of FJA to scale-up the secretariat functions it has been offering to members of the Canadian judiciary to date on an ad hoc basis. It also calls for a close coordination of policies and procedures with senior-level decision makers at the Department of International Development and Global Affairs Canada.

The judicial appointments process is managed efficiently

During the 2020-21 fiscal year, the Judicial Appointments Secretariat received 361 new applications for federal Judicial Appointment. During the same period, 426 applications, consisting of both new and outstanding submissions carried over from the previous fiscal year, were assessed. Despite restrictions imposed on in-person meetings and travel, through virtual meeting technology, the number of assessed applications remained consistent with previous years. Although virtual technology will continue to be a satisfactory alternative in the future, in‑person meetings will resume as soon as public health guidelines permit.

For each of the 86 appointments made during the 2020-2021 fiscal year, our staff prepared the necessary supporting order-in-council and ministerial recommendation documentation. Further information regarding these applications is available on FJA’s website.

On February 19, 2021, the Prime Minister launched the appointment process to select a justice for the Supreme Court of Canada, to fill the vacancy created by the upcoming retirement of Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella. The Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs, mandated to provide support to the Independent Advisory Board and administering the application and assessment process, began the preliminary activities to accept candidate applications (due by April 1, 2021) as well as the necessary preparations of tools and resources required to the support the Advisory Board remotely.

The judicial conduct review process is completed in a timely and effective manner

Throughout the pandemic and during these unprecedented times, the Canadian Judicial Council continued to explore ways to be innovative, creative and adapt to new challenges. The Council Chairperson and the Minister of Justice co-chaired the Action Committee on Court Operations in response to COVID-19, which provided national guidance to support the stabilization of court operations. Throughout this period, the Council remained nimble to ensure that it, and its committees and working groups, continued to meet virtually and ensured that important work continued to advance. Key examples of this work included updating and revising the ethical framework that guides judges in their conduct; ensuring that all complaints made to the Council continued to be reviewed in a timely way; providing leadership for self-represented litigants; and ensuring that all judges in Canada continued to have access to high quality judicial education programming.

The Council reports that from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021, it opened and reviewed 612 complaint files, of which 97% were treated within 6 months. While complaints were dealt with in an efficient manner, the Council continued to urge the government to move forward with legislative reform in order to improve the judicial conduct review process and to avoid costly matters.

CJC ensures that federally appointed judges have access to relevant training and learning opportunities

In this reporting period, the Council and its key education partner, the National Judicial Institute, delivered 43 educational programs which include National programs, Court-requested programs, and other more informal sessions such as court-based lunch and learn lectures. Details relating to the nature and content of these programs, as well as the number of participants who attended, can be found on the Council website. In-person training sessions were cancelled; however, the leveraging of video technology ensured that judges continued to meet virtually to keep their training up to date and relevant. Despite the restrictions imposed, 90% of judge reports that their training and learning needs were met.

Experimentation

FJA had neither the financial nor human resources capacity to undertake key experiments in order to achieve the results for the core responsibility.

Results achieved

Departmental results	Performance indicators	Target	Date to achieve target	2018–19 Actual results	2019–20 Actual results	2020–21 Actual results
Federally appointed judges are provided with centralized services in a timely and effective manner	% of judges’ allowances processed within the 10-day service standard	At least 90%	March 2021	88% of judges’ allowances were processed within the 10-day service standard	98% of judges’ allowances were processed within the 10-day service standard	83% of judges’ allowances were processed within the 10-day service standard
The judicial appointments process is managed efficiently	% of candidate applications ready to be evaluated within 3 months of reception	100%	March 2021	Over 95% of applications were screened and ready to be evaluated by Committees within 3 months of reception	Over 95% of applications were screened and ready to be evaluated by Committees within 3 months of reception	Over 95% of applications were screened and ready to be evaluated by Committees within 3 months of reception
The judicial conduct review process is completed in a timely and effective manner	% of complaints reviewed within six months	At least 80%	March 2021	80% of complaints were reviewed within six months	80% of complaints were reviewed within six months	97% of complaints were reviewed within six months
CJC ensures that federally appointed judges have access to relevant training and learning opportunities	% of judges who reported to the CJC that their training and learning needs were met	At least 90%	March 2021	90% of judges reported to the CJC that their training and learning needs were met	90% of judges reported to the CJC that their training and learning needs were met	90% of judges reported to the CJC that their training and learning needs were met

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

2020–21 Main Estimates	2020–21 Planned spending	2020–21 Total authorities available for use	2020–21 Actual spending (authorities used)	2020–21 Difference (Actual spending minus Planned spending)
654,890,154	654,890,154	629,073,555	626,389,832	(28,500,322)

