ARCHIVED - RPP 2007-2008
Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada

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SECTION I - OVERVIEW

Minister’s Message

The Government of Canada made a commitment to Canadians to keep our country secure and our communities safe.  The Public Safety portfolio plays a central role in meeting this obligation to Canadians.  As Minister of Public Safety, I am pleased to provide Parliament with this Report on Plans and Priorities for 2007-2008 that describes our efforts to protect Canadian families and build a stronger, safer and better Canada.

Over the past year, the Government of Canada has taken concrete steps to enhance border security by arming border officers and hiring more people so that no officer will be required to work at the border alone.

We have taken a balanced approach to tackling crime by putting more RCMP officers in our communities, providing more resources to our law-enforcement agencies and promoting crime prevention. At the same time, the Government of Canada has been working to improve the effectiveness of our corrections system, heighten emergency preparedness and enhance our national security infrastructure while remaining vigilant to the threat of terrorism.

In the coming year, we will continue to make Canada a safer place for all.  We will continue to tackle crime and safeguard our national security from any terrorist threats.  We will continue to defend our borders, prepare for emergencies and take steps to reduce gun and other crime. We will build on our relationships with our friends and neighbours to protect our common interests in security and prosperity, and we will do so in a manner that safeguards the open society that Canadians treasure.

The Report on Plans and Priorities of each of the Portfolio Agencies and the Department lay out the full scope of our plans and key activities that we will pursue in the coming months.  Over the past year, I have witnessed both the dedication and discipline of the people who work in the Public Safety Portfolio.  I am confident that, with these new plans and priorities, such qualities will continue to define our efforts and that substantive progress will be made in fulfilling our collective mandate to make Canada a safer and more secure country.

The Honourable Stockwell Day, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Public Safety

Management Representation Statement

I submit for tabling in Parliament, the 2007-2008 Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP) for Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada (PSEPC).

This document has been prepared based on the reporting principles contained in the Guide for the Preparation of Part III of the 2007-2008 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 department’s Strategic Outcome and Program Activity Architecture, 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 planned spending numbers from the Treasury Board Secretariat in the RPP.

____________________________________________
Suzanne Hurtubise
Deputy Minister of Public Safety

Portfolio Overview

The Public Safety Portfolio is responsible, within the Government of Canada, for public safety, policing and law enforcement, corrections and the conditional release of federal offenders, emergency management, national security, crime prevention and the protection of Canada’s borders.

The Portfolio consists of the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada and five agencies: the Canada Border Services Agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Correctional Service of Canada, the National Parole Board, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  The Portfolio also includes three review bodies: the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, the Office of the Correctional Investigator and the RCMP External Review Committee.

Combined, these organizations have over 52,000 employees and a total annual budget of more than $6 billion.  Each agency, with the exception of CSIS, prepares an individual Report on Plans and Priorities.  Owing to national security concerns, CSIS does not publicly report on its plans and priorities.  The Reports of all Portfolio Agencies can be found on each organization’s website.

The Department, Portfolio agencies and review bodies contribute individually and collectively to the public safety agenda outlined in the 2007-2008 RPP.

• The Department provides strategic policy advice to the Minister in areas such as national security, emergency management, border security, policing, and national law enforcement.  It also delivers a broad range of national emergency preparedness, critical infrastructure protection and community safety programs.  Additionally, the Department supports the Minister in all aspects of his mandate, providing national public safety leadership and strategic direction to Portfolio Agencies, while respecting the separate accountability of each agency head.  Also situated within the Department is the Office of the Inspector General of CSIS, which does internal audits of CSIS’s compliance with the law, Ministerial direction and operational policy.  www.ps-sp.gc.ca

• The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) provides integrated border services that balance security with facilitation of legitimate travel and trade.  It is responsible for: administering legislation that governs the admissibility of people and goods into and out of Canada; detaining and removing those people who may pose a threat to Canada, including those involved in war crimes or crimes against humanity; promoting Canadian business and economic benefits by administering trade legislation and agreements, including collecting any applicable duties and taxes and applying trade remedies that help protect Canadian industry.  www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca

• The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) plays a leading role in protecting the national security interests of Canada by investigating and reporting on threats to the security of Canada.  Guided by the rule of law and the protection of human rights, CSIS works within Canada’s integrated national security framework to provide advice to the Government of Canada on these threats.  www.csis-scrs.gc.ca

