2022-23 Departmental Plan

From the Chief Administrator

It is my pleasure to present the 2022-2023 Departmental Plan for the Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada (ATSSC).

As public servants across government begin to explore lessons learned from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we at the ATSSC are looking at more efficient ways of organizing ourselves, and more effective ways of working while continuing to provide the advice, expertise, and support services that are highly valued by the 12 federal administrative tribunals we serve.

The 2022-2023 Departmental Plan will guide our efforts in making changes that will allow us to continue providing services and facilities to tribunals and their members by delivering business excellence through innovation at work, improving collaboration with tribunal leadership and one another, and supporting our people.

During the upcoming fiscal year, the ATSSC will focus on helping to create a modern federal tribunal sector that better enables unrepresented, underrepresented, and vulnerable parties to participate more fully and effectively in tribunal processes.

Going forward, the ATSSC will support innovative information technology solutions for a digital future through the implementation of its digital vision as well as a strategy to deliver digital technologies in a smart, safe, and secure manner.

In addition to prioritizing modern, innovative and efficient delivery of core services, the ATSSC will advance work on equity, diversity and inclusion within our organization. Through equitable recruitment and training activities as well as promoting cultural understanding, accommodation, and other workplace practices, we will continue to focus on building an inclusive, accessible and bilingual workplace.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic ATSSC employees have consistently shown how much they can accomplish working remotely and in flexible working arrangements. A significant priority for the ATSSC in 2022-23 will be to finalize and implement a long-term telework strategy as well as space optimization planning to help us reduce our real property footprint and greenhouse gas emissions, and to support our people during this time of transition.

As you will read in the ATSSC’s 2022-2023 Departmental Plan, we are ready to lead our organization into a post-pandemic future.

Orlando Da Silva, LSM

Plans at a glance

In accordance with the Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada Act, the ATSSC provides support services and facilities to 11^{Footnote 1} tribunals through registry, legal, mandate and member services, as well as internal services. In its eighth year of operations, the ATSSC continues to evolve and mature to best support its tribunals in receiving the specialized services they require. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization became more efficient, collaborative, and tech-savvy, adopting virtual practices and enabling remote work. The rapid transition to virtual operations allowed the tribunals to continue to deliver on their mandates and the organization to continue to provide the tribunals with the support required ensuring business continuity during unprecedented times. As the organization looks forward to 2022-23, the ATSSC’s operating models will continue to shift from how it did business before the pandemic. It will continue to harness technology smartly, safely, and securely and improve access to justice. Having proven in the last two years how much it can accomplish remotely, the ATSSC will adapt to any easing of workplace restrictions and will continue to use three strategic themes to guide and modernize its operations in the coming years.

Delivering business excellence through innovation at work

The ATSSC will:

• Ensure that all Canadians are able to participate fully and effectively in the tribunal sector supported by the ATSSC;
• Make services easier to use and navigate, and more efficient by investing in digital technologies; and
• Prioritize continued workplace evolution.

Collaboration with tribunal leadership and one another

The ATSSC will:

• Support tribunals as they adapt to fluctuating caseloads and legislative changes that impact their mandates;
• Continue to improve service delivery and broaden the range of services and capacity available to support the tribunals; and
• Engage in meaningful dialogue on diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and racism to better support tribunals and their clients and to build a better ATSSC for our people.

Supporting our people

The ATSSC will:

• Support its employees through any easing of workplace restrictions and to finalize and implement a long-term telework strategy; and
• Continue to develop an inclusive, diverse, and bilingual work environment that attracts and retains the specialized talent required to support the tribunals.

For more information on the ATSSC’s plans, see the “Core responsibility: planned results and resources, and key risk” section of this plan.

Return to footnote 1 referrer  Pursuant to the ATSSC’s enabling legislation, the tribunals are: Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal; Canada Industrial Relations Board; Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board; Canadian Human Rights Tribunal; Canadian International Trade Tribunal; Competition Tribunal; Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board; Public Servants Disclosure Protection Tribunal; Specific Claims Tribunal; Social Security Tribunal; and Transportation Appeal Tribunal of Canada. Additionally, the ATSSC provides facilities and administrative support to the National Joint Council and supports the Environmental Protection Tribunal of Canada through a memorandum of understanding with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Core responsibility: planned results and resources, and key risk

This section contains information on the department’s planned results and resources for its core responsibility. It also contains information on its key risk related to achieving those results.

Internal Services: planned results

Description

Internal services are the services that are provided within a department so that it can meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs. There are 10 categories of internal services:

• management and oversight services
• communications services
• legal services
• human resources management services
• financial management services
• information management services
• information technology services
• real property management services
• materiel management services
• acquisition management services

Planning highlights

In 2022-23, the ATSSC will continue to advance effective and responsive internal services to support its tribunals in executing their mandates. The ATSSC will focus on its people, being innovative with information technology solutions, optimizing office space, and the efficient delivery of core services.