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

2020–21 Planned full-time equivalents	2020–21 Actual full-time equivalents	2020–21 Difference (Actual full-time equivalents minus Planned full-time equivalents)
60.5	57.5	(3)

Financial, human resources and performance information for FJA’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.^{^[i]}

Internal services

Description

Internal Services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal Services refers to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct service categories that support Program delivery in the organization, regardless of the Internal Services delivery model in a department. The 10 service categories are:

4 Acquisition Management Services

4 Communications Services

4 Financial Management Services

4 Human Resources Management Services

4 Information Management Services

4 Information Technology Services

4 Legal Services

4 Materiel Management Services

4 Management and Oversight Services

4 Real Property Management Services

Results

In 2020-21, FJA internal services continued to provide the necessary support to the organization meeting its core mandate objectives as well as staying abreast of Government of Canada Wide initiatives in the areas of financial reporting, information management, IT and physical security and human resources.

FJA pay services were not transferred to the Miramichi Pay Centre and as such is a direct-entry organization employing a team of on-site pay advisors to manage the pay functions for FJA employees, federally appointed judges, retired federal judges and their survivors, as well as compensation services to Judicial Advisory Committee members. The impact of the Phoenix pay issues has been relatively low compared to the rest of government. FJA’s managers are provided with advice and services in the areas of staffing, classification, labour relations, compensation, performance management and other human resources disciplines.

Despite the challenges of adapting to remote and alternate work arrangements while in the processing of training and developing new hires, our compensation team continued to deliver services to our clients and FJA personnel and realized a 10% improvement on our service standard. We brought about changes to our processes and procedures, leveraging resources to develop tools and digitizing a number of products to maintain accessibility for staff and clients alike.

FJA has continued to provide compensation, pension and benefits services to federal judges, retired federal judges and their survivors. This includes 86 new appointments, 63 retirements and 44 deaths (active and retired judges).

We have started the implementation of the new Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations, and to further ensure a high level of service and responsiveness to employee needs in this area we entered into an agreement with Health Canada which includes Ombuds services. Additionally, in response to workplace diversity and inclusion initiatives, all employees have completed training on Overcoming Your Own Unconscious Biases.

As with many organizations, a key HR risk is the possible loss of expertise and corporate memory due to employee departures. FJA continues to do succession and integrated HR planning to mitigate this risk. The health and wellbeing of our employees continue to be priorities for the senior management team. Internally, we promoted LifeSpeak and the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) with campaigns and newsletters. The focus for 2020-21 was on COVID-19 and related issues.

With regards to Information Management, FJA began addressing the risks associated with information classification. The department has developed an information management policy suite which includes retention and disposition policies. The department is currently implementing said policies on a per Division basis. With respect to the main digital collaboration system (JUDICOM), the department has initiated a project to create a new platform using Cloud technology which will foster collaboration within the judiciary. Recoverability will therefore be strengthened by virtue of moving judicial information in the Cloud.

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

2020–21 Main Estimates	2020–21 Planned spending	2020–21 Total authorities available for use	2020–21 Actual spending (authorities used)	2020–21 Difference (Actual spending minus Planned spending)
726,800	726,800	726,800	726,800	0

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

2020–21 Planned full-time equivalents	2020–21 Actual full-time equivalents	2020–21 Difference (Actual full-time equivalents minus Planned full-time equivalents)
5.5	5.5	0

Analysis of trends in spending and human resources

Actual expenditures

Departmental spending trend graph

The following graph presents planned (voted and statutory spending) over time.

The actual spending for the department normally shows a continual increase over the reporting periods resulting from the annual increase in judges’ salaries based on the Industrial Aggregate as provided for in the Judges Act, and an increase in the number of judges appointed to the bench and the number of pensioners receiving benefits under the Judges Act. However, total expenses in fiscal year 2020-21 were lower than the previous period due to a significant decrease in expenses related to transportation as a result of travel restriction imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Budgetary performance summary for the core responsibility and internal services (dollars)

Core responsibility and internal services	2020–21 Main Estimates	2020–21 Planned spending	2021–22 Planned spending	2022–23 Planned spending	2020–21 Total authorities available for use	2018–19 Actual spending (authorities used)	2019-20 Actual spending (authorities used)	2020-21 Actual spending (authorities used)
Administrative support to federally appointed judges	654,890,154	654,890,154	682,143,930	706,751,420	629,073,555	594,749,777	627,331,184	626,389,832
Subtotal	654,890,154	654,890,154	682,143,930	702,751,420	629,073,555	594,749,777	627,331,184	626,389,832
Internal Services	726,800	726,800	726,800	726,800	726,800	726,792	726,800	726,800
Total	655,616,954	655,616,954	682,870,730	707,478,220	629,800,355	595,476,569	628,057,948	627,116,632