• The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) contributes to public safety by administering court-imposed sentences for offenders sentenced to two years or more.This involves managing institutions (penitentiaries) of various security levels and supervising offenders on different forms of conditional release, while assisting them to become law-abiding citizens. CSC also administers post-sentence supervision of offenders with Long Term Supervision Orders (LTSOs) for up to 10 years.  www.csc-scc.gc.ca

• The National Parole Board (NPB) is an independent, quasi-judicial, decision-making body that has exclusive jurisdiction and absolute discretion to grant, deny, cancel, terminate or revoke parole.  The Board’s mission is to contribute to the protection of society by facilitating the timely reintegration of offenders into society as law-abiding citizens.  The Board also makes conditional release decisions for offenders in provincial institutions for provinces without their own parole board.  www.npb-cnlc.gc.ca

• The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) enforces Canadian federal laws, prevents crime and maintains peace, order and security. This includes the following responsibilities: to prevent, deter and disrupt threats to national security; to prevent, detect and investigate offences against federal statutes; to maintain law and order and prevent, detect and investigate crime in provinces, territories and municipalities where the RCMP has a policing contract; to provide investigative and protective services to other federal departments and agencies; to reduce gun violence; and, to provide Canadian and international law enforcement agencies with specialized police training and research, forensic laboratory services, identification services and informatics technology. www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca

• The Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP (CPC) receives and reviews public complaints regarding the conduct of members of the RCMP in an open, independent and objective manner.  The Commission informs the public of its mandate and services, reviews and investigates complaints concerning the conduct of RCMP members, holds public hearings, prepares reports (including findings and recommendations), and conducts research and policy development to improve the public complaints process. www.cpc-cpp.gc.ca

• The Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI) is mandated by legislation to act as the Ombudsman for federal corrections.  Its main function is to conduct independent, thorough and timely investigations regarding decisions, recommendations, acts or omissions of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) that affect offenders, either individually or as a group. It may initiate an investigation upon receipt of a complaint by or on behalf of an offender, at the request of the Minister of Public Safety, or on its own initiative. www.oci-bec.gc.ca

• The RCMP External Review Committee (RCMP ERC) is an independent and impartial agency that aims to promote fair and equitable labour relations within the RCMP in accordance with applicable principles of law.  To this end the Committee conducts an independent review of appeals in disciplinary, discharge and demotion matters, as well as certain categories of grievances, in accordance with the RCMP Act.  www.erc-cee.gc.ca

Portfolio Resource Summary

2007-2008 to 2009-2010

	($ millions)
	Planned Spending 2007-2008	Planned Spending 2008-2009	Planned Spending 2009-2010
Royal Canadian Mounted Police	2,572.6	2,493.5	2,508.2
Correctional Services Canada	1,888.0	1,904.2	1,938.9
Canada Border Services Agency	1,443.5	1,485.9	1,454.1
Canadian Security and Intelligence Service	346.5	352.9	349.2
Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness Canada	458.3	292.6	293.0
National Parole Board	45.3	45.4	45.3
Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP	5.6	5.1	5.1
Office of Correctional Investigator	3.1	3.1	3.1
RCMP External Review Committee	1.2	1.2	1.1
TOTAL	6,764.1	6,583.9	6,598.0

Portfolio of Public Safety

PSEPC Departmental Organizational Structure

Summary Information

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada provides policy advice and support to the Minister of Public Safety on issues related to public safety, including national security and emergency management, policing and law enforcement, interoperability and information-sharing, border management, corrections and conditional release, Aboriginal policing and crime prevention.  The Department also plays a key role in encouraging cohesion, integration and information-sharing across the Portfolio; providing the Minister with timely and comprehensive advice on policy, programming and legislative priorities; and assessing as well as responding to public safety threats in a way that reflects Canadian values and maintains the integrity of the criminal justice and national security systems.  This leadership role is integral to the provision of sound policy advice supporting informed decision-making.

