Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada

2021-2022

Departmental Plan

The Honourable David Lametti, P.C., Q.C., M.P.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada
represented by the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs (FJA) Canada, 2021
Catalogue No. J41-4E-PDF
ISSN 2371-834X

 

From the Commmissioner

I am pleased to present the 2021-22 Departmental Plan for the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs (FJA). This Plan provides parliamentarians and Canadians an outline of activities we will undertake in the coming year.

At the onset of the fiscal year, FJA will be in the midst of administering a Supreme Court of Canada Appointment process, and providing support to the Judicial Compensation and Benefits Commission. This Commission, established under s. 26 of the Judges Act, convenes every four years. This sixth Commission began its inquiry December 16, 2020, and is slated to table its report to the Minister on September 1, 2021.

With regard to the Supreme Court of Canada appointment process, we will be administering and providing support to the Independent Advisory Board, whose mandate is to provide merit-based recommendations to the Prime Minister on candidates for appointment to the Supreme Court in order to fill a new vacancy.

We anticipate that we will continue to adapt to remote and alternative work conditions well into 2021-2022 because of the current pandemic, as we continue to fulfill our core mandate to safeguard the independence of the judiciary. FJA will leverage the lessons learned and best practices of the previous year in order to: reinforce our information technology infrastructure to support virtual meetings and service delivery for our language training to judges; administer the seventeen judicial advisory committees who assess candidates for the bench; upgrade the platform for JUDICOM (a secure collaboration site for judges) and develop electronic filing solutions, and enhance our coordination of international cooperation initiatives involving the judiciary.

Our resilience and ability to adapt were key to our success in 2020. We will continue to demonstrate those attributes as we undertake the work for the upcoming year. I invite you to read our departmental plan to learn more about our plans and priorities for 2021-22.

Sincerely,

 

 

Marc A. Giroux

Commissioner

Plans at a glance

 

Through FJA’s administration of Part I of the Judges Act, we deliver core services and provide support to more than 1200 federally appointed judges with the aim of safeguarding the independence of the judiciary. In addition to financial, compensation and IT services, our personnel coordinates the delivery of language training to judges, international cooperation initiatives involving the judiciary, and the publication of decisions of the Federal Court of Appeal and the Federal Court.

The impact of the 2020 pandemic resulted in a shift in the way we do business. In 2021-22, we will as an organization analyze the lessons learned and develop a strategy for the way forward. FJA will invest in infrastructure and mission-critical business systems, such as electronic filing solutions, improved digital solutions for our Cloud adoption, including the JUDICOM platform – a secure site for judicial collaboration – and digitally transforming business processes and procedures in order to better align and balance the policy requirement of the Judges Act, the Policy on Service and Digital, and those of central agencies.

In 2021-22 we will also face the challenge of ensuring that our plans and strategies for creating a workplace that promotes diversity, supports our employees ensuring that they are free from harassment and discrimination extends to encompass a strategy that maintains this in context of remote work. The mental health and well-being of all staff are key to the success of any organization.

For more information on FJA’s plans, priorities and planned results, see the “Core responsibility: planned results and resources” section of this report

 

Core responsibility: planned results and resources

This section contains detailed information on the department’s planned results and resources for its 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.

 

Planning highlights

Supreme Court of Canada Appointment Process

Under the appointment process introduced in 2016, an independent non-partisan Advisory Board is mandated to identify suitable candidates who are jurists of the highest calibre, functionally bilingual and representative of Canada. The Advisory Board will make non-binding, merit-based recommendations to the Prime Minister on Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) judicial appointments.

FJA, independent of the Department of Justice, will administer the process and support the Advisory Board, processing candidate applications, and supporting the development of the report for submission to the Prime Minister. FJA will also evaluate the functional bilingualism of the Advisory Board’s short-list candidates.

In addition to assisting the Chair of the Advisory Board in preparing for an appearance before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, FJA will also extensively brief the selected candidate for appointment for his or her own appearance before an ad hoc parliamentary committee.

