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Table 8: Response to Parliamentary Committees and External Audits


Response to Parliamentary Committees

Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security

- Report 7 (39th Parliament, 1st Session)

Summary:
This report, entitled Rights, Limits, Security: A Comprehensive Review of the Anti-terrorism Act and Related Issues (Adopted by the Committee on March 20th 2007; Presented to the House on March 27th 2007), describes the Committee’s findings and recommendations intended to suggest the changes deemed necessary to improve the Anti-terrorism Act and related legislation.

Recommendation:
Sixty recommendations were put foreword by the Committee.

Response:
The Government responded to these recommendations. The response was presented to the House on July 18th 2007 and is available online via the links below.

Hotlink for English:
http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/cmte/CommitteePublication.aspx?COM=10804&Lang=1&SourceId=213371

Hotlink for French: http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/cmte/CommitteePublication.aspx?COM=10804&Lang=2&SourceId=213370

Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security

- Report 9 (39th Parliament, 1st Session)

Summary:
This report, entitled Subject matter of Bill C-279, An Act to amend the DNA Identification Act (establishment of indexes) (Adopted by the Committee on April 26th 2007; Presented to the House on April 30th 2007), states that the Committee in principle fully supports the intention underlying Bill C-279 and believes that the necessary steps must be taken, either by amending the DNA Identification Act or by providing for the establishment of a DNA human remains index and a DNA missing persons index, to help law enforcement agencies to search for and identify persons reported missing.

Recommendation:
The Committee recommends that the Government consider the advisability of bringing in the legislation necessary to establish missing persons indexes after the completion of federal-provincial-territorial discussions on its implementation.

Response:
The Government responded to this recommendation. The response was presented to the House on June 20th 2007 and is available online via the links below.

Hotlink for English:
http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/cmte/CommitteePublication.aspx?COM=10804&Lang=1&SourceId=212790

Hotlink for French: http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/cmte/CommitteePublication.aspx?COM=10804&Lang=2&SourceId=212792

Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security

- Report 10 (39th Parliament, 1st Session)

Summary:

This report, entitled Counterfeit Goods in Canada – A Threat to Public Safety (Adopted by the Committee on May 29th 2007; Presented to the House on June 4th 2007), describes the Committee’s findings regarding the effects of counterfeiting and piracy on the Canadian economy.

Recommendation:
Fourteen recommendations were put foreword by the Committee.

Response:
The Government responded to these recommendations. The response was presented to the House on October 17th 2007 and is available online via the links below.

Hotlink for English:
http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/cmte/CommitteePublication.aspx?COM=10804&Lang=1&SourceId=215234

Hotlink for French:
http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/cmte/CommitteePublication.aspx?COM=10804&Lang=2&SourceId=215235

Standing Committee on the Status of Women

- Report 12 (39th Parliament, 1st Session)

Summary:
This report, entitled Turning Outrage into action to address trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation in Canada (Adopted by the Committee on February 13th 2007; Presented to the House on February 27th, 2007), describes the Committee’s study on trafficking of women, the vast majority of whom are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

Recommendations:
Thirty three recommendations were put foreword by the Committee.

Response:
The Government responded to these recommendations. The response was presented to the House on June 15th 2007 and is available online via the links below.

Hotlink for English:
http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/cmte/CommitteePublication.aspx?COM=10477&Lang=1&SourceId=212908

Hotlink for French: http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/cmte/CommitteePublication.aspx?COM=10477&Lang=2&SourceId=212909



Response to the Auditor General (including to the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development)
Chapter 5 of the May 2007 Report of the Auditor General, entitled Managing the Delivery of Legal Services to Government – Department of Justice Canada, found that DoJ has made progress in the management of litigation risk as well as in the management of legal agents. However, little progress has been made in improving current financial arrangement with client departments, resulting in lack of incentive to control costs and manage the increasing demand for legal services. It was also put forth that DoJ lacks information on its volume of work and the use of staff time, resulting in limited understanding of the cost effectiveness of legal service delivery. http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/cmte/CommitteePublication.aspx?COM=13197&Lang=1&SourceId=242780