The Department advises, supports and assists the Minister in his responsibilities as they relate to:

• Exercising his function as the lead cabinet minister for public safety;
• Co-ordinating activities and providing effective strategic direction to Portfolio agencies;
• Developing policies, programs and procedures to protect Canada’s national security and capacity to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from natural and human-made disasters;
• Providing advice related to emerging developments in national security matters and their impact on Canada’s diverse and pluralistic society through, in part, the Cross-Cultural Roundtable on Security;
• Exercising his national leadership role in policing, law enforcement, and strategies to combat priority aspects of criminal activity, such as organized crime and drugs;
• Leading the integration and interoperability of public safety and security agencies to facilitate information-sharing across Canadian jurisdictions and organizations;
• Implementing the First Nations Policing Policy through the negotiation, administration, maintenance and monitoring of tripartite policing agreements with provincial, territorial and First Nations governments; and
• Administering the National Crime Prevention Strategy to enable communities to develop local solutions to crime and victimization.

Departmental Operating Environment

The Minister, the Portfolio Heads and the Department all work to address ongoing and emerging issues that, due to the complexity of their scope and reach, continue to impact Canadian public safety and national security objectives within Canada and the international realm.  This, coupled with the realities of globalization, requires flexibility and creativity in dealing with new and emerging threats.  For example, issues of local proportion, when fuelled by instant and limitless information networks via the Internet, can quickly escalate to regional, national or international proportions.  As a result, effective strategies depend on the timely identification and engagement of an increasingly broad and diverse community of stakeholders, the sharing of quality information and the analysis of a wide-range of policy-related issues.

The past several years have also seen an increase in natural and human-made emergencies that, if not managed successfully, have the ability to profoundly impact the health, public safety and economic well-being of Canadians.  Events, such as the June 2006 arrests in the Greater Toronto Area of alleged terrorists, the 2003 SARS outbreak, and the continuing global spread of Avian influenza, remind us that there are persistent and credible threats to the safety and health of Canadians.  These threats reinforce the reality that public safety is a shared responsibility and create new pressures for federal public policy focus and action.
 
All Canadians continue to have high expectations regarding the successful delivery of public safety programs and the degree to which various levels of government work together to accomplish this. The capacity to respond effectively to public safety and security threats and to deal with related public policy issues continues to be a measure of how effectively the Portfolio is able to function in an integrated, coherent and cohesive manner, both within the federal arena and while interacting with federal/provincial/territorial and international partners.

Strategic Outcome

Enhancing public safety, security and emergency preparedness of Canadians in an open society.

Consistent with the Government’s priority of protecting Canadian families and communities by strengthening the criminal justice system, the Department’s Strategic Outcome reflects our key role of providing effective leadership across both the Department and Portfolio agencies.

The principles that guide the Department in achieving this Strategic Outcome are:

• Effective engagement, collaboration and communications with Portfolio agencies, departments and agencies at all levels of government as well as external stakeholders;
• Effective planning and priority setting; and
• Portfolio-wide cohesion and integration.

Resource Summary

Financial Resources ($000’s)

2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
458,275	292,602	292,982

Human Resources (FTE)

2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
995	920	910

Departmental Priorities by Program Activity

For the 2007-2008 planning period, the achievement of the PSEPC Strategic Outcome is advanced through three program and two management priorities. The planned spending allocated to each Program Activity in the table below includes resources to support the management activities of the Corporate Management, Strategic Policy and Communications Branches.

	Planned Spending  ($000's)			Contributing to the following priority	Type of Priority
	2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
Strategic Outcome: Enhancing public safety, security and emergency preparedness of Canadians in an open society.
Emergency Management & National Security	232,183	101,292	101,663	Protecting the Security of Canada and Canadians	Ongoing
Policing and Law Enforcement	36,946	23,483	23,459	Fighting serious and Organized Crime	Ongoing
Community Safety and Partnerships	189,146	167,827	167,860	Enhancing community safety and security	Ongoing

The Department’s priorities directly contribute to the achievement of its strategic outcome of enhancing the public safety, security and emergency preparedness of Canadians in an open society and the Government’s commitment to produce safe and secure communities.

Collectively, the priorities and related plans and initiatives articulated in this Report provide a foundation to help produce safe and secure communities.  This section of the Report presents each priority’s operating environment, expected results and related key initiatives. Expanded detail on program and management priorities can be found in Sections II and IV, respectively, of this Report. 

Program Priorities

Protecting the Security of Canada and Canadians

Operating Environment

Within Canada, the private sector owns and operates 80% of Canada’s critical infrastructure, which underscores the need for effective relationships between the federal government and the private sector.  This type of relationship is also required between all levels of Government and organizations involved in preventing and effectively responding to threats to Canadian security.  Increased urbanization, climate change, disease mutations and terrorism, coupled with the steady flow of people and trade across borders, contribute to a heightened risk environment in Canada. 

