ARCHIVED - RPP 2007-2008
Department of Justice Canada

• Previous Page
• Table of Contents
• Next Page

This page has been archived.

SECTION II – ANALYSIS OF PROGRAM ACTIVITIES BY STRATEGIC OUTCOMES

Strategic Outcome I: A fair, relevant and accessible justice system that reflects Canadian values

Expected results²:

• Responding to evolving legal framework;
• Policies and laws are developed in response to identified needs and gaps and are integrated with Government priorities and commitments; and
• Programs are developed and implemented in response to identified needs and gaps and are integrated with Government priorities and commitments.

Program activities in support of the strategic outcome:

A1 - Developing policies and laws

Financial resources ($ millions)
2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
44.2	38.7	38.6
Human Resources (in Full-time Equivalents)
219	221	221

A2 - Developing and implementing programs

Financial resources ($ millions)
2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
385.5	369.2	368.8
Human Resources (in Full-time Equivalents)
144	144	144

A3 - Office of Victims Ombudsman

Financial resources ($ millions)
2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
1.5	1.5	1.5
Human Resources (in Full-time Equivalents)3
9	9	9

² Results from individual program and initiative areas are aggregated to demonstrate performance against expected results for Strategic Outcome I.
³ The resources numbers include the percentage of costs of common services apportioned to each program activity.

 

Part A: Strategic overview – Delivering on priorities

Priority I – Protecting Canadian communities:

Canadians rely on the justice system to provide an independent and impartial forum for resolving disputes. To serve Canadians in all our diversity, the system must be fair, relevant and accessible. The administration of justice is an area of shared jurisdiction with the provinces and territories. Within this structure, the Department is responsible for developing policies and legislation to strengthen our bilingual and bijural national legal framework. The provinces in turn are responsible for the day-to-day administration of justice. The Department works with others in the justice system to make sure it reflects our shared values by treating everyone equitably and respecting their rights and the diversity of our civil and common law traditions.

The effectiveness of the administration of justice depends on close cooperation with provinces and territories, both in policy development and in allocating the cost of providing services to Canadians — youth justice services, legal aid, public legal education and information, family justice, the access to justice in both official languages and other programs to improve or maintain access to the justice system. For the most part, the Department does not deliver programs and services directly to the Canadian public⁴. Instead, it provides funding to assist the provinces and territories in delivering justice-related programs that fall within their areas of constitutional jurisdiction. In this context, transfer payments to provinces, territories and community-based organizations represent approximately 53 percent of the Department's total spending. Most of this funding (about 69 percent of the transfer payments or 36 percent of the total planned spending) is for two large contribution programs to support citizen access to provincial and territorial legal aid programs and to support youth justice services administered by the provinces and territories. Additionally, the Department provides a range of smaller grants and contributions to provinces, territories and community organizations, including official language minority communities, to support the delivery or testing of new approaches to justice-related programs and services.

An effective justice system is one that is responsive. In this vein, the application of international law to domestic law has assumed a huge presence on the Canadian legal landscape, and several themes emanating from the Speech from the Throne signal the continued importance of international law issues: strengthen our federation as well as our role in the world; open federalism; facilitate provincial participation in the development of Canadian positions that affect areas of provincial responsibility; and build stronger multilateral and bilateral relationships.

⁴ Services that are delivered directly to the Canadian public are as follows: processing of access requests filed under the Access to Information Act, the Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance services, Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings services, and the Garnishment, Attachment and Pension Diversion Registry service.

Figure 1 below illustrates the planned activities for 2007-08 in support of this priority.

