Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada - Report

Commissioner’s Message

As Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs, I am pleased to present the Office’s Departmental Performance Report for 2014-15. The Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada was created in 1978 under the Judges Act to provide support and services to the federal judiciary and to promote judicial independence. An independent and effective judiciary is fundamental to our system of justice and I am proud of the role our office plays in supporting that goal.

During the past year, our office continued to provide high quality services to 1,179 federally appointed judges, as well as close to 929 pensioners and survivors. We also provided support and administrative services to the Canadian Judicial Council and its committees, and, at the request of the Minister of Justice, we provided administrative support to the judicial appointments process.

The following pages describe the activities undertaken in 2014-15 in furtherance of our mandate and particular steps that we have taken to improve and enhance the services we provide. These include a comprehensive review of all our services and business processes, an assessment of the controls in place, and ongoing improvements to information management and technology.

I wish to thank all of our staff for their excellent work during the year. Our success depends upon their dedication and professionalism.

William A. Brooks
Commissioner

SECTION I – ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW

Organizational Profile

Minister: The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould, M.P.

The Honourable Peter MacKay, P.C., M.P. (responsible Minister for 2014-15)

Deputy Head: William A. Brooks, Commissioner

Ministerial Portfolio: Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Main Legislative Authorities: Judges Act

The Minister has sole responsibility to Parliament for the following Act:

Judges Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. J-1), December 2012

Year established: 1978

Website: http://www.fja-cmf.gc.ca

Other:
Information about the Canadian Judicial Council, its mandate and programs are found at the Council's website: http://www.cjc-ccm.gc.ca

The Executive Summary of the 2011 Client Satisfaction Survey can be found at FJA's website

Public Accounts of Canada 2015

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Organizational Context

Raison d'être

The Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs (FJA) provides services to the Canadian judiciary and promotes judicial independence. The Minister of Justice is responsible for this organization.

Mission Statement

To provide excellent services and support to the federal judiciary in a manner that promotes the independence of the judiciary and the confidence of Canadians in our judicial system.

Responsibilities

Section 73 of the Judges Act establishes the office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada. Section 74 sets out the duties and functions of the Commissioner.

The Commissioner:

Administers Part I of the Judges Act , including the administration of salaries, allowances and annuities of judges of the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court, the Tax Court of Canada and federally appointed judges of provincial and territorial superior courts;
Prepares budgetary submissions and provides administrative support and services to the Canadian Judicial Council;
Performs such other duties as the Minister of Justice may require in connection with any matters falling, by law, within the Minister's responsibilities for the proper functioning of the judicial system in Canada. These include: the operation of the Judicial Appointments Secretariat; support to the Supreme Court of Canada appointments process; publication of the Federal Courts Reports; the provision of language training to judges; the coordination of judicial international cooperation activities; and support to the Judicial Compensation and Benefits Commission.

Strategic Outcome and Program Alignment Architecture

Strategic Outcome:

1.1 Program:

Judges Act

1.2 Program:

1.3 Program:

1.3.1 Sub-Program:

1.3.2 Sub-Program:

1.3.3 Sub-Program:

1.3.4 Sub-Program:

1.3.5 Sub-Program:

Internal Services

FJA seeks to deliver high-quality services to the Canadian Judiciary in a manner which supports and promotes judicial independence. In this regard, FJA contributes to the following strategic outcome: An independent and efficient federal judiciary.

Organizational Priorities

Priority	Type	Strategic Outcome(s) [and/or] Program(s)
Improved Financial Control Framework A robust internal financial control and monitoring program to ensure compliance with legal and policy requirements.	New	Federal Judicial Affairs
Summary of Progress
In 2014-15, consultants were engaged to review and enhance existing financial control and established monitoring mechanisms. FJA continued to ensure consistent and proper application of policies and administration of payments and allowances in order to maintain public confidence in the judiciary.
Priority	Type	Strategic Outcome(s) [and/or] Program(s)
Improved performance reporting. Establish more systematic processes to measure and report achievement of service standards and program performance indicators.	Previously committed to	An independent and efficient federal judiciary (all programs)
Summary of Progress
FJA continued to maintain rigorous and ongoing monitoring processes to assess the extent to which FJA is meeting its service standards and to measure performance. This information supported efficient use of resources and FJA decision-making. The next step will be to further refine existing performance indicators and targets, establish processes to measure performance, monitor results, and update the Performance Measurement Framework (PMF) of record.

Priority	Type	Strategic Outcome(s) [and/or] Program(s)
Human resources and succession planning. Provide knowledge transfer for key positions in the organization where departures are anticipated in the next 2-3 years.	New	An independent and efficient federal judiciary (all programs)
Summary of Progress
Given its small size, FJA has a small group of expert managers and key staff. The departure or retirement of senior managers and key staff can create a major risk for the organization given the specialized knowledge required to deliver FJA services and programs. FJA identified key positions at risk. FJA continued to document processes and procedures related to the activities of these positions. The next step is to review competencies required of each position, to develop staffing/recruitment strategies for each position, and prepare development/learning programs for new staff to acquire skills and transfer knowledge from existing incumbents.

Priority	Type	Strategic Outcome(s) [and/or] Program(s)
Information management. The management, retention and distribution of FJA information used in support of the delivery of services to the Canadian judiciary.	Previously committed to	Federal Judicial Affairs
Summary of Progress
FJA has continued to implement the Management Action Plan of the Office of the Comptroller General Horizontal Audit on Electronic Record Keeping. Specific actions included updating the information architecture, revising the existing file structures, identifying retention periods and security requirements for Information Resources of Business Value, undertaking a clean-up exercise of legacy information holdings in preparation for the eventual migration to GCDOCS.

