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Section III — Other Items of Interest
Global Case Management System
The Global Case Management System (GCMS) [note 12] is the response to the CIC/CBSA business imperative to sustain integrity, security and efficiency in the delivery of immigration and citizenship services. It incorporates into a single, homogeneous system, data from various sources to create a single, cohesive view of the client continuum. It also provides the Government of Canada with a tool that is tailored to the population’s changing and growing needs regarding service delivery in a rapidly evolving environment.
While the GCMS concept has been proven with the Citizenship release in 2004, significant adjustments to the system as built were required to address gaps and resolve underlying challenges. An options analysis conducted in the spring of 2007 determined that the project should proceed with a reduced scope that would capitalize on investment to date, contain project costs, and deliver the greatest business value while minimizing the risk of operational disruption.
Under the revised approach, the original project objectives will be achieved incrementally, establishing first a robust base that provides the bulk of the functionality required by all business lines overseas and in Canada. Further refinements will be quickly developed and deployed through a series of manageable releases.
The GCMS is an essential underpinning in enabling a global information-based service to clients and an integral part of the vision for CIC’s future program delivery.
Health Management
The movement of foreign nationals into Canada presents potential threats related to infectious diseases and excessive burden to the Canadian health-care system. Health management directly supports various CIC program activities by developing and implementing risk mitigation strategies to manage health issues related to immigration.
In cooperation with provinces and territories, CIC will continue to mitigate the risks of infectious diseases through the medical surveillance of newly arrived permanent and temporary residents who could pose public health risks. CIC will also continue to improve pre-departure and post-arrival health risk management strategies for refugees in protracted situations with limited health prevention and care facilities.
In partnership with DFAIT, HC and TBS, CIC will continue to support the delivery of the Public Service Health Overseas Program to Canadian-based staff and their dependants located overseas.
Evaluation
The federal government environment, with its strong focus on results and accountability, has underlined the importance of the evaluation function in assessing the effectiveness of federal policies, programs and services. As well, internal demand for accurate, objective, evidence-based and timely information to support program and policy planning has grown considerably. To meet this demand, CIC will continue to strengthen the evaluation function and its role in the Department.
In 2006, CIC developed an evaluation policy that will continue to guide evaluation approaches in the future and will be reviewed to ensure its alignment with the changing context. The Department developed a rolling risk-based evaluation plan, to be reviewed and updated annually. An active evaluation committee, chaired by the Deputy Minister and comprised of senior departmental executives, approves the plan annually as well as all completed evaluations.
Several major evaluations are planned for the next fiscal year, including evaluations of the Skilled Workers Program, the TFW Program and the Medical Surveillance Program.
Strategic Research
Over the next three years, strategic research will focus on labour market responsiveness and economic indicators, language acquisition and literacy, framing citizenship and social integration, understanding sponsorship relationships, and understanding linkages across programs and immigration streams.
CIC is working to meet the statistical requirements of the Department, the provinces and territories, and other stakeholders. This work includes supporting horizontal policy development initiatives with other government departments such as HRSDC on labour market impacts and requirements, and providing data to Statistics Canada for population estimates. CIC will continue to expand the range of information available to the public through publications such as Facts and Figures and The Monitor.
Metropolis
In 1995, CIC and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada created the Metropolis Project to enhance the ability of CIC and other government departments to manage the challenges and capitalize on the opportunities associated with migration and the integration of ethnic, racial and religious minorities in large cities. The aims of Metropolis are to stimulate academic research in the field; encourage its use by policy makers and other government officials; and create opportunities for active collaboration among academic researchers, government officials and non-governmental organizations in managing issues relating to immigration and diversity, especially as they affect Canadian cities.
CIC leads the Metropolis Project, supported by a consortium of federal departments and agencies.[note 13] Metropolis will continue to organize annual international and national conferences over the next three years. The five Metropolis centres of excellence in Canada will continue to conduct research into migration and diversity, and to publish an extensive series of working papers, scholarly articles and books. More information is available on the many Web sites associated with the project, which can be accessed at http://metropolis.net/.
Gender-Based Analysis at CIC
Under IRPA, CIC is accountable to Parliament for conducting gender-based analysis (GBA) of the impact of the Act and its regulations.[note 14] A range of GBA initiatives are planned for 2008–2009. A GBA review of the Live-In Caregiver Program (LCP) will focus on recent changes to the work permit policy to consider the impacts of the longer work permit. An LCP literature review on gender-related settlement barriers is part of that initiative. A GBA review of the PNP will determine whether it is meeting the economic development objectives under IRPA. As well, overall efforts to better understand immigration trends from a GBA perspective will continue.
The Citizenship Program will undertake a qualitative analysis of the motivations underlying the decision for naturalization through the establishment of immigrant witness groups. New settlement program policies and tools will be analysed to ensure that these initiatives will help to break down settlement and integration barriers, enabling people of both genders to better integrate into Canadian society. Finally, a gender analysis will be incorporated into the development of a monitoring and evaluation framework for the GAR and PSR programs.