The Department continues to strengthen an all-hazards emergency management system to mitigate security threats and risks from natural and other hazards to help protect Canadians.  Our goal is to consolidate our efforts to more effectively and efficiently address an entire range of emergencies that are becoming increasingly difficult to predict.

Most emergencies in this country are responded to and effectively handled by local municipal authorities, who often turn to provinces and territories for additional support.  In turn, Provinces and territories may request support from the federal government.  Requests for assistance can range from relatively simple appeals for access to regional federal assets, to complex responses involving the highest offices of government and millions of dollars in recovery assistance.  The Department maintains a high state of readiness to respond to any number or type of requests for assistance, including national security matters, and must manage its financial and human resources accordingly.

An all-hazards approach is meant to save lives, preserve the environment, protect property and secure economic prosperity.  As a means to fully implement this approach, the foundation of emergency management and national security is built upon four pillars: prevention/mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.  Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the federal government has focused on the emergency response pillar as the key priority. Enhanced strategic investments in the other pillars, notably prevention/mitigation, help to maintain Canada’s emergency management system and its capacity to meet the demands of an uncertain future. 

Priority	Expected Result	Key Initiatives	Page
Protecting the security of Canada and Canadians	Programs and policies that help protect and mitigate threats to Canada and Canadians.	Strengthen emergency management capacity, critical infrastructure protection, and federal emergency response capacity. Review and improve national security policies and arrangements. Coordinate the security agenda of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. Provide interdepartmental leadership to develop, negotiate and implement improved Canada-United States emergency and security border management.	23
Portfolio Partners: RCMP, CBSA, CSIS

Fighting Serious and Organized Crime

Operating Environment

The operating environment of both the Portfolio and the Department is complex and multi-dimensional.  At the local level, violence committed by street gangs in our urban centres has shocked Canadians and brought further attention to the use of illegal firearms in acts of violence.  The continued increase in the number of indoor marijuana-grow operations and clandestine crystal methamphetamine labs – largely operated by gangs and organized crime groups – illustrates a problem that is affecting communities across the country.  Due to the increasing sophistication of criminal activities, the means used by our police and intelligence agencies to combat organized crime need to keep pace.
 
The increasingly transnational nature of serious and organized crime presents special challenges to the management of our air, land and maritime borders.  Close working relationships with partners in the U.S. are vital to our efforts to combat serious, organized and transnational crime, including terrorist activity.  Trilateral relations between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico increasingly focus on both the need for cross-border access in a world of globalization and the institution of national security measures to protect the borders from illegal activity and potential public safety threats.  The Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) between these parties is a key element of border security and a number of SPP priorities focus on improved law enforcement cooperation, border security, as well as emergency management.

The current environment of public safety information-sharing places significant emphasis on the development of accountable, effective and fully integrated public safety measures, and on safeguarding the privacy rights of Canadians. This includes recognition of the legitimate operational need for public safety information-sharing across the entire federal government and between national and international jurisdictions. 

Priority	Expected Result	Key Initiatives	Page
Fighting serious and organized crime	Enhanced capabilities to combat serious and organized crime.	Focus efforts to combat serious, organized, and transnational crime. Implement strategies to combat gun violence. Enhance information-sharing and interoperability among federal departments and agencies and with other jurisdictions.	31
Portfolio Partners: RCMP, CBSA, CSC, CSIS

Enhancing Community Safety and Security

Operating Environment

The Department supports activities contributing to the enhancement of community safety and security.  Further improvements to public safety in Canadian communities are planned.

Departmental priorities in this area are based on government direction and responding to community needs. Activities are managed in partnership with provinces, territories, municipalities, First Nations and non-governmental organizations dedicated to public safety. Priorities and activities are further defined by crime trends, known crime risk factors and knowledge of effective practices in crime prevention, Aboriginal policing and corrections.

Through a targeted approach, the Department focuses on priority crime issues to respond to local concerns and preoccupations and to enhance the safety of Canadian communities. Concurrently, it must be recognized that crime issues are not necessarily unique to a particular community and that the dissemination of knowledge regarding crime prevention best practices, Aboriginal policing and corrections is crucial to the continuous improvement of intervention.