The ATSSC will continue to focus on building a workplace where people feel valued and respected and where they can grow and build their careers. Significant efforts have already been made in creating an equitable, diverse, inclusive, accessible and bilingual work environment, which will continue into the new fiscal year. The ATSSC will continue to offer mandatory training on unconscious bias and its impacts for all managers with staffing delegations and commit to making the training mandatory for any individuals involved in hiring processes. Moreover, the ATSSC remains committed, where possible, to establish representative selection boards for collective staffing processes and to provide updated staffing tools that will support managers in their efforts to attract and hire candidates from employment equity groups. Through continued collaboration with the ATSSC’s Diversity Network, further efforts will be made to organize events and meaningful discussions related to diversity, equity and inclusion based on the direction established in a multi-year, principles-based, Diversity Action Plan.

Given the range of the specialized services provided to the tribunals, the ATSSC must continue to attract and retain qualified employees with the skills and specialized knowledge required. This will be especially important in the coming year as some tribunals are faced with the implementation of new legislation, and other may see an increase in cases as an impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022-2023, the ATSSC will introduce a recruitment strategy aimed at attracting and recruiting the best talent to support its mandate. The ATSSC will continue to invest in the professional development of its employees. Through initiatives such as the Talent Management Program, promotion of networking and collaboration through Communities of Practice, and continued offering of part-time group language training, the ATSSC is not only helping its employees to grow but also to retain the specialized talent required to build a healthy and high performing organization. The ATSSC will also continue the standardization of job descriptions, enabling the sharing of staff across tribunal secretariats.

Another significant priority for the ATSSC in 2022-23 will be to finalize and implement its long-term telework strategy. The ATSSC recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the lives of its employees and that considerable efforts will be required to ensure that sufficient flexibilities and support are provided to address its impact on the well-being and occupational health and safety of its employees. The ATSSC workforce has proven how much it can accomplish remotely and in flexible working arrangements—including telework—showing the organization’s resilience and productivity in delivering services to tribunals.

As the ATSSC finalizes and implements its long-term telework strategy, office configuration planning will be important to create functional workspaces in the post-pandemic future of work. Optimization of workspace goes beyond grouping of certain secretariats and tribunals in one location, it also involves identifying the type of workspace that is ideal, based on each tribunal’s unique operational needs. In 2022-23, the ATSSC will implement some space optimization initiatives to explore reconfiguration opportunities to reduce the organization’s real property footprint and greenhouse gas emissions.

The ATSSC will also continue to improve the efficiency of the delivery of its core internal services. The organization will invest in business analytics for the collection and use of performance metrics in support of evidence-based decision making. It will continue to mature its financial management functions and will exploit opportunities for collaboration, such as in procurement efforts, to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and deliver faster services.

Planned budgetary spending for internal services

The following table shows, for internal services, budgetary spending for 2022–23, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.

Planned human resources for internal services

The following table shows, in full time equivalents, the human resources the department will need to carry out its internal services for 2022–23 and for each of the next two fiscal years.

Planned spending and human resources

This section provides an overview of the department’s planned spending and human resources for the next three fiscal years and compares planned spending for 2022–23 with actual spending for the current year and the previous year.

Planned spending

Departmental spending 2019–20 to 2024–25

The following graph presents planned spending (voted and statutory expenditures) over time.

Departmental spending 2019–20 to 2024–25

The graph illustrates the Department’s spending trend over a six-year period starting in 2019-20 and ending in 2024-25. The graph is based on two years of actual spending and four years of planned spending.

In fiscal year 2019-20, the actual spending was $8.8 million coming from statutory spending and $56.3 million from voted spending. In 2020-21, actual spending was 9.9 million from statutory spending with $58.2 million in voted spending

In 2021-22, the planned spending is $10.7 million for statutory spending with $62.7 million in voted spending. For 2022-23, planned spending is $11.3 million for statutory spending with $61.1 million in voted spending. In 2023-24, the planned spending is $11.3 million for statutory spending with $61.1 million in voted spending. In 2024-25, the planned spending is $11.2 million for statutory spending with $61 million in voted spending.

Spending is projected to increase from 2020-21 to 2021-22 ($5.2 M) due to the resumption of in-person proceedings, including mediations and hearings, and related costs following the potential easing of COVID-19 public health restrictions and an increase in personnel expenditures related to the growth in salary rates resulting from the signing of collective agreements. The increase in projected spending is also due to the continued implementation of new legislative mandates for tribunals combined with an increase volume of cases in certain tribunals.

Spending is projected to remain stable from 2021-22 to 2022-23, and ongoing.

Budgetary planning summary for core responsibility and internal services (dollars)

The following table shows information on spending for each of the ATSSC’s core responsibility and for its internal services for 2022–23 and other relevant fiscal years.