Judicial Appointment Committees

Each year, FJA receives on average 500 applications for federal judicial appointments, which translates into a minimum of 50 meetings of the 17 Judicial Advisory Committees throughout Canada. These committees assess all applications and determine which may be highly recommended, recommended or not recommended to the Minister of Justice for appointment by the Governor in Council. FJA’s Executive Director for Judicial Appointments will lead the training and orientation of committee members to strengthen their understanding of their roles and responsibilities in assessing and creating a pool of candidates that is gender-balanced and reflective of the diversity of each jurisdiction.

Judges Language Training

Following the Action Plan on Enhancing the Bilingual Capacity of the Superior Court Judiciary introduced in 2017, a three-part evaluation was developed by FJA Language Training personnel to assess the reading comprehension, writing skills and oral interaction of candidates for judicial appointment. In 2020-21, we fully deployed this tool to conduct random and objective second language proficiency assessments of candidates who have self-identified as having bilingual capacity as well as implemented a quality control system for the provision of services to judges in individual training. In 2021-22, we will increase our personnel through the addition of an assessment manager to oversee the evaluation process; and continue to adapt service provisions in response to limitations imposed by the pandemic, through the conducting of virtual immersion sessions in lieu of face-to-face sessions with the intention of resuming in person when feasible.

Federal Courts Reports (FCR)

Since fiscal year 2020-21, the collection of Federal Court Reports has been fully digitized and available online. In 2021-22, FCR’s focus will shift to the automation of certain tasks. More specifically, FCR will look into automating the creation of lists, namely, lists of statutes and regulations cited, cases cited, and authors cited that appear in the Reports. These lists are currently compiled by hand. This project will tie into FJA’s objective of streamlining business practices, processes and technologies as part of an overall modernization plan.

International Cooperation

FJA will continue to support and coordinate the efforts of the federal judiciary in its international engagements in 2021-22. Furthermore, FJA will look to enhance its contribution to foreign policy by closely coordinating efforts with lead government departments.

 

Additionally, FJA will further strengthen its in-house capacity to effectively support the implementation of the Canadian Judicial Council Policy on International Judicial Activities and advise judges visiting other countries or receiving delegations in their official capacity.

Experimentation

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

 

Planned results for Support to federally appointed judges

Departmental result	Departmental result indicator	Target	Date to achieve target	2017–18 actual result	2018–19 actual result	2019–20 actual result
Federally appointed judges are provided with centralized services in a timely and effective manner	% of judges’ allowances processed within the 10-day service standard	Equal to or greater than 90% of judges’ allowances processed within the 10-day service standard	March 2022	Over 90% of judges’ allowances were processed within the 10-day service standard	88% of judges’ allowances were processed within the 10-day service standard	98% 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% of candidate applications are ready to be evaluated within 3 months of reception	March 2022	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	Equal to or greater than 80% of complaints reviewed within six months	March 2022	80% of complaints were reviewed within six months	80% of complaints were reviewed within six months	80% 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	Equal to or greater than 90% of judges training and learning needs were met	March 2022	Not available*	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

*This is a new indicator effective fiscal year 2018-19

Financial, human resources and performance information for FJA’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.^[i]
Planned budgetary financial resources for Support to federally appointed judges

2021–22 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2021–22 planned spending	2022–23 planned spending	2023–24 planned spending
682,143,930	682,143,930	706,748,420	732,051,023

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

 

Planned human resources for Support to federally appointed judges

2021–22 planned full-time equivalents	2022–23 planned full-time equivalents	2023–24 planned full-time equivalents
60.5	60.5	60.5

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

 

Internal Services: planned results

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 services that support Program delivery in the organization, regardless of the Internal Services delivery model in a department. These services are:

·         Management and Oversight Services

·         Communications Services

·         Legal Services

·         Human Resources Management Services

·         Financial Management Services

·         Information Management Services

·         Information Technology Services

·         Real Property Management Services

·         Materiel Management Services

·         Acquisition Management Services

Planning highlights

FJA will strive to meet the expectations of managers and employees with respect to human resources, financial management, procurement, information technology and information management. Employee satisfaction will be measured through the Public Service Employee Survey. Service responsiveness will be monitored through the achievement of service standards. The main improvement areas to be pursued during 2021-22 are all closely related to overall FJA priorities.