Figure 1

Public Law: Assess the impact of international human rights instruments on domestic legislation policy, and assist in the negotiation and development of Canada's position on the signature and ratification of new international human rights instruments; Consult with provinces on the development of Canadian positions that affect areas of provincial responsibility, and negotiating international private law instruments; and Identify Canada's international trade and investment law rights and obligations, assess their impact on domestic law and policies, and implement the Government's ambitious negotiation mandate vis a vis international trade and investment. Legal Aid: Support work of federal-provincial-territorial (FPT) committees and working groups in relation to legal aid issues, such as legal aid cost sharing, reporting and court-ordered counsel; Renew and implement agreements respecting legal aid with the provinces and territories; and Undertake two audits of Legal Aid funding agreements. Family Justice: Continue to collaborate with provinces and territories as well as international partners to develop appropriate policy and program tools for the family justice system, including renewal of the current strategy; and Support provinces and territories in the delivery of family justice services through the negotiation of agreements under the Child-Centred Family Justice Fund. Aboriginal Justice: Implement a renewed Aboriginal Justice Strategy that involves consulting with and negotiating agreements with provinces, territories, Aboriginal communities and organizations; and Renew Aboriginal Courtwork Program terms and conditions, negotiate new funding arrangements to support Aboriginal Courtwork services in participating provinces and undertake a summative evaluation of the Program. Youth Justice: Analyse and develop options for legislative reform to strengthen the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), specifically by reviewing pre-trial detention law, policies and evaluation of the YCJA; and Negotiate new funding arrangements with provinces and territories for the Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision (IRCS) Program. Victims of Crime: Continue to implement existing programs such as the Victims Fund; Support the development and enhancement of support and services to victims of crime through the Victims Fund; Continue to work with the FPT Working Group on Victims of Crime and other partners to identify and respond to existing and emerging victim issues; Establish new policies and programs within federal jurisdiction to increase access to the justice system and victim services for victims; Formative evaluation of the Federal Victim Strategy*;  and Establish Office of Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime in order to support: raising awareness of the needs and concerns of victims in areas of federal responsibility; providing an independent resource that addresses complaints of victims about compliance with the provisions of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act that apply to victims of offenders under federal supervision; and assisting victims to access existing federal programs and services. Access to Justice in Both Official Language Improve the implementation of the language provisions of the Criminal Code (sections 530 et al.); and Improve the active offer of legal and judicial services in both official languages.

* Previously referred to as the Victims of Crime Initiative

Priority II – Protecting Canadian communities:

Protecting Canadian families and communities is a cornerstone of the Government's justice agenda and thus, a key priority for the Department. The initiatives put forward in the last few months—criminal legislative reforms, plans for effective gun control, and investments in safety and security—will help strengthen the justice system and make it more effective.

In supporting the priority of protecting Canadian communities, through the development of policies and laws, the development and implementation of programs and supporting rigorous evaluation requirements, the department is committed to delivering results to Canadians as illustrated in the box below in Figure 2.

Figure 2

International: Negotiation of international criminal law and criminal justice instruments; Implementation of commitments flowing from international criminal law and criminal justice instruments, e.g. terrorism, corruption and transnational organized crime; and Reporting on Canadian implementation efforts and evaluating the implementation efforts of other countries. Safety and security: Participation in Government of Canada activities in support of safety and security, e.g. the coordination of the preparation of the Government response to Parliamentary recommendations on the Anti-terrorism Act; Summative evaluation for the DoJ component of the Public Safety and Anti-Terrorism Initiative; Updating federal legislation, in particular the Criminal Code, in order to deal with the challenges of new telecommunications technologies, including the Internet; and Developing legislation that provides more effective sentences for serious offences. Youth Justice: Implementation of a new Youth Crime Prevention Strategy with a focus on gangs, guns and drugs.

 

Part B: How we will measure our performance under this strategic outcome:

The Department approaches performance measurement from two interrelated perspectives⁵. First, there are those measures that are aimed at tracking performance of activities and outputs over which the Department has direct control and is directly accountable. Workload indicators such as files opened and closed, hours logged, etc, are examples of these types of measures.

The second level of measures relate to the results of our activities over which we exercise influence. That is to say that while we cannot control the results of the activities, we do have some level of influence over the extent to which the results can be achieved. However, there are other identifiable groups who also either have influence or control over those results. Consequently, accountability for those results is shared. By way of illustration, two examples of this type of measure are the number of people receiving assistance from provincial legal aid programs, and client feedback on the timeliness, utility and responsiveness of legal services provided by the Department of Justice.

