Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada

2022–23

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, 2022
Catalogue No. J41-4E-PDF
ISSN 2371-834X

Message from the Commissioner

 

I am pleased to present the 2022-23 Departmental Plan for the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs (FJA). This Plan provides parliamentarians and Canadians with an outline of activities we will undertake in the coming year.

Key priorities for FJA during the 2022-23 fiscal year will include administering a Supreme Court of Canada Appointment Process, preparing to implement various changes to the Judges Act as they pertain to salaries and benefits of judges and their survivors, as well as those anticipated for legislative reforms in the area of judicial conduct.

For the fifth time over the past six years, our office will administer a Supreme Court of Canada Appointment Process, 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 will again be tasked with assessing the language proficiency of candidates, as well as with preparing the nominee for their appearance before parliamentarians.

The Judicial Compensation and Benefits Commission (established under s.26 of the Judges Act) concluded its work, and provided a report of its findings and recommendation to the Minister of Justice on August 31, 2021. The Minister has responded to the report and the Government will be implementing recommendations, which will include legislative amendments to the Judges Act. These will have an impact on procedures for both our Finance and Compensation divisions.

The Government has also introduced legislation to amend the Judges Act in order to reform the judicial conduct process. The Canadian Judicial Council Secretariat as well as our Finance and Compensation divisions are currently preparing for these amendments which we anticipate will come into effect during this calendar year.

Until such time as we are able to safely resume in-person meetings, we will continue to adapt and improve on our approach to remote work. We will conduct virtual meetings and conferences in support of our language training program for judges, administering the seventeen judicial advisory committees who assess candidates for the bench, as well as for our daily operational requirements.

 

We will also forge ahead with efforts already underway to upgrade the platform for JUDICOM (a secure collaboration site for judges). This will include enhancements to our email system, intranet, and tools for judges to access reports and information as they relate to their salaries, pension benefits and allowances.

Our personnel is committed to providing a high level of service to our clientele and Canadians. I invite you to read our Departmental Plan to learn more about our plans and priorities for 2022-23.

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 and 1000 pensioners and their survivors. 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. We also administer the judicial appointment process on behalf of the Minister of Justice, providing guidance and support to members of the 17 judicial advisory committees across the country. As well, members of our personnel working in the Canadian Judicial Council Secretariat provide the necessary legal, strategic, administrative and communication assistance to meet the needs of the Council.

FJA will focus on our mid and long-term plans to enhance and improve our infrastructure to support mission-critical business systems, such as 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.

The COVID-19 pandemic has, amongst other things, affected the mental well-being of workers across all industries. It is of utmost importance to adapt and shift our approach in supporting our employees as they deal with the impacts of uncertainty and isolation while we continue to navigate the situation. While we work mostly remotely, we remain committed to a workplace that is free from harassment, violence and discrimination, and the promotion of diversity, employment equity and inclusion remain a priority.

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

On December 23, 2022, Justice Michael Moldaver will reach the mandatory retirement age of 75 years, creating a vacancy on the Supreme Court of Canada. An independent non-partisan Advisory Board will be 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 judicial appointments.

As has been the case in the past, FJA will administer the process and support the Advisory Board, process candidate applications, and support 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

Within its overall responsibility for the administration of the judicial appointments process on behalf of the Government, FJA manages a minimum of 50 meetings of the 17 Judicial Advisory Committees per year 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

As a result of the Action Plan on Enhancing the Bilingual Capacity of the Superior Court Judiciary introduced in 2017, assessment tools were developed and implemented by FJA’s Judges’ Language Training personnel in order to evaluate the reading, writing, and oral interaction abilities of judicial candidates. In the past several months, we have replaced the random assessment selection of candidates and adopted a systematic approach to assess all candidates who self-identify as bilingual. Our plans also include improving upon our quality controls and updating the English and French Judges’ Language Training curricula to better reflect the cultural diversity of Canada.

