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ARCHIVED - RPP 2006-2007
Canada Border Services Agency


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SECTION IV – OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST

Preface

The CBSA continues to make gains in its efforts to realize its third and fourth priorities: strong internal and external relationships, and a modern management regime. These priorities fall under the CBSA's Corporate Management and Direction program activity. Some of the related initiatives are highlighted below.

Strong internal and external relationships

International relations

The CBSA recently adopted an International Strategic Framework (ISF) to ensure consistency and coherence in our international activities. The ISF outlines other international partnerships beyond North America to advance Canadian security and prosperity objectives. The CBSA is reaching out to key foreign governments, emerging markets and regional players to advance modern border management techniques with Canadian representation located in foreign countries.

Relations with employees

The CBSA places a very high value on its collaborative relationships with employees and their representatives. We recognize the need to provide consistent messaging, develop two-way communication mechanisms, and build a sense of community among CBSA employees. To this end in 2005-2006, the CBSA developed a separate addendum to the Public Service Employee Survey with questions specifically designed to capture the thoughts and opinions of all CBSA employees. Once the results have been analyzed, we will develop a communications strategy and an action plan to address the issues and concerns that were identified.

A modern management regime

Human Resources

The CBSA's strength is contingent upon the skills, tools, training and support for continuous learning that is extended to our employees. Over the fiscal year, we plan to focus on establishing effective delivery of the human resources (HR) program across the regions and at headquarters; to provide support for the implementation of the port-of-entry vision of one face at the border; to articulate an integrated HR management framework; to improve our bilingual capacity by strengthening the official languages program; to nurture collaborative and strategic partnerships; to improve communication; to begin building the HR community; and to enhance HR service delivery in the CBSA. Our primary objective in this area is developing and implementing HR plans and strategies to ensure that the CBSA attracts and maintains a skilled and representative workforce.

Values and ethics

The "face of the border" that the CBSA presents must be one that reflects and embodies only the highest standards and ethical behaviour in all interactions with the public, our partners and stakeholders, and our colleagues. We will implement a Code of Conduct and develop a values and ethics action plan in line with the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service to promote our core values and ethical behaviour.

Controls and accountability

In keeping with the Government of Canada's interest in controls and accountability, the CBSA is developing a Management Control Framework to link various Treasury Board frameworks (e.g., Management Accountability Framework, Integrated Risk Management Framework, and Modern Comptrollership) into our day-to-day business and management processes. We will focus on integrating strategic planning with human resources planning, financial planning and performance measurement. Additionally, our Internal Audit function provides independent and objective information, advice and assurance on the soundness of the Agency's management control framework.

Review of the CBSA's resource base

As originally referenced in the Agency's 2005-2006 Report on Plans and Priorities, Treasury Board has directed the CBSA to undertake a comprehensive review of its resource base. The review is under way. The CBSA has committed to inform Treasury Board and the central agencies (Treasury Board Secretariat, Department of Finance and the Privy Council Office) by the fall of 2007 of the Agency's capacity to discharge its mandate.

Support for decision making

The CBSA continues to work towards and support the use of evidence-based, innovative decision making that reflects Government of Canada objectives. We are committed to assessing priority programs through independent observations and recommendations on relevance, success and alternatives. Our research and corporate statistics function will examine evidence on border-related issues through sound empirical research in economics, mathematics and social science. We will produce regular reports of key statistics to provide senior management with a snapshot of the organization to aid their decision making. Environmental scanning enables us to identify external trends and drivers relevant to border management. In addition, we are developing a research plan to focus on key research questions of strategic importance to the CBSA.

Privacy Management Framework

Developing a Privacy Management Framework will augment the CBSA governance structure, roles and responsibilities. It will be a monitoring vehicle for privacy-protected information and promote a corporate culture of respect for privacy. The CBSA will refine the best privacy management practices used at other government agencies.

Information Management Strategy

The CBSA is developing an Information Management Strategy that will integrate private-and public-sector best practices with those of the information systems currently used by the CBSA, the Canada Revenue Agency, Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. An important element of this will be to assess the CBSA's information management capacity against Treasury Board Secretariat policy and guidelines, and to develop the policy and framework to manage the information program.

Strategic Legislative Plan

The CBSA will work with central agencies to create a strategic legislative plan to mobilize all Agency and federal government legislative changes according to the parliamentary timetable. The plan will establish an agency-wide understanding of our legislative priorities and support pro-active, strategic plans for new initiatives that require legislation.

Business Continuity Planning Program

The CBSA will undertake an Agency business-impact analysis to identify and prioritize critical services and associated assets . We will then update our business continuity plans to protect the resources and assets that deliver services to Canadians.

Sustainable Development Strategy

Sustainable development is choosing to do things in ways that make desired results last, recognizing that the decisions of today are legacies to the generations of tomorrow. The CBSA is developing its first sustainable development strategy. It will table its strategy in December 2006 and harmonize it with the federal government's coordinated approach. Our strategy will contribute to the federal government's horizontal sustainable development priorities and integrate sustainable development principles into the CBSA's policies, programs and operations.

Long-term Fixed Infrastructure Plan

The CBSA has developed a fixed infrastructure management framework that is consistent with the Treasury Board policy and recognizes that its portfolio of ports of entry is integral to the Agency's mandate and mission. We are also completing the Agency's first long-term plan for the recapitalization of its portfolio of ports of entry.

Table 10: Allocation of 2006-2007 Corporate Management and Direction Resources to other Program Activities

(thousands of dollars)

Security

Access

Science- and Technology- based Innovation

Total

2006-2007 ARLU (1)

32,994

64,522

7,227

104,743

Human Resources (FTEs)

290

566

63

919

Percentages

31.5%

61.6%

6.9%

100.0%

 

Appendix A: Other programs and services

Program Activity: Security

Program Activity: Access

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