In a similar vein, the Department monitors broader societal trends over which it may exert some level of influence. Examples of such trends which the Department is tracking include:

• Victimization rates
• Incarceration rates
• Crime rates
• Overall confidence in the justice system⁶

The Department is interested in measures related to both control and influence. Our interest in the first type of performance measures is aligned with our direct accountabilities, i.e. effective stewardship of Government resources. Our interest in the second type (i.e., results over which we have at best some level of shared accountability with others), revolves around our desire to identify areas where we may want to try to enhance the level of influence we can bring to bear through a variety of management actions, or alternatively, to identify areas where we are apparently unable to exercise influence and thus possibly rethink our continued involvement.

The Department also undertakes periodic evaluations in order to determine the extent to which programs, policies and initiatives are relevant, operating effectively and achieving anticipated impacts. For a listing of evaluations which will be initiated or completed during fiscal year 2007-2008, please refer to Table 9, Section III Ð Supplementary Information, of this report.

In Figure 3, the reader will find a listing of the results the Department will be tracking in support of the achievement of the two priorities for the fiscal year 2007-2008⁷.

Figure 3

Priority I: Effective and accessible justice system
Expected Results	Data Sources
The justice system is more responsive to the needs of Aboriginal people	Departmental Files – Annually
More effective criminal law, responsive to theneeds and values of Canadians and consistent with the Charter	Departmental Files – Annually
Encourage effective rehabilitation and reintegration of young persons in their communities	Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics – Annually
Alternative youth justice approaches are developed and used by the youth justice system	Departmental Files – Annually
Increased access by victims to the criminal justice system and to programs/services and assistance available to them	Departmental Files – Annually Evaluation studies – 3-5 years
Justice system is more responsive to the needs of children and families undergoing separation and divorce	Departmental Files – Annually Evaluation studies – 3-5 years
Increased use of family justice services by parents and children	Departmental Files – Annually
Justice system more accessible to official language minority communities	Feedback from partners – Annually Evaluation study – 5 years
Justice system is accessible to economically disadvantaged Canadians involved in serious legal matters	Departmental Files – Annually Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics – Annually
Legal aid services provided to economically disadvantaged persons in serious criminal matters	Departmental Files – Annually Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics – Annually

Priority II: Protecting Canadian communities
Expected Results	Data Sources
Reduced victimization of children and vulnerable groups	Departmental Files – Annually General Social Survey, Statistics Canada – Every 5 years
Reduced victimization, crime and incarceration among Aboriginal communities	Feedback from Partners – Annually Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics – Annually

⁵ Concepts of control and influence as reflected in this sectionwere adapted from material developed by Principals at the Performance Management Network http://soc.kuleuven.be/pol/io/egpa/qual/ljubljana/Valovirta%20Uusikila_paper.pdf. For further reading on this subject, the reader is directed to the following sites: DISCUSSION PAPER: Addressing Attribution Through Contribution Analysis: Using Performance Measures Sensibly, John Mayne, Office of the Auditor General of Canada, 1999, http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/domino/other.nsf/html/99menu5e.html#discussion.

⁶ If the reader is interested in detailed analysis of these types of trends, they are invited to visit the Statistics Canada website where the rigorous results of many studies, including the General Social Survey provide in-depth analysis of social factors, including crime and victimization rates (http://cansim2.statcan.ca/cgi-win/cnsmcgi.pgm?Lang=E&ResultTemplate=Srch2&CORCmd=GetTList&CORId=2693). As well, the reader is directed to the TBS website which includes "Canada's Performance" report, which tracks high level societal indicators (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/report/govrev/06/cp-rc-eng.asp).

⁷ For detailed information regarding spending for the Transfer Payment Programs, please refer to Table 6. Details on Transfer Payments Programs in Section III — Supplementary Information of this document. More details are also available on the TBS website TPP database at (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/rpp/2007-2008/menu-fra.asp).

