ARCHIVED – Report on Annual Expenditures for Travel, Hospitality and Conferences – Fiscal Year 2014–2015

As required by the Treasury Board Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures, this report provides information on the total annual expenditures for each of travel, hospitality and conference fees for Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2015. It also provides the variance explanations from the previous fiscal year in each of these areas.

This information is updated annually and does not contain information withheld under the Access to Information Act or the Privacy Act.

Expenditures on travel, hospitality and conferences incurred by federal departments and agencies are related to activities that support the department’s mandate and the government’s priorities.

CIC’s Mandate

CIC selects foreign nationals as permanent and temporary residents whose skills contribute to Canadian prosperity.

The Department maintains Canada’s humanitarian tradition by welcoming refugees and other people in need of protection, thereby upholding its international obligations and reputation.

CIC develops Canada’s admissibility policy, which sets the conditions for entering and remaining in Canada. It conducts, in collaboration with its partners, the screening of potential permanent and temporary residents to protect the health, safety and security of Canadians. CIC is also responsible for the issuance and control of Canadian passports, which facilitate the travel of Canadians abroad.

Lastly, the Department builds a stronger Canada by helping all newcomers settle and integrate into Canadian society and the economy, and by encouraging and facilitating Canadian citizenship and multiculturalism.

To achieve its goals, CIC offers many of its services on the CIC Web site, as well as at 25 in-Canada points of service and 61 points of service in 52 countries. CIC also partners with other federal government departments to administer its many programs. For instance, CIC works with Service Canada and Canada Post for the delivery of most passport services through these departments’ respective 153 and 43 in-Canada locations. Additionally, CIC’s services and programs are delivered through contract or grant and contribution agreements. As of June 2015 there were 135 visa application centres in 95 countries, 145 application support centres within the United States of America, and a panel physicians network operating around the world.

Further details about CIC’s authority, mandate and programs can be found in the department’s Departmental Performance Report (DPR), Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP), and other sources of relevant information located on the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website.

Travel, Hospitality and Conference Expenditures

CIC’s hospitality expenses are mainly derived from activities related to hosting of citizenship ceremonies, events and meetings with foreign dignitaries as well as with federal, provincial, and territorial stakeholders.

CIC works in a multi-faceted, rapidly changing policy environment.  Canada is a nation built on immigration, which has always played an important economic role in meeting our labour market needs. International migration is increasingly complex, with the movement of people being closely linked to trade, global health, and security concerns.  Even as we strengthen partnerships at home, we must also foster international partnerships to ensure well-managed, safe and secure international migration. Managing our migration programs requires continued vigilance with respect to fraud and security threats. Managing in a global environment dictates that CIC must travel in order to ensure program integrity and to provide an oversight and monitoring of its national and international operations.

Total annual expenditures for Travel, Hospitality and Conferences of Citizenship and Immigration Canada are summarized below:

(in thousands of dollars)
Expenditure Category Expenditures for the year ending March 31, 2015 Expenditures for the previous year ending March 31, 2014 Variance
Travel: Public Servants $13,652 $13,257 $395
Travel: Non-Public Servants $615 $650 ($35)
Total Travel $14,267 $13,907 $360
Hospitality $279 $400 ($121)
Conference Fees $36 $28 $8
Total $14,582 $14,335 $247
International Travel by Ministers and Ministers’ StaffFootnote * (also included in Non-Public Servant Travel) $104 $53 $51

Significant variances compared to the previous fiscal year

The Passport and International Experience Canada (IEC) programs were integrated with CIC on July 2, 2013 and August 31, 2013 respectively. As a result, CIC’s expenditures in 2013-2014 contain 9 and 7 months of Passport and IEC numbers respectively, whereas a full 12 months of expenditures were incurred in 2014-2015 for these programs.

Travel:

  • Public Servants: Compared to fiscal year 2013-2014, departmental travel expenditures by public servants increased by $395 thousand. While the department makes continuous efforts to reduce its travel expenditures, specific initiatives related to the modernization of CIC’s operations explain this increase and is mainly due to:
    • In 2014-2015, international travel increased due to additional temporary duty assignments in missions abroad, as a result of new funding to keep up with the growth in temporary resident applications and information sharing; additional Visa Application Centres (VAC) openings and biometrics equipment deployment as well as new training requirements (Foreign Service Development Program, Employer Liaison Network/Express Entry, Global Case Management System Workshops);
    • In 2014-2015, staff was deployed to Western region and was on extended travel status to support the staffing process of numerous positions mainly for the Citizenship Program.
    • In 2014-2015, the Citizenship Program implemented major legislative reforms, including transformation of the decision-maker model. Travel was required to provide training to citizenship officers from across the country in order to become delegated decision-makers for grants of citizenship. Travel was also required to provide training on a new citizenship application processing platform to citizenship program staff across the country.
    • In 2014-2015, there was increased travel due to a Time and Motion Study to evaluate costs related to Temporary Resident Visa processing. Travel was also required to pilot the new Integrated Payment Revenue Management System (IPRMS) in preparation for its implementation. It was subsequently deployed in 60 missions abroad.
    • These increases were partially offset by a substantial decrease in travel related to the completion of the deployment of Temporary Resident Biometric Project (TRBP) biometrics collection capabilities in 184 locations in 2013-2014.
  • Non-Public Servants: Compared to fiscal year 2013-2014, departmental travel expenditures by non-public servants decreased by $35 thousand as follows:
    • The decrease is mainly the result of a decrease in travel incurred by international representatives and diplomats for the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in 2013-2014. Canada was the host country for this event that year, therefore these expenses were not incurred in 2014-2015.
    • International Travel by Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries and Ministers’ Staff (which is included under Travel: Non-Public Servants) increased as explained in section C below. This partially offsets the decreases explained above.
  • International Travel by Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries and Ministers’ Staff: Compared to fiscal year 2013-2014, departmental international travel expenditures by the Ministers, their staff, and Parliamentary Secretaries increased by $51 thousand mainly due to:
    • International travel expenses are dictated by the level of travel undertaken by the Ministers and their agendas. In 2013-2014, the Ministers’ international travel decreased from the previous year mainly due to the Cabinet shuffle that occurred in July 2013. International travel often decreases during the first year of appointment to a new portfolio as the Ministers acquaint themselves with their new Department. With the Ministers being fully settled in their new roles for 2014-2015, international travel has increased to normal levels.
    • For further details on international travel, please visit the CIC Proactive Disclosure web page.

Hospitality:

Compared to fiscal year 2013-2014, departmental hospitality expenditures decreased by $121 thousand mainly as a result of Canada being the host for the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) in 2013-2014. These expenses were not incurred in 2014-2015.

Conference fees:

Compared to fiscal year 2013-2014, departmental conference fee expenditures increased by $8 thousand mainly due to:

  • In 2014-2015, the IEC program incurred $16 thousand in expenses related to various conferences. These conference fees had previously been incurred by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD) in 2013-2014 prior to the transfer of IEC to CIC in August 2013.
  • These increases were partially offset by decreases of $8 thousand due to the continuous efforts of the department to maintain low conference expenditures.

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