Actual human resources

Human resources summary for the core responsibility and internal services (full‑time equivalents)

Core responsibility and internal services	2018–19 Actual full‑time equivalents	2019–20 Actual full‑time equivalents	2020–21 Planned full‑time equivalents	2020–21 Actual full‑time equivalents	2021–22 Planned full‑time equivalents	2022–23 Planned full‑time equivalents
Administrative support to federal appointed judges	54.5	56.5	60.5	57.5	60.5	60.5
Subtotal	54.5	56.5	60.5	57.5	60.5	60.5
Internal Services	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.5
Total	60	62	66	63	66	66

Expenditures by vote

For information on FJA’s organizational voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada 2020–2021.[ii]

Government of Canada spending and activities

Information on the alignment of FJA’s spending with the Government of Canada’s spending and activities is available in the GC InfoBase.[iii]

Financial statements and financial statements highlights

Financial statements

FJA’s [iv] financial statements (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2021, are available on the departmental website.

Financial statements highlights

Condensed Statement of Operations (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2021 (dollars)

Financial information	2020–21 Planned results	2020–21 Actual results	2019–20 Actual results	Difference (2020–21 Actual results minus 2020–21 Planned results)	Difference (2020–21 Actual results minus 2019–20 Actual results)
Total expenses	657,642,000	628,760,291	630,046,406	(28,881,709)	(1,286,115)
Total revenues	17,460,000	17,788,620	17,145,130	328,620	643,490
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers	640,182,000	610,971,671	612,901,276	(29,210,329)	(1,929,605)

FJA’s future-oriented statement of operations (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2021, is available on the FJA’s website [v].

The departmental Net cost of operations shows a decrease of $1.9 million over the previous fiscal year. This decrease is a result of a significant decrease in expenses related to transportation due to travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Condensed Statement of Financial Position (unaudited) as of March 31, 2021 (dollars)

Financial Information	2020–21	2019–20	Difference (2020–21 minus 2019–20)
Total net liabilities	267,022,974	258,227,780	8,795,194
Total net financial assets	4,482,655	3,726,022	756,633
Departmental net debt	262,540,319	254,501,078	8,039,241
Total non‑financial assets	171,882	171,185	697
Departmental net financial position	(262,368,437)	(254,330,573)	(8,037,864)

Net liabilities for 2020-21 are comprised primarily of $2.4 million in accrued liabilities and $264.6 million for the Judges’ Supplementary Retirement Benefits Account (SRBA). The SRBA is the pension plan for federally appointed judges which provides fully indexed annuities to judges and to all eligible survivors providing they meet minimum age and service requirements. Unlike other pension plans, the judges’ plan lacks an explicit accrual rate for benefits. Instead the full benefit amount is generally payable when the member has completed 15 years of pensionable service and the total of the member’s age and years of service total 80. The increase of $8.8 million in net liabilities over last fiscal year is fully attributable to the actuarial liability associated with the SRBA.

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister: The Honourable David Lametti, P.C., M.P.

Institutional head: Marc A. Giroux, Commissioner

Ministerial portfolio: Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Enabling instrument: Judges Act^{^[vi]} (R.S.C., 1985, c. J-1)

Year of incorporation / commencement: 1978

Other: Information about the Canadian Judicial Council, its mandate and programs are found at the Council’s website [vii].

Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

Raison d’être

“Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do” is available on FJA’s website [viii].

Mandate and role

FJA was created in 1978 under an Act of the Parliament of Canada to safeguard the independence of the judiciary and put federally appointed judges at arm’s length from the Department of Justice. Our mandate extends to promoting the better administration of justice and providing support for the federal judiciary. The Judges Act[ix] provides for the designation of an officer called the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs. One of the roles and responsibilities of the Commissioner is to act on behalf of the Minister of Justice in matters related to the administration of Part I of the Judges Act.

FJA’s judicial appointments secretariat administers 17 advisory committees across Canada that are responsible for evaluating candidates under the superior courts judicial appointments process for federal judicial appointments and administering and supporting the process for appointment of associate judges to the Federal Court. FJA also has the mandate to manage the Independent Advisory Board for Supreme Court of Canada Judicial Appointments process, established to assess candidates for appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada.

FJA provides and maintains a secure on-line system (JUDICOM) to facilitate communication and collaboration amongst members of the Canadian federal judiciary.

