ARCHIVED - Law Commission of Canada

I submit for tabling in Parliament, the 2006–2007 Departmental Performance Report for the Law Commission of Canada.

This document has been prepared based on the reporting principles contained in the Guide for the Preparation of Part III of the 2006–2007 Estimates: Reports on Plans and Priorities and Departmental Performance Reports:

• It adheres to the specific reporting requirements outlined in the Treasury Board Secretariat guidance;
• It is based on the Commission's approved Strategic Outcome and Program Activity Architecture that were approved by the Treasury Board;
• It presents consistent, comprehensive, balanced and reliable information; 
• It provides a basis of accountability for the results achieved with the resources and authorities entrusted to it; and
• It reports finances based on approved numbers from the Estimates and the Public Accounts of Canada.

2006–2007

Planned
11

Actual
7

Difference
4

• Canadian law that reflects the needs and values of Canadians, and is relevant, responsive, effective, equally accessible to all and just.

• In Search of Security: The Future of Policing in Canada
• What is a Crime?

• Stimulate debate in the government, the media, in other policy forums and in policing institutions about the role of private security agencies and how they should be regulated, identify the need for better communication and partnerships among the police and private security agencies and recommend steps to make this happen.
• Provide policy makers with a framework that can be used to assess the consequences of choosing criminal law and other intervention strategies in response to unwanted behaviour.

• Improve strategic plans to engage Canadians in the law reform process
• Review and improve the engagement of youth in debates around law reform
• Prepare a strategy to improve linkages to the media to increase awareness of law reform
• Host roundtables on exploratory topics
• Issue a discussion paper accompanied by a documentary video and background paper on Indigenous Legal Traditions
• Prepare a plain language brochure on Globalization and Law
• Hold consultation events for Indigenous Legal Traditions, Globalization and Law, Vulnerable Workers and Age and Law

• Provide a framework for creating space and recognition for Indigenous legal traditions in Canada
• Explore new tools of governance to enhance democracy, transparency and accountability given the increasing interdependency of countries and the greater influence of actors other than national governments
• Provide recommendations to ensure adequate and appropriate support for the promotion of economic security of those engaged in work in the broad sense of the term
• Provide a framework to support healthy intergenerational relationships by verifying if age is the best criterion in each instance to provide benefits or impose restrictions in law

• Research issues arising from consultations on Age and Law and The Vulnerable Worker
• Research a variety of exploratory topics such as privacy, risk, economic and social rights, right to communication, cultural diversity and access to justice
• Disseminate research generated by previous research activities
• Collaborate with the Hague Institute for the Internationalisation of Law on work related to Globalization and Law
• Continue partnership programs piloted in 2005 with the Canadian Bar Association

Actual

Difference

• N/A

• Publish a discussion paper that will develop a broader framework for understanding and respecting Indigenous legal traditions, including the issue of institutional change, the capacity of Canadian governments and society to address it, and the choice of tools to effect this change.
• Consult broadly with stakeholders and produce a report in 2007-2008.

• The Métis National Council (MNC) and LCC co-hosted the national symposium on Crown-Métis Relations in February, 2006.  The following four areas were addressed at the symposium: whether the Métis people “Indians” within section 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867; the doctrine of inter-jurisdictional immunity and the aboriginal rights of the Métis; moving forward on the Métis self-government agenda; and, Métis identification and citizenship.
• On March 1-3, 2006, the University of Regina hosted a national conference on the challenges and issues of Aboriginal justice. The Law Commission of Canada's Bruno Bonneville spoke about the LCC sponsored project Indigenous Legal Traditions.

• Engage Canadians in a critical debate of how to improve democracy and justice in a globalized world. Activities will include:
• • The Biennial Conference of the International Law Association;
  • The Canadian Legal Conference of the Canadian Bar Association;
  • Meetings with non-governmental organizations, officials of federal and sub-national governments, Parliamentarians, legal practitioners and others.
• Conduct research to determine appropriate roles for entities in international law-making and to explore the extraterritorial application of law.

• Following the Commission's release last year, in of March, 2006, of a discussion paper titled Crossing Borders: Law in a Globalized World, a roundtable was hosted on June 8, 2006 on Canadian law in a globalized world and the issues raised in Crossing Borders: Law in a Globalized World.  The consultation document set out the issues and sought input on the ways in which legal reforms could enhance the ability of the domestic legal system to respond effectively to the opportunities and complex challenges that globalization presents. 