Risk Analysis

Key Risks

Risk	Risk Response Strategy	Link to Program Alignment Architecture
Maintaining a high level of support and services to judges in a manner that supports and promotes judicial independence in the context of government-wide centralization of common services and shared services.	The Judges Act establishes a regime of salaries, allowances and annuities unique to federally appointed judges and which is administered by the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs. The ongoing government wide initiative to centralize common services and shared services has resulted in consideration of a transfer from FJA to a common service agency of some of the administration of these core services. Discussions are ongoing with central agencies to explain the mandate of FJA and how this initiative may impact judicial independence as well as service levels to judges.	An independent and efficient federal judiciary Payments pursuant to the Judges Act
Errors (e.g., payments, vacancies lists, procurement).	Challenges of administering the unique regime in the Judges Act include ensuring a correct interpretation of the Act and consistency and accuracy in a high volume of transactions environment. Current strategies to minimize risk are 100% verification of transactions, use of technology to assist in processing payments, staff training, and regular reviews of internal controls.	An independent and efficient federal judiciary Payments pursuant to the Judges Act Internal services
Renewal of legacy systems being phased out.	Once pay and pension modernization are completed government-wide, PWGSC will no longer be able to support the Judges Annuitant System. PWGSC earmarked funding for developmental costs towards a new system, and will continue to support FJA until a new solution is finalized.	An independent and efficient federal judiciary Payments pursuant to the Judges Act

The Government has initiatives in place for pay modernization, consolidation of pay services, and pension modernization. These initiatives include consideration of a proposal that FJA transfer pay and pension administration for judges to common service agencies. Consideration of such a proposal must take into account the primary mission of FJA to protect the independence of the federal judiciary in order to maintain the confidence of Canadians in our judicial system. FJA is therefore pursuing a range of initiatives to ensure the renewal of legacy systems and alignment with government-wide processes and systems, both in terms of services provided to judges as well as controls to ensure the proper application of policies and rules governing the payment of judges' salaries, allowances, benefits and annuities.

Actual Expenditures

**Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)**
2014–15 Main Estimates	2014–15 Planned Spending	2014–15 Total Authorities Available for Use	2014–15 Actual Spending (authorities used)	Difference (actual minus planned)
511,708,846	511,708,846	518,895,103	517,620,426	5,911,580

**Human Resources (Full-Time Equivalents [FTEs])**
2014–15 Planned	2014–15 Actual	2014–15 Difference (actual minus planned)
66	63	(3)

**Budgetary Performance Summary for Strategic Outcome and Programs (dollars)**
Strategic Outcome(s), Program(s) and Internal Services	2014–15 Main Estimates	2014–15 Planned Spending	2015–16 Planned Spending	2016–17 Planned Spending	2014–15 Total Authorities Available for Use	2014–15 Actual Spending (authorities used)	2013–14 Actual Spending (authorities used)	2012–13 Actual Spending (authorities used)
Strategic Outcome: An independent and efficient federal judiciary.
Payments Pursuant to the Judges Act	500,885,033	500,885,033	514,430,443	528,225,162	505,689,613	505,689,613	490,350,437	474,217,220
Canadian Judicial Council	1,642,565	1,642,565	1,642,565	1,642,565	3,359,324	3,073,719	1,681,809	1,657,597
Federal Judicial Affairs	8,454,448	8,454,448	7,754,448	7,754,448	9,119,362	8,130,290	8,455,757	8,352,983
Subtotal	510,982,046	510,982,046	523,827,456	537,622,175	518,168,299	516,893,622	500,488,003	484,227,800
Internal Services Subtotal	726,800	726,800	726,800	726,800	726,804	726,804	854,278	874,800
Total	511,708,846	511,708,846	524,554,256	538,348,975	518,895,103	517,620,426	501,342,281	485,102,600

The actual spending for the department shows a continual increase over the reporting periods resulting from: an increase in funding to the Canadian Judicial Council for the costs of investigations and inquiries under the Judges Act; the annual increase in judges’ salaries based on the Industrial Aggregate as provided for in the Judges Act; and an increase in the number of judges appointed to the bench and the number of pensioners receiving benefits under the Judges Act.

Alignment of Spending With the Whole-of-Government Framework

**Alignment of 2014-15 Actual Spending With the Whole-of-Government Framework (dollars)**
Strategic Outcome	Program	Spending Area	Government of Canada Outcome	2014-15 Actual Spending
An independent and efficient federal judiciary.	1.1 Payments pursuant to the Judges Act	Social affairs	A safe and secure Canada	505,689,613
	1.2 Canadian Judicial Council	Social affairs	A safe and secure Canada	3,073,719
	1.3 Federal Judicial Affairs	Social affairs	A safe and secure Canada	8,130,290

**Total Spending by Spending Area (dollars)**
Spending Area	Total Planned Spending	Total Actual Spending
Social Affairs	510,982,046	516,893,622

Departmental Spending Trend

Expenditure Profile

The spending is closely aligned with the Main Estimates and planned spending for 2014-15. The $5.9M variance between the total planned and actual spending is mainly attributable to an overall $4.8 million increase in statutory expenditures for judge’s salaries, the increased number of judicial appointments and the increased number of pensioners. An additional $1.1 million represents an increase to department’ operating expenses related to legal obligations.

Estimates by Vote

For information on the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs' organizational Votes and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada 2015 on the Public Works and Government Services Canada website.