 

Strategic Outcome II: A federal government that is supported by effective and responsive legal services

Expected Results⁸:

• High quality legal services and respect for the rule of law; and
• Legal risk is anticipated, mitigated and effectively managed

Program Activities in support of strategic outcome:

B 1 - Providing legal advisory, litigation and legislative services to government

Financial resources ($ millions)
2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
286.5	283.8	276.5

Human Resources (in Full-time Equivalents)
2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
3768	3776	3776

⁸ Results from the indicators listed in Part B are aggregated to demonstrate performance against expected results for Strategic Outcome II.

The resources numbers include the percentage of costs of common services apportioned to each program activity

 

Part A: Strategic overview – Delivering on priorities

Priority III – Supporting other government departments and agencies in achieving Government of Canada priorities

Under the Department of Justice Act, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General provides legal services to the federal government and its departments and agencies, including the provision of legal advice, the conduct of litigation, the drafting of legislation and the preparation of legal documents.

The Department of Justice is one of a number of key federal organizations that support all Government of Canada outcomes by providing common services to government departments and agencies⁹ and as such, the Department's priority is to help Government achieve its priorities in delivering results for Canadians.

Facilitating departments and agencies in the delivery of government priorities creates a distinct context for planning, setting priorities and measuring performance. The Department works with our clients to develop and advance their priorities, providing legal services that are responsive, timely and effective. Excellence in service delivery is critical, especially in the context of the consistent growth in both the complexity and the demand for legal services. This factor, viewed as a challenge across government, is felt acutely both by the Department of Justice and by the departments and agencies to whom we provide services. Some of the drivers for this demand include the growth of class action proceedings against the Crown and the ongoing rapid development of international and aboriginal law.

The elements below concretely illustrate how we carry out our on-going work while ensuring that we have the capacity and flexibility to react to a changing environment and government agenda.

How we are organized to support the work under this strategic outcome

Portfolios:

There are five portfolio organizations that have functional responsibility for and provide leadership with respect to all litigation and advisory services that the Department provides to client departments and agencies. Their goal is to provide high-quality and cost-efficient legal services to their clients while also carrying out their central agency responsibilities for Justice. The portfolios are Aboriginal Affairs; Tax Law; Citizenship, Immigration and Public Safety (which serves the RCMP, CSIS, Correctional Services, National Parole Board and Canada Border Services Agency); Central Agencies (serving the Department of Finance, the Treasury Board and the Public Service Commission, among others); and Business and Regulatory Law (serving 23 government clients, ranging from Health Canada to the Competition Bureau), and the Justice Portfolio. The portfolio organizations work to ensure the national consistency of positions on important points of law, and in the policies and practices developed across the federal government.

Within the portfolio organizations, a significant proportion of the Department's counsel are assigned to departmental legal services units (DLSUs), which are co-located with client departments and agencies and in six regions. LSUs provide legal advice to their clients with respect to their powers and duties, and ensure that the conduct of their affairs are in accordance with the law. In doing so, LSUs also provide advice with respect to the statutes and regulations that apply to the Government of Canada, and strategic advice concerning policy development and other initiatives.¹⁰

⁹ See "Canada's Performance 2006: The Government of Canada's Contribution – Annual Report to Parliament", http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/report/govrev/06/cp-rc-eng.asp.

Regional Offices:

Six regional offices—serving the North, British Columbia, the Prairies, Ontario, Quebec, and the Atlantic provinces—support the portfolio structure by serving clients and handling litigation and legal advisory work locally. About half the Department's staff work in regional offices.

Regional staff are responsible for effectively managing a large volume of litigation and advisory services on behalf of client departments. They work closely with their portfolio and policy colleagues to handle complex, high-profile cases. The creation of the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) has a significant impact on the way work is carried out in the regions. All regional offices will be supporting the transfer of staff, and other logistical and operational changes that are effective April 1^st, 2007.

Staff at regional offices, along with those at headquarters in Ottawa, form the national network of Justice counsel who serve as the Government's law firm. Figures 4 and 5 below provide two examples of how the Department, through the portfolio structure and regional network, is able to support government departments and agencies in achieving Government priorities.