In order to support the courts, FJA’s Judges’ Language Training Program develops and maintains a customized curriculum providing individual and group language training services in both official languages, as well as conducting language assessments of candidates for appointment to the superior courts and the Supreme Court of Canada. This allows federally appointed judges to improve their second language proficiency and legal terminology, and ensures that Canadians have access to justice in the official language of their choice.

Additionally, FJA coordinates initiatives with various government and non-government stakeholders related to the federal Canadian judiciary’s role in international cooperation.

The Federal Courts Reports section of FJA is responsible for selecting and publishing Federal Court of Appeal and Federal Court decisions in both official languages. Selected decisions undergo a thorough editorial process that includes copy editing and citation verification, the preparation of headnotes and captions, and translation accuracy confirmation

Operating context

FJA’s environment is complex due to the range of services it provides and the large number of clients served. Recognizing this context, FJA has developed a risk profile and actively monitors internal and external risks through its management team. Being a very small organization, the main human resources risk FJA has to face is the loss of expertise and corporate memory from the departure of experienced staff, and the lack of in-house expertise and back up in specialized areas unique to FJA. FJA continues to do succession and HR planning to mitigate this risk.

FJA continues to operate within its existing reference levels, which have remained relatively constant for several years. New funding received in the current and previous fiscal years has been provided to support growth in existing programs and cannot be readily allocated towards addressing gaps and deficiencies at the operating level. This has impacted FJA’s ability to make investments in new strategic priorities. FJA has responded to these challenges by identifying efficiencies and reallocating internal resources as required.

For more general information about the department, see the “Supplementary information” section of this report.

Reporting Framework

FJA’s Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory of record for 2020–21 are shown below.

Graphical presentation of Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory

Departmental Results Framework	Core Responsibility: Administrative Support to Federally Appointed Judges		Internal Services

	Departmental Result: Federally appointed judges are provided with centralized services in a timely and effective manner	Indicator: 90% of judges’ allowances processed within the 10-day service standard

	Departmental Result: The judicial appointments process is managed efficiently	Indicator: 100% of candidate applications ready to be evaluated within 3 months of reception

	Departmental Result: The judicial conduct review process is completed in a timely and effective manner	Indicator: 80% of complaints reviewed within six months

	Departmental Result: CJC ensures that federally appointed judges have access to relevant training and learning opportunities	Indicator: 90% of judges who reported to the CJC that their training and learning needs were met

Program Inventory	Program: Payments pursuant to the Judges Act

	Program: Canadian Judicial Council

	Program: Federal Judicial Affairs

Supporting information on the Program Inventory

Financial, human resources and performance information for FJA’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase [x].

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on FJA’s website [xi].

4 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy

4 Gender-based analysis plus

Federal tax expenditures

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures ^{^[xii]}.This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs as well as evaluations and GBA+ of tax expenditures.

Organizational contact information

Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada

99 Metcalfe Street, 8^th Floor

Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1E3

Canada

Telephone: (613) 995-5140

Facsimile: (613) 995-5615

Email: info@fja-cmf.gc.ca

Web site: http://www.fja-cmf.gc.ca

Appendix: definitions

appropriation (crédit)

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)

A report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a 3‑year period. Departmental Plans are usually tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental priority (priorité)

A plan or project that a department has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired departmental results.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)

A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. A departmental result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)

A quantitative measure of progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

A framework that connects the department’s core responsibilities to its departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on a department’s actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

experimentation (expérimentation)

The conducting of activities that seek to first explore, then test and compare the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform evidence-based decision-making, and improve outcomes for Canadians, by learning what works, for whom and in what circumstances. Experimentation is related to, but distinct from innovation (the trying of new things), because it involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, using a new website to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new website against existing outreach tools or an old website to see which one leads to more engagement, is experimentation.

full‑time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person‑year charge against a departmental budget. For a particular position, the full‑time equivalent figure is the ratio of number of hours the person actually works divided by the standard number of hours set out in the person’s collective agreement.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS+])

An analytical process used to assess how diverse groups of women, men and gender-diverse people experience policies, programs and services based on multiple factors including race ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2020–21 Departmental Results Report, those high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2019 Speech from the Throne, namely: Fighting climate change; Strengthening the Middle Class; Walking the road of reconciliation; Keeping Canadians safe and healthy; and Positioning Canada for success in an uncertain world.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative where two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

non‑budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)

What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)

A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement)

The process of communicating evidence‑based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision making, accountability and transparency.

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally, a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)

Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)

Identifies all the department’s programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department’s core responsibilities and results.

result (résultat)

A consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization’s influence.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

target (cible)

A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an appropriation act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.