ARCHIVED – Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada Report on Annual Expenditures for Travel, Hospitality and Conferences Fiscal Year 2016-2017

As required by the Treasury Board Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures, this report provides information on the total annual expenditures for travel, hospitality and conference fees for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017. 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.

IRCC's Mandate

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) selects and welcomes, permanent residents, temporary residents and foreign nationals, whose skills contribute to Canadian prosperity, as well as reunites family members.

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

IRCC, in collaboration with its partners, conducts the screening of potential permanent and temporary residents to protect the health, safety and security of Canadians. IRCC is also responsible for issuing and controlling Canadian passports and other documents that facilitate the travel of Canadian citizens and residents.

Lastly, the Department builds a stronger Canada by helping all newcomers settle and integrate into Canadian society and the economy, and by encouraging, granting and providing proof of Canadian citizenship.

Further details about IRCC's authority, mandate and programs can be found in the department's Departmental Results Report (DRR), Departmental Plan (DP) and other sources of relevant information located on the IRCC Web site.

Travel, Hospitality and Conference Expenditures

IRCC 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 in a global environment dictates that IRCC must travel in order to ensure