Six recommendations and subsequent DOJ responses were put forward, as follows:

  • Recommendation 1: Justice Canada should complete its corporate strategic planning and develop strategies to meet its long-term goals.
  • Response: The Department agrees with the recommendation and will continue its efforts to implement planning frameworks and processes to meet its strategic outcomes. The Department created the Office of Strategic Planning and Performance Management in February 2005 to begin to strengthen the Department’s strategic planning and performance management capabilities, including integrated planning and strategic analysis, and performance measurement and reporting for the Department. The Department is also developing a corporate human resources strategy which encompasses the key strategic human resources priorities of the Department as well as other human resources management initiatives in support of government-wide priorities.
  • Recommendation 2: Justice Canada should examine the weaknesses noted in its management of legal agents used for civil work and take corrective action.
  • Response: The Department agrees with the Auditor General’s recommendation. The Department has an action plan to support the continued implementation of improvements to the management of legal agents. This action plan will address the issues raised by the Auditor General.
  • Recommendation 3: In addition to its current management of alternative dispute resolution initiative, Justice Canada should ensure that it clearly defines each initiative’s objectives, estimates the potential cost savings and formally reviews the outcome of initiatives against their objectives.
  • Response: The Department agrees with the Auditor General's recommendation, which is consistent with the recent review of the Department's dispute resolution initiative that has resulted in a new mandate focused on providing services to departments supporting long-term prevention and early resolution of disputes. These client-focused services include systems design, legal advisory support, and training, all of which are linked to the departmental priorities of improving practice management and managing the volume of litigation.
  • Recommendation 4: Justice Canada should define performance measures for its corporate priorities and improve its performance reporting to Parliament.
  • Response: The Department agrees with the Auditor General’s recommendation. The Department will incorporate measures from the Management Accountability Framework completed by the Treasury Board Secretariat into the Departmental Performance Report (DPR). A number of implementations have also taken place in the Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP) the DPR in an effort to improve reporting to Parliament and to the public on initiatives and priorities. Also, as part of its efforts to improve reporting, the Department has implemented a practice whereby a committee of performance measurement specialists within the Department, as well as one external adviser, assess the quality of data used to arrive at management's assessments of the degree to which the Department is achieving its priorities each year. The results of these reviews are reported in the departmental performance report.
  • Recommendation 5: Justice Canada should develop a quality management system or systems for each of its practices to provide senior management with ongoing and reliable assurance that all services meet established minimum quality standards.
  • Response: The Department agrees with the Auditor General’s recommendation and will build on the elements of its quality work recognized by the Office of the Auditor General with a view to having a sound quality management approach.
  • Recommendation 6: Justice Canada needs to make improvements to its resource management. The Department should use information on workload volumes and costs for all of its legal services to better monitor trends, plan, set priorities, manage resources, analyze service delivery options, and identify opportunities for controlling costs; work with client departments to effectively plan, manage, and improve the cost-effectiveness of their financial arrangements with a view to managing demand for legal services and thereby reducing costs; and ensure that a senior manager with the necessary authority leads the improvement of management practices at the Department and oversees implementation of these changes.
  • Response: The Department agrees with the Auditor General’s recommendation. DoJ will continue the work underway to develop approaches to further develop its capacity to use management information to enhance management decisions, and regularize its cost recovery agreements with government departments. The Department is currently working on putting in place an initiative to better coordinate and integrate its law management practices. At the same time, the Department will review its management practices to identify and put in place corporate reports to provide management information to support departmental decision making. Senior management authority, to lead out work on management practices, will be strengthened.

Hotlink for Responses(En): http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_oag_200705_05_e_17480.html
Hotlink for Responses(Fr): http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/Francais/parl_oag_200705_05_f_17480.html



External Audits
(Public Service Commission of Canada or the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages)
None during the reporting period; no recommendations were received.