Financial control framework. Monitor processes, controls and practices to ensure consistent and proper application of policies and administration of payments and allowances to judges. We anticipate that the transition to remote work due to the Covid-19 pandemic implications on our department, as well as our clients, will persist for the foreseeable future. As such, our processes and procedures have and will continue to evolve as we adapt. Our methods for exercising financial control over payments have become increasingly digital, including the online reviewing of documents and the implementation of digital signatures. To this end, we will explore options to facilitate claim submissions and payment processing, review and update documentation to reflect the current processes, and provide training and orientation to employees and other personnel as needed.

Policy on internal controls. As a result of the pandemic some processes were put into place for continued service delivery. We will undertake a review of these processes to pprovide assurance that FJA adheres to the Treasury Board Secretariat’s Policy on Internal Controls to mitigate risks and support financial reporting. Review, document and assess internal financial controls, including processes, risks, key controls in place, the effectiveness of the controls, and testing required.

Information management. Continue supporting and modernizing the processes and tools used to manage FJA’s physical and electronic information holdings. In 2021-22, efforts to establish IM retention policies to align with Library and Archives, as well as judiciary requirements, will be exerted.

Information Technology. In compliance with Government of Canada requirements, FJA will continue modernizing and upgrading its IT infrastructure, systems, and assets to ensure easy, reliable, and secure access to information by all members of the Office. In 2021-22, extra effort mobility and accessibility in secure fashion is planned for in response to Canada’s Plan for Digital Operations.

Succession planning. 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 will continue to do succession and HR planning to mitigate this risk.

Human Resources

FJA will continue the work for the upcoming conversions, which means reviewing job descriptions for several positions over the next several years. We will also have to review several internal policies following the new policies of the central agencies.

 

Planned budgetary financial resources for Internal Services

2021–22 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2021–22 planned spending	2022–23 planned spending	2023–24 planned spending
726,800	726,800	726,800	726,800

Planned human resources for Internal Services

2021–22 planned full-time equivalents	2022–23 planned full-time equivalents	2023–24 planned full-time equivalents
5.5	5.5	5.5

Spending and human resources

This section provides an overview of the department’s planned spending and human resources for the next three consecutive fiscal years, and compares planned spending for the upcoming year with the current and previous years’ actual spending.

Planned spending

Departmental spending 2018–19 to 2023–24

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

Departmental spending graph

 

 

Budgetary planning summary for core responsibilities and Internal Services (dollars)

The following table shows actual, forecast and planned spending for FJA’s core responsibility and to Internal Services for the years relevant to the current planning year.

Core responsibility and Internal Services	2018–19 expenditures	2019–20 expenditures	2020–21 forecast spending	2021–22 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2021–22 planned spending	2022–23 planned spending	2023–24 planned spending
Support to federally appointed judges	594,749,777	627,331,184	654,694,261	682,143,930	682,143,930	706,751,420	732,051,023
Subtotal	594,749,777	627,331,184	654,694,261	682,143,930	682,143,930	702,751,420	732,051,023
Internal Services	726,792	726,800	726,800	726,800	726,800	726,800	726,800
Total	595,476,569	628,057,984	655,421,061	682,870,730	682,870,730	707,478,220	732,777,823

 

Variances between the actual spending for 2019-20 and the forecasted spending for 2020-2021 are largely attributable to increases resulting from annual adjustments to judges’ salaries based on the Industrial Aggregate, as well as, an increase in the number of pensioners receiving benefits under the Judges Act.

 

Planned human resources

The following table shows actual, forecast and planned full-time equivalents (FTEs) for the core responsibility in FJA’s departmental results framework and to Internal Services for the years relevant to the current planning year.