Federal Courts Reports

In 2022-23, Federal Court Reports will be looking to improve its internal processes in order to facilitate the production of the Reports and ensure the timeliness of their publication. With respect to the Federal Courts Reports website, now that the entire collection of documents is digitized and available online, the focus of attention will turn to addressing residual formatting and display issues.

International Cooperation

FJA will continue to support and coordinate the efforts of the federal judiciary in its international engagements in 2022-23. Furthermore, FJA will continue to formalize and solidify its contribution to foreign policy by closely coordinating efforts with Global Affairs Canada and other lead government departments.

Additionally, FJA will further strengthen its in-house capacity to effectively respond to the relevant provisions of the Canadian Judicial Council Policy on International Judicial Activities. Among other things, this includes overseeing the development of a safety and security course for judges planning to visit other countries 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

The following table shows, for support to federally appointed judges, the planned results, the result indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2022–23, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Departmental result	Departmental result indicator	Target	Date to achieve target	2018–19 actual result	2019–20 actual result	2020–21 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 2023	Over 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% of candidate applications are ready to be evaluated within 3 months of reception	March 2023	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 2023	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	Equal to or greater than 90% of judges training and learning needs were met	March 2023	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

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

The following table shows, for Support to federally appointed judges, budgetary spending for 2022–23, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2022–23 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2022–23 planned spending	2023–24 planned spending	2024–25 planned spending
710,327,915	710,327,915	732,627,518	758,581,960

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

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department will need to fulfill this core responsibility for 2022–23 and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2022–23 planned full-time equivalents	2023–24 planned full-time equivalents	2024–25 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 the services that are provided within a department so that it can meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs. There are 10 categories of internal services:

·         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 2022-23 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. As we continue to navigate the different levels of the pandemic, remote work will persist for the foreseeable future as we anticipate an eventual move to a more hybrid model. As such, our processes and procedures have and will continue to evolve. Our methods for exercising financial control over payments are still increasing digitally, including the online reviewing of documents and the adaptation of digital signatures. To this end, we have gone forward with an electronic claim submissions and payment processing project with our informatics division, to develop and eventually implement an electronic claims submission platform for our clients; this will require the ongoing review and update of documentation to reflect the changing processes, and provide training and orientation to employees and other personnel as needed. As well, in 2021-22, we were advised that the TBS initiative GCfm was no longer sustainable; therefore in the coming year, we will be working on and implementing a financial system to fit our needs until such a time as a new initiative is launched.

 

Policy on internal controls. As a result of the pandemic, some processes were put into place for continued service delivery. We will continue to review these processes to provide assurance that FJA adheres to the Treasury Board Secretariat’s Policy on Internal Controls to mitigate risks and support financial reporting.

Information management. In 2022-23, FJA will continue to support and modernize the processes and tools used to manage physical and electronic information holdings. IM retention policies aligned with Library and Archives Canada, as well as judiciary requirements, will be formally established and implemented.

Information Technology. 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, while adhering to Government of Canada requirements.

Succession planning. Being a small organization, the main human resources risk FJA continues to face is the loss of expertise and corporate memory from the departure of experienced staff, as well as the lack of in-house expertise and back up in specialized areas unique to the department. FJA will continue to do succession and HR planning to mitigate these risks. Shortage groups such as IM/IT and Compensation continue to challenge staffing and recruitment activities.

Human Resources

FJA will continue the work on the upcoming PA conversion, which means reviewing more than half of all job descriptions within the department over the next year. We will continue to review several internal policies following the new policies of the central agencies.

 

Planned budgetary spending for internal services

The following table shows, for internal services, budgetary spending for 2022–23, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2022–23 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2022–23 planned spending	2023–24 planned spending	2024–25 planned spending
726,800	726,800	726,800	726,800

 

Planned human resources for Internal Services

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department will need to carry out its internal services for 2022–23 and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2022–23 planned full-time equivalents	2023–24 planned full-time equivalents	2024–25 planned full-time equivalents
5.5	5.5	5.5

 

Planned 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 2019–20 to 2024–25

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

 

 

 

The reduction in expenditures in 2020-21 relative to 2019-20 is mainly attributable to travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in a significant decrease in expenses related to transportation and in-person conferences.