Core responsibility and internal services	2019–20 actual expenditures	2020–21 actual expenditures	2021–22 forecast spending	2022–23 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2022–23 planned spending	2023–24 planned spending	2024–25 planned spending
Support services and facilities to federal administrative tribunals and its members	$45,771,866	$47,263,720	$50,781,408	$50,562,411	$50,562,411	$50,580,102	$50,489,086
Subtotal	$45,771,866	$47,263,720	$50,781,408	$50,562,411	$50,562,411	$50,580,102	$50,489,086
Internal services	$19,276,857	$20,885,869	$22,617,743	$21,815,179	$21,815,179	$21,822,811	$21,783,543
Total	$65,048,723	$68,149,589	$73,399,151	$72,377,590	$72,377,590	$72,402,913	$72,272,629

The forecast methodology used to calculate planned spending for the Program and Internal Services is based on historical expenditure data (average of the actual expenditures over the last two fiscal years).

Spending is projected to remain stable from 2021-22 to 2022-23, and ongoing.

2022–23 budgetary gross and net planned spending summary (dollars)

The following table reconciles gross planned spending with net planned spending for 2022–23.

Core responsibility and Internal Services	2022–23 gross planned spending	2022–23 planned revenues netted against spending	2022–23 planned net spending
Support services and facilities to federal administrative tribunals and its members	$84,774,376	$34,211,965	$50,562,411
Subtotal	$84,774,376	$34,211,965	$50,562,411
Internal services	$24,275,417	$2,460,238	$21,815,179
Total	$109,049,793	$36,672,203	$72,377,590

The ATSSC is partially funded by vote-netted revenue (a cost recovery mechanism), for the operations of the Social Security Tribunal Secretariat. As the expenses of this secretariat increase, the revenues increase proportionately, thereby decreasing its net cost of operations. The planned revenues result from the authority to make recoverable expenditures on behalf of the Canada Pension Plan and the Employment Insurance Operating Account.

Corporate information

Reporting framework

The ATSSC’s approved departmental results framework and program inventory for 2022–23 are as follows.

The ATSSC’s approved Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory for 2022-23

The image represents the ATSSC's Departmental Results Framework which includes the following components. Core Responsibility: support services and facilities to federal administrative tribunals and its members. Departmental Result: Tribunal members receive the specialized support services they require to hear matters, to resolve files, or to render decisions. Departmental Result Indicator 1: Percentage of files examined where the preparatory information was deemed complete and provided within the timeframes established by Chairpersons. Departmental Result Indicator 2: Level of satisfaction of tribunal members with the quality of the specialized services offered by their assigned secretariats. Program Inventory - Program 1.1: Registry Services, Program 1.2 Legal Services, Program 1.3 Mandate and Member Services, Internal Services.

Supporting information on the program inventory

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to the ATSSC’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on the ATSSC’s website:

• 2020 to 2023 Short-form Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy

• Gender-based analysis plus

Federal tax expenditures

The ATSSC’s Departmental Plan does not include information on tax expenditures.

Tax expenditures are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for government-wide tax expenditures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. This report provides detailed information on tax expenditures, including objectives, historical background and references to related federal spending programs, as well as evaluations, research papers and gender-based analysis plus.

Organizational contact information

Mailing address

Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada
344 Slater Street, 15^th floor, suite 100
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0B6
Canada

Telephone: 613-954-6350

Fax: 613-957-3170

Email: communications@tribunal.gc.ca

Website: www.canada.ca/en/administrative-tribunals-support-service.html

Appendix: definitions

appropriation (crédit)
Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)
Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)
An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)
A document that sets out a department’s priorities, programs, expected results and associated resource requirements, covering a three year period beginning with the year indicated in the title of the report. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)
A change that a department seeks to influence. A departmental result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)
A factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)
A framework that consists of the department’s core responsibilities, departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)
A report on a department’s actual performance in a fiscal year against its plans, priorities and expected results set out in its Departmental Plan for that year. Departmental Results Reports are usually tabled in Parliament each fall.

experimentation (expérimentation)
The conducting of activities that explore, test and compare the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform decision-making and improve outcomes for Canadians. Experimentation is related to, but distinct from, innovation. Innovation is the trying of something new; experimentation involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, introducing a new mobile application to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new application and comparing it against an existing website or other tools to see which one reaches more people, is experimentation.

full-time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)
A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full-person year charge against a departmental budget. Full-time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS Plus])
An analytical tool used to support the development of responsive and inclusive policies, programs and other initiatives; and understand how factors such as sex, race, national and ethnic origin, Indigenous origin or identity, age, sexual orientation, socio-economic conditions, geography, culture and disability, impact experiences and outcomes, and can affect access to and experience of government programs.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)
For the purpose of the 2022-23 Departmental Plan, government-wide priorities are the high-level themes outlining the Government’s agenda in the 2021 Speech from the Throne: building a healthier today and tomorrow; growing a more resilient economy; bolder climate action; fighter harder for safer communities; standing up for diversity and inclusion; moving faster on the path to reconciliation and fighting for a secure, just, and equitable world.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)
An initiative in which two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

non-budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)
Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)
What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

plan (plan)
The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally, a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)
For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in the Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)
Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within a department and that focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)
An inventory of a department’s programs that describes how resources are organized to carry out the department’s core responsibilities and achieve its planned results.

result (résultat)
An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead, they are within the area of the organization’s influence.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)
Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

target (cible)
A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)
Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.