Figure 4

Tax Law Services The Tax Law Services (TLS) Portfolio supports the priorities of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Tax Law Services Portfolio counsel at headquarters and in the regions are intensifying their national strategic approaches to align with their client's priorities, the Canada Revenue Agency. For example, growth in international law has resulted in a focus amongst tax administrations internationally to detect and shut down abusive tax schemes. The Portfolio is continually strengthening its capacity to respond to the Agency's new audit strategies that ensure taxpayers meet their obligations. Counsel in the regional offices, in particular those regions with multiple centres, including the Atlantic, Quebec, Prairies, and B.C. will be focussed on supporting the multidisciplinary teams at the Tax Services Offices of CRA.

Figure 5

Aboriginal Affairs Portfolio The Aboriginal Affairs Portfolio supports the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs and Northern Development, the Office of Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada and all other government departments that maintain policies, programs and services targeted to Aboriginal client groups across Canada. The Portfolio provides legal advice to federal government departments on a wide spectrum of Aboriginal law issues including Aboriginal rights and title; duty to consult; treaty rights; the fiduciary relationship of the Crown with Aboriginal people; and constitutional Charter issues relating to Aboriginal law. The network of regional offices also works closely with the Portfolio to support government departments, however, each office deals with its own unique context in terms of the Aboriginal population and Aboriginal issues specific to their region. These may be demographic in nature or issue specific such as the Resolution of Indian Residential Schools Claims in the Prairies. Issues may cut across a number of provinces and territories and require strong coordination between the Regional Offices. One example is the support for the McKenzie Gas and other Pipelines which, over the next fiscal year, will involve the B.C. Regional Office, the Prairie Regional Office and the Northern Regional Office.

Special Branches:

Several specialized branches complement the provision of legal services to clients:

a) The Legislative Services Branch provides drafting, revision and advisory services to the Government for both bills and regulations to establish and maintain the legislative framework for government policies and programs. Bills introduced in Parliament – and regulations made by the Governor in Council and other delegates – must address the subject matter in both English and French and respect the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Bill of Rights along with other laws. As well, bills and regulations must reflect Canada's common law and civil law traditions where appropriate. The Branch is also responsible for the publication of federal laws, notably an electronic consolidation of Acts and regulations that is available on the Internet. During 2007-2008, the Branch will focus on supporting the Government's legislative agenda as well as developing and implementing Smart Regulation proposals involving the application of the Statutory Instruments Act, the revision of regulations and the format for printing legislative texts. It will also oversee the completion of the review and potential re-enactment of legislative instruments under the Legislative Instruments Re-enactment Act and continue to advance the harmonization of federal legislation with the civil law of Quebec.

b) The Public Law Sector (PLS) is made up of a number of specialized legal advisory and policy sections. It comprises experts on human rights law, constitutional and administrative law, information law and privacy, aviation law, trade law, public international law, private international law, judicial affairs, and public law policy. The various sections combined are a core resource for the Department, offering highly specialized legal policy expertise and assisting the Department in fulfilling its central agency role as coordinator of legal advice across government.

The Public Law Sector also provides extensive support to the Government in the development of national and international policies, laws, and other instruments. This support includes policy development and legal advisory services on issues specific to the Justice portfolio as well as legal advisory services to client departments engaged in the development of legislation and policies across government.

In 2007-2008, the Government's policy agenda in relation to accountability, security, parole reform and democratic renewal will require extensive advisory and legal policy support from PLS in relation to: access to information and privacy reform; addressing the issue of racial profiling under the auspices of Canada's action plan against racism; initiatives aimed at enhancing the justice system and strengthening national security; parole reform; and, ways to enhance democratic participation.

c) The Litigation Branch has functional responsibility over litigation involving the Government of Canada in the common law provinces and territories.