The Commission is studying the ways in which the law allows people to attain economic security or the manner in which it impedes them in achieving this security.  The law plays an important role in determining the types of work that are recognized, valued and rewarded, as well as those that are downgraded, poorly regarded and prohibited.

In 2004-2005, the Commission published a discussion paper titled Is Work Working? Work Laws That Do A Better Job, which engages Canadians on whether and how the law should evolve to recognize and value non-standard work arrangements and protect vulnerable workers.

This project will provide a useful framework for evaluating the various policy and regulatory options available in order to ensure adequate and appropriate support for the promotion of economic security of those engaged in work in the broad sense of the term.

In 2006-2007, the Commission will conduct additional research and continue to consult with Canadians, with a view to producing a report in 2007-2008.

• N/A

As a result of property-related provisions in the Indian Act, people living on reserves are unable to use their property to secure loans.  The Commission to explore solutions to this situation, which creates a systemic barrier to the management of personal fiannces.

This project will provide recommendations to address the issue of equitable access to financial resources for those living on reserves.

With its existing research, in 2006-2007, the Commission will consult with experts in the area about proposed viable solutions with a view to producing a report in 2007-2008.

• N/A

Over the past two decades, there has been a gradual loosening of the connection between policing and the state.  Today, the state remains a significant player in the delivery and regulation of policing, but there is now a range of private policing organizations that are actively engaged in maintaining order, as well as investigating and preventing crime in public spaces.

The Commission is exploring the complex relationships that are emerging between public police and private security agencies in Canada.  The Report to Parliament will identify the need for better communication and partnerships among the police and private security agencies, and will make recommendations to address this need.

In 2006-2007, the Report In Search of Security: The Future of Policing in Canada will be tabled in Parliament.

The Commission will follow up on the report by discussing with interested stakeholders its recommendations.

• In 2006, a report entitled: In Search of Security: The Future of Policing in Canada was submitted to Parliament.  The report examines the emergence of networks of policing in Canadian society and recommends changes to the legal and policy environment to reflect this new reality.

The Commission will examine how other customary practices and traditions co-exist with the formal legal system, and the extent to which they can be accommodated in keeping with the values of human rights, equality, freedom of religion and multiculturalism.

This project seeks to provide a systematic framework to address the accommodation and integration of customary and traditional practices within the Canadian legal system.

• In 2006, a paper jointly commissioned by the Community Foundations of Canada and the Law Commission of Canada entitled: Unsettled: Legal and Policy Barriers for Newcomers to Canada was published.  The aim of the paper is to highlight legal and policy barriers to the successful settlement of immigrants and refugees to Canada, and how these can be overcome.

The objective of this project is to understand the reasons why certain patterns of behaviour are identified under the concept of crime and to examine the impacts of such a concept on personal, social, economic and governance relationships by assessing the various options available for regulating undesirable behaviour.

The aim of this project is to provide policy makers with a framework that can be used to assess the consequences of choosing the criminal law and other intervention strategies as a response to unwanted behaviour.

• Continue consultations with stakeholders;
• Consolidate current research and produce a Report to Parliament.
• Exploration of new topics:
• • Access to justice;
  • Risk;
  • Economic and social rights;
  • Cultural diversity;
  • Privacy;
  • Barriers to immigration settlement; and
  • Right to communicate.

• N/A

Total Commission

Denis Pelchat
Senior Financial full-time Officer
Ottawa, Canada

June 22, 2007

2,042,852

3,458,523

• Vacation pay is expensed as the benefits accrue to employees under their respective terms of employment.
• Services received without charge by other government departments for accommodation and the employer's contribution to the health and dental insurance plans are recorded as operating expenses at their estimated cost.

Pension benefits

• Eligible employees participate in the Public Service Pension Plan, a multiemployer plan administered by the Government of Canada.  The Commission's contributions to the Plan are charged to expenses in the year incurred and represent the total Commission obligation to the Plan.  Current legislation does not require the Commission to make contributions for any actuarial deficiencies of the Plan.

Severance benefits

• Employees are entitled to severance benefits under collective agreements or conditions of employment.  These benefits are accrued as employees render the services necessary to earn them.  The obligation relating to the benefits earned by employees is calculated using information derived from the results of the actuarially determined liability for employee severance benefits for the Government as a whole.