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

The following table shows information on spending for FJA’s core responsibility and for its internal services for 2022-23 and other relevant fiscal years.

Core responsibility and Internal services	2019–20 expenditures	2020–21 expenditures	2021–22 forecast spending	2022–23 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2022–23 planned spending	2023–24 planned spending	2024–25 planned spending
Support to federally appointed judges	627,331,184	626,389,832	682,199,266	710,327,915	710,327,915	732,627,518	758,581,960
Subtotal	627,331,184	626,389,832	682,199,266	710,327,915	710,327,915	732,627,518	758,581,960
Internal Services	726,800	726,800	726,800	726,800	726,800	726,800	726,800
Total	628,057,984	627,116,632	682,926,066	711,054,715	711,054,715	733,354,318	759,308,760

 

Variances between the actual spending for 2020-21 and the forecasted spending for 2021-2022 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 information on human resources, in full-time equivalents (FTEs), for the core responsibility in FJA’s departmental results framework and for its internal services for 2022-23 and the other relevant years.

Human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and Internal Services

Core responsibility and Internal Services	2019–20 actual full‑time equivalents	2020–21 actual full‑time equivalents	2021–22 planned full‑time equivalents	2022–23 planned full‑time equivalents	2023–24 planned full‑time equivalents	2024–25 planned full‑time equivalents
Support to federally appointed judges	56.5	57.5	60.5	60.5	60.5	60.5
Subtotal	56.5	57.5	60.5	60.5	60.5	60.5
Internal Services	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.5
Total	62	63	66	66	66	66

Estimates by vote

Information on FJA’s organizational appropriations is available in the 2022–23 Main Estimates.^[iv]

 

Future-oriented Condensed statement of operations

The future‑oriented condensed statement of operations provides an overview of FJA’s operations for 2021–22 to 2022–23.

The forecast and planned amounts in this statement of operations were prepared on an accrual basis. The forecast and planned amounts 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, 2023 (dollars)

Financial information	2021–22 forecast results	2022–23 planned results	Difference (2022–23 planned results minus 2021–22 forecast results)
Total expenses	684,833,000	709,014,000	24,181,000
Total revenues	19,572,000	19,572,000	-
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers	665,261,000	689,442,000	24,181,000

 

In 2021-22, total forecasted expenses include $669.5 million for judges’ salaries, allowances, and annuities; $12.6 million for FJA personnel and operating costs; and $2.7 million for CJC personnel and operating costs. The 2022-23 amounts are $694 million, $12.4 million, and $2.6 million, respectively.

Total revenues include an amount of $19.3 million charged to FJA’s statutory vote for judges’ pension contributions.

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(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: https://cjc-ccm.ca/en^[vii]

 

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

Information on the department’s raison d’être, mandate and role is available on FJA’s website^[viii].

Information on FJA’s mandate letter commitments is available in 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 2022–23 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.

Tax expenditures are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance. 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.

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: https://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 document that sets out a department’s priorities, programs, expected results and associated resource requirements, covering a three‑year period beginning with the year indicated in the title of the report. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)

A change that a department seeks to influence. 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 performance in a fiscal year against its plans, priorities and expected results set out in its Departmental Plan for that year. Departmental Results Reports are usually tabled in Parliament each fall.

experimentation (expérimentation)

The conducting of activities that explore, test and compare the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform decision-making and improve outcomes for Canadians. Experimentation is related to, but distinct from, innovation. Innovation is the trying of something new; experimentation involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, introducing a new mobile application to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new application and comparing it against an existing website or other tools to see which one reaches more people, 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 Plus) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS Plus])

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 2022–23 Departmental Plan, government-wide priorities are the high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2021 Speech from the Throne: protecting Canadians from COVID-19; helping Canadians through the pandemic; building back better – a resiliency agenda for the middle class; the Canada we’re fighting for.

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.

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 a department and that focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)

An inventory of a department’s programs that describes how resources are organized to carry out the department’s core responsibilities and achieve its planned 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.

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