The establishment of the PPSC had implications for the functions carried out by the Branch. The Branch formerly responsible for civil litigation matters is now comprised of the Civil Litigation Division and the Criminal Litigation Division. The Branch's new organization now includes the following:

• The Civil Litigation Section, which along with its counterparts in the Regional Offices, is responsible for the conduct of all litigation by or against the federal government, except tax and criminal litigation.
• The Management of Class Actions and Mass Litigation Unit manages horizontal issues associated with class and mass litigation. The Unit is responsible for the development and promotion of strategies to ensure uniform practices and tactics across the country in defending class actions and mass litigation.
• The National Security Group provides legal advice on national security and intelligence matters stemming from the amendments to the Canada Evidence Act, Criminal Code and Security of Information Act which formed part of the C-36 package, the Anti-terrorism Act.
• The International Assistance Group supports the Minister as Attorney General of Canada on extradition and mutual assistance matters. This work involves close liaison with government and law enforcement authorities abroad and in Canada.
• The Strategic Operations Unit which supports Canada's participation in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) the international body responsible for setting anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing standards of which Canada is an active participant.
• The Office of Legal Risk Management (LRM) provides the key point of contact on legal risk management (LRM), and the Special Counsel fulfils a challenge function ensuring that LRM is being effectively carried out with respect to contingency planning, legal risk response, etc.
• Litigation Practice Management manages the delivery of (civil) litigation services by legal agents by providing operational support in relation to the appointment and remuneration of legal agents.

Figure 6

Some of the key litigation that we will be tracking during 2007-08 include: Court approval of IRS Class Action settlement Dumont/Manitoba Metis Federation McIvor Victor Buffalo Chief Hall Whitefish Roger William Sydney Tar Ponds McKenzie Gas Pipeline

d) The Official Languages Law Group (OLLG) provides specialized legal advice on language rights to departments, agencies and other federal institutions. It offers information and advisory services to the Minister and various federal institutions on the interpretation of language rights through the development and coordination of legal expertise and advice in cooperation with other sections in the Department. Together with the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada and the Privy Council Office, it ensures a better sharing of information, and a better compliance of federal policies, programs, initiatives and documents with the Official Languages Act and its regulations and policies.

The OLLG is also responsible for the development and coordination of the position of the Attorney General of Canada and the Government in linguistic litigation, and it provides support to counsel involved in litigation. As well, it is a source of strategic advice and guidance on specific issues during legal proceedings, for example when a trial is held in the minority language under the linguistic provisions of the Criminal Code.

Thirdly, the OLLG is in charge of the preparation and coordination of the provision of advice on linguistic policies, particularly with regards to any legislative amendment affecting language rights.

Finally, the Group provides training on language rights. It prepares various tools for the employees in the Department, the Government, and the public, such as judgment summaries, annotated statutes and information notes on the language provisions of the Charter. Training activities have been identified as a priority in the 2003 Action Plan for Official Languages. Legislative amendments require renewed efforts to make sure the Act is known and complied with.

e) The Dispute Prevention and Resolution Services provides leadership, support and services to DOJ including legal advisory services, training, operational policy development for the prevention of disputes that could result in litigation and the resolution of litigation claims. There are two priorities for the year that focus on methods to manage the volume of litigation. The development of a five-year pilot project on an early resolution option for certain tort claims will be finalized, including an evaluation framework to track results. As well, policy support will be provided for the development of the proposed Commercial Mediation Act and for the review of dispute resolution policies in order to facilitate the use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms across Portfolios.

10 The Department's general policy is that legal work within our statutory mandate should be handled by departmental counsel. At times however, operational demands necessitate using private sector counsel, who are appointed as legal agents of the Attorney General of Canada, to carry out this mandate. To ensure clarity, consistency and control in the use of legal agents, the Department has a framework for determining what work can or should be outsourced and a protocol and supporting practices for selecting and appointing agents. Competence and integrity remain the primary considerations in the selection process, and selection is based on the premise that the Government of Canada is entitled to receive the highest quality of legal service and advice consistent with the reasonable demands of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. Decisions to outsource legal work are made in consultation with clients, who are responsible for costs incurred. Justice counsel are responsible for supervising and monitoring legal agent activities, reviewing the reasonableness of costs claimed for services rendered, and where appropriate recommending that payment be made.