Within Canada, priority crime issues differ in nature and severity between regions and cities, as well as population groups.  Remaining flexible to meet local needs, while keeping a focus on established priorities is a continuing challenge.  In the coming two years, several social and demographic factors will impact the priorities and activities of the Department.  Phenomena such as the growing divide between the young and old, the emergence of youth gangs and the aging of the Canadian population pose community safety challenges that will require adapted responses. Challenges generated by changing demographics, the internationalization of crime, changes in offender profile, as well as the relative youth and socio-economic disadvantage of Aboriginal communities, will also require special attention.

Priority	Expected Result	Key Initiatives	Page
Enhancing community safety and security	Reduced crime and increased personal safety.	Assess and support local crime prevention measures addressing, in particular, gang-related crime and drug and alcohol related crime. Develop correctional policy to better address the challenges of community reintegration and management of high-risk offenders. Design innovative policies and programs to enhance public safety in First Nations communities through culturally sensitive crime prevention measures, law enforcement and corrections.	35
Portfolio Partners: RCMP, CBSA, CSIS, CSC, NPB

Management Priorities

Management priorities are key to the advancement of the three program priorities—internally in the Department and across the Portfolio.

Effective Portfolio Leadership Resulting in Better Cohesion

Operating Environment

The Department requires a dedicated and sustained effort to go beyond the delivery of policy and planning coordination to provide value-added strategic analysis and advice to the Minister on all Portfolio activities and to build the necessary relationships that serve to enhance Portfolio effectiveness.

As a strategic organization, the Department can contribute to cohesion and Portfolio integration through effective support to the Minister and Agency Heads.  It can build support for dialogue with external and governmental stakeholders, and increase the sharing of accurate information.  This action will improve decision-making and contribute to increasing the safety and security of Canadians.

The evolution of functions in the public safety sector – initiated with the establishment of the Department in 2003 – is continuing.  The pace and success of this transformation is linked to the strengthening of human resource capacity at all levels in the department.

Priority	Expected Result	Key Initiatives	Page
Effective Portfolio leadership resulting in better cohesion through coordinated strategic direction, policy and communications	Effective Departmental and Portfolio policies.	Increase collaboration, coordination and cooperation with Portfolio agencies. Develop a departmental strategic communications plan, a Portfolio communications framework, and enhance Portfolio and interdepartmental communications linkages.	47

Improved Stewardship and Accountability

Operating Environment

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada was created in December 2003 by bringing together the former Department of the Solicitor General, the former Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness of the Department of National Defence and the National Crime Prevention Centre of the Department of Justice.  Although each of the three founding organizations immediately reported to the newly appointed Deputy Minister, the originating departments of the founding organizations continued to provide basic corporate services, such as financial and human resources services, until April 1, 2004. 

At that time, the Department of the Solicitor General was the only organization to transfer corporate infrastructure resources to the Department and these were only sufficient to support its then organization of approximately 300 FTE’s. With the amalgamation of the other two entities and the growth in the Department since 2004-2005, the Department has more than tripled the workforce it supports without any significant investment in its corporate infrastructure. The combination of an increase in size and complexity, an expanded departmental mandate, and recent government-wide initiatives have had a significant impact on the various Corporate Services functions required to support the Department’s operations. 

Priority	Expected Result	Key Initiatives
Improved stewardship and accountability: Effective and integrated departmental planning	Improved decision-making through integrated business planning.	Design and begin the implementation of an integrated planning framework for the Department. Initial progress towards a fully articulated Program Activity Architecture (as per Treasury Board’s Management Resources and Results Structure Policy).
Improved management policies and practices	Sound management practices implemented and understood, increased transparency and accountability with regard to the use of departmental resources.	Enhance/improve capacity in planning, finance, audit, evaluation, IM/IT and human resources. Continue to advance the implementation of government-wide policies such as the Government Security Policy (including its associated standards such as MITS and BCP), the Internal Audit Policy as well as Human Resources, Financial Management and IM Policies.

Link to the Government of Canada’s Outcome Areas

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada contributes to Government of Canada priorities, as reported annually in Canada’s Performance Report.  The Department’s strategic outcome of enhancing the public safety, security and emergency preparedness of Canadians in an open society is directly linked to the government-wide outcome of promoting safe and secure communities, an essential element in supporting Canada’s social foundations.  In addition, the Department also contributes to a safe and secure world though international cooperation and to a strong and mutually beneficial North American Partnership through the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

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