Good morning, and thank you for joining us.
I want to start by acknowledging that we are gathered on the traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe people.
With me today is Jerry DeMarco, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, who will speak to 3 of the audit reports that my office presented to Parliament this morning.
I will begin with our audit of initiatives that have been described by the Government of Canada as the New Fiscal Relationship with First Nations. The government committed to co-developing initiatives with First Nations partners, including increasing the predictability and flexibility of federal funding, to support reconciliation and the gradual transfer of services to First Nations.
Overall, we found that Indigenous Services Canada did not effectively implement, monitor, or assess the initiatives it committed to. While the department introduced 10-year grants, and payments were aligned with funding agreements, it did not consistently monitor whether grant recipients remained eligible for funding. More than $6.5 billion in grants has been distributed, but the department did not know whether the grants were achieving intended outcomes, including reducing socio-economic gaps between First Nations and other Canadians.
Important initiatives to truly transform the fiscal relationship between First Nations and the federal government remain largely undeveloped. For example, Indigenous Services Canada did not implement a framework to establish mutual accountability between First Nations and their citizens, and between First Nations and the department.
Indigenous Services Canada also did not meet its key commitment to support the development of First Nations’ financial management capacity and to avoid financial default.
The New Fiscal Relationship initiatives are an important part of Indigenous Services Canada’s mandate to gradually transfer services to First Nations. The department needs to improve how it implements and delivers these initiatives to meet its commitments to help improve socio-economic outcomes and advance reconciliation.
I will now turn to our audit of accessibility in 7 federal organizations. Overall, we found that all had fostered accessible workplaces for employees with disabilities, with key areas for improvement remaining.
All organizations we examined had made progress in the representation of persons with disabilities in their workforces. We found that promotion rates across employee groups were comparable and that all 7 organizations had accessibility practices in place, such as executive champions and networks for persons with disabilities.
While I am encouraged by the progress to date in representation and the commitment to accessibility, there is still room for improvement in how accommodations are delivered and employees with disabilities are engaged. For example, we found that employee networks were not consistently consulted on the implementation of decisions that affect them.
In addition, while all organizations had measures in place to address workplace barriers, processes to deliver accommodations need to be improved. The time required to respond to employees’ accommodation requests ranged from an average of 24 to 310 days. Inconsistent data collection limited the ability of organizations to identify recurring issues and systemic barriers.
Federal organizations have a duty to ensure that all employees can participate fully and equally in the workplace. To build on the progress made to date requires an ongoing focus on accessibility and efficient processes.
I will now turn it over to the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development to summarize his reports.
Thank you. The reports I am presenting today focus on the federal government’s efforts to address global challenges posed by climate change and avian influenza. To better protect Canadians now and in the future, stronger action is needed to adapt to our rapidly changing world.
Our first audit focused on flood hazard mapping, which is becoming increasingly important as Canada’s climate changes. We can no longer rely only on present-day data to prepare for floods. We also need to plan for future climate scenarios, including changing precipitation patterns. This is especially timely, given the significant flooding seen in many regions of Canada this spring. Flood hazard maps are a tool to inform residents, developers, and infrastructure planners of the risks of flooding in a given area.
We found that Natural Resources Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and Public Safety Canada were slow to produce and share the flood hazard maps needed to protect communities and support climate change adaptation.
Natural Resources Canada did not ensure that mapping efforts prioritized higher-risk areas. Many maps remain incomplete, and much of the existing mapping information is not practical or usable. The department is also not on track to make all maps currently in production publicly available by the target year of 2028.
We also found that Public Safety Canada’s planned flood risk awareness portal did not integrate climate change considerations or allow information to be easily updated as conditions change. This means that information in the portal will not reflect changes to flood risks over time.
Climate change projections and easily available flood maps are needed to reliably inform long-term planning decisions, such as where to build homes or develop infrastructure. Canadians face escalating risks and higher disaster recovery costs in the absence of up-to-date information.
In our next audit, we found significant gaps in the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s oversight of the Greening Government Strategy to strengthen the climate resilience of federal services and federal assets, which are valued at about $100 billion.
We found that the framework to track progress was weak. Also, despite repeated commitments, the secretariat did not publicly report on climate resilience in the 8 years that followed the strategy’s launch in 2017. These gaps hindered decision making and accountability.
At the organizational level, the audit examined how National Defence, Public Services and Procurement Canada, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada assessed climate risks and acted to enhance the climate resilience of their assets, services, and activities. Together, these 3 departments manage more than two thirds of the federal government’s physical assets, such as buildings and bridges. We found that they had made limited progress in translating risk assessments into meaningful action.
This lack of progress has clear environmental and financial consequences for Canadians. As Canada warms at twice the global average, accelerating efforts to protect federal assets and services will sustain communities and save taxpayers’ money over time. For example, some small harbours, which directly support more than 45,000 jobs, are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and require immediate repairs and reinforcement.
Our final audit assessed the federal response to avian influenza. An outbreak of the disease began in Canada in 2021, and there were concerns the virus could mutate and become more easily transmissible.
While Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and the Public Health Agency of Canada took action to prevent and manage outbreaks of avian influenza, they need to improve on planning, documentation, and the management of human vaccines to better prepare for future threats to public health and vulnerable wildlife.
For example, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency successfully implemented procedures to eliminate the virus from all 47 premises in our audit sample. There were, however, some weaknesses in the agency’s documentation of its activities.
We also found that Environment and Climate Change Canada redirected funding to expand its surveillance of migratory birds following the 2021 outbreak, but without dedicated funding, this activity may not be sustainable. In addition, the department did not target surveillance on the virus’ impact on at-risk species that are or could become threatened, endangered, or extinct.
Finally, with respect to preparedness, we found that the Public Health Agency of Canada secured vaccines for people at higher risk of exposure, such as farmers and veterinarians, but purchasing decisions were not supported by sufficient analysis. This led to an oversupply, and more than 95% of the purchased vaccine doses expired before they could be used.
I will now turn it back to the Auditor General.
Thank you.
Across these audits, a consistent pattern emerges. Programs are in place, funding is being delivered, and risks are known—but weaknesses in implementation and monitoring affect the achievement of results.
This is not a new pattern. I raised similar concerns at the midpoint of my mandate last year about long-standing issues in how federal programs are designed, delivered, and measured—including in areas affecting First Nations.
Our audit of the new fiscal initiatives shows that when a department does not act on its commitments intended to address long-standing issues, it falls short on delivering critical outcomes, such as advancing reconciliation.
Our audit of avian influenza also highlights similar issues in a different context. I am concerned that despite experience from past public health events, including COVID-19, gaps in planning, data, and decision making have not been addressed and continue to affect preparedness.
Thank you. We are now ready to answer your questions.