 

Part B — How we will measure our performance under this strategic outcome:

In terms of indicators and measures of success in these activities, there are a number of means to capture a snapshot of Department's effectiveness in providing legal services to the Government of Canada's departments and agencies. As mentioned in the 2006-2007 Report on Plans and Priorities, the Department has begun to establish a more coordinated and standardized process for soliciting client feedback to ensure that client needs are being met with the provision of the highest quality services. A key component of this is the development of data collection tools to gather the information needed to monitor and report on performance. As a first step in this process, the Department, in partnership with Statistics Canada, launched a pilot standardized client feedback survey in 2006-2007. The survey has been successfully pilot tested across the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs and with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Applying lessons learned, DoJ is now seeking feedback from client departments and agencies across the Business and Regulatory Law Portfolio (representing about 40% of all federal government departments and agencies). Over the next fiscal year and on a cyclical basis thereafter, the Department intends to survey representatives from the federal departments and agencies that receive services from DOJ as part of its overall planning and performance management agenda. By completing this survey, clients will provide the Department with valuable performance information to help ensure that we are delivering high quality legal services that meet departments' and agencies' needs and expectations and identify areas where we might need to make improvements or address gaps in services.

As well, the Department is working to ensure that it has the tools and the capacity to collect relevant and credible information in regards to how we are managing our resources, both human and financial in the support of the delivery of legal services. This means that we will be reporting with more data on elements such as: the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods and the impacts of levels of risk on the resources used to address client requirements for legal services. Over time, we will be able to plot the trends in this data, but in the more immediate environment, we will be able to begin to establish baselines that will better enable us to determine when (or what) adjustments we may need to make in order to ensure that we are providing the best results for Canadians.

There are basically three elements of measures and indicators that support this strategic outcome. These are aimed at addressing the effective management of resources, the degree to which we support other government departments with our legal services, and the degree to which we are effectively enabling government to attain its key priorities.

Figure 7 below shows the measures and indicators that will be used to assess performance in the delivery of integrated legal services over the reporting period.

Figure 7

Priority III: Supporting other government departments and agencies in achieving Government of Canada priorities
Key Results	Indicators	Measures	Data Collection
Effective management of resources	Workload	Levels of effort devoted to: Litigation Services Legal Advisory services Legislative services	Timekeeping/Case management systems
	Litigation Inventory	Number of open/active files at fiscal year-end (Active Inventory) Number of files closed during the year (Closed Inventory) Age of inventory (at closing) Trends in "backlog"	Timekeeping/Case management systems
	Legislative Services Inventory	Number of Orders in Council Prepared Number of Bills drafted Number of bill-amendments drafted Number of Regulations published in Part I Canada Gazette Number of Regulations published in Part II Canada Gazette	Timekeeping/Case management systems
	Managing Legal Risk	Trends in risk profile of litigation inventory Level of effort by risk level (shown as proportion of total effort devoted to litigation files for high, medium and low risk files)	Timekeeping / Case management systems
	Use of ADR methods	Number of files settled by mediation, arbitration, negotiation Number of files where these methods were utilized regardless of outcomes	Timekeeping/Case management systems
Supporting other government departments with high quality legal services	Client feedback on legal advisory, litigation and legislative services	Client feedback about quality of services re: Usefulness Timeliness Responsiveness	Standardized Client Feedback Survey
Representing the Crown's interests to enable government to attain its key priorities	Awards and settlements	Total value of awards and settlements for the closing inventory at the end of the fiscal year	Timekeeping/Case management systems
	Litigation Outcomes	Adjudicated Resolved Closed Administratively	Case management systems
	Crown Results	Successful Partially Successful Unsuccessful	Case management systems
	Supreme Court of Canada Outcomes	List of cases of importance to Canadians and the influence/explanation of the impact of the case on CanadiansÕ life	Case management systems and Top 100

 

• Previous Page
• Table of Contents
• Next Page