Human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and Internal Services

Core responsibility and Internal Services	2018–19 actual full‑time equivalents	2019–20 actual full‑time equivalents	2020–21 planned full‑time equivalents	2021–22 planned full‑time equivalents	2022–23 planned full‑time equivalents	2023–24 planned full‑time equivalents
Support to federally appointed judges	54.5	56.5	60.5	60.5	60.5	60.5
Subtotal	54.5	56.5	60.5	60.5	60.5	60.5
Internal Services	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.5
Total	60	62	66	66	66	66

Estimates by vote

Information on FJA’s organizational appropriations is available in the 2021–22 Main Estimates.^[iv]

Future-oriented Condensed statement of operations

The future‑oriented condensed statement of operations provides an overview of FJA’s operations for 2020–21 to 2021–22.

The amounts for forecast and planned results in this statement of operations were prepared on an accrual basis. The amounts for forecast and planned spending presented in other sections of the Departmental Plan were prepared on an expenditure basis. Amounts may therefore differ.

A more detailed future‑oriented statement of operations and associated notes, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations to the requested authorities, are available on FJA’s website.^[v]

 

Future‑oriented condensed statement of operations for the year ending March 31, 2022 (dollars)

Financial information	2020–21 forecast results	2021–22 planned results	Difference (2021–22 planned results minus 2020–21 forecast results)
Total expenses	657,272,000	685,217,000	27,945,000
Total revenues	18,007,000	18,007,000	-
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers	639,265,000	667,210,000	27,945,000

 

In 2020-21, total expenses include $643.2 million for judges’ salaries, allowances, and annuities; $11.3 million for FJA personnel and operating costs; and $2.8 million for CJC personnel and operating costs. The 2021-22 amounts are $669.4 million, $13.2 million, and $2.6 million, respectively.

Total revenues include an amount of $18 million charged to FJA’s statutory vote for judges’ pension contributions.

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister(s): 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(s): 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: http://www.cjc-ccm.gc.ca^[vii]

 

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

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

For more information on the department’s organizational mandate letter commitments, see the “Minister’s mandate letter.""^[ix]

Operating context

Information on the operating context is available on FJA’s website.^[x]

 

Reporting framework

FJA’s approved Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory for 2021–22 are as follows.

Departmental Results Framework		Core Responsibility: 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

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to FJA’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.^[xi]

Supplementary information tables

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

4   Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy^[xiii]

4   Gender-based analysis plus^[xiv]

Federal tax expenditures

FJA’s Departmental Plan does not include information on tax expenditures that relate to its planned results for 2021–22.

Tax expenditures are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance, and the Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for government‑wide tax expenditures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures.^[xv] This report provides detailed information on tax expenditures, including objectives, historical background and references to related federal spending programs, as well as evaluations, research papers and gender-based analysis. The tax measures presented in this report are solely the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

Organizational contact information

Mailing address

Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada

99 Metcalfe Street, 8^th Floor

Ottawa, Ontario  K1A 1E3

Canada

Telephone: (613) 995-5140

Fax: (613) 995-5615

Email: info@fja-cmf.gc.ca

Website(s): 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 a department over a 3‑year period. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental priority (priorité ministérielle)

A plan or project that a department has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Departmental 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 factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

A framework that consists of the department’s core responsibilities, 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 and what doesn’t. Experimentation is related to, but distinct form 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. Full‑time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.

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 Plan, government-wide priorities refers to those high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2015 Speech from the Throne, namely: Growth for the Middle Class; Open and Transparent Government; A Clean Environment and a Strong Economy; Diversity is Canada's Strength; and Security and Opportunity.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative in which 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 up to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in the 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 of the department’s programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department’s core responsibilities and results.

result (résultat)

An external 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.

strategic outcome (résultat stratégique)

A long-term and enduring benefit to Canadians that is linked to the organization’s mandate, vision and core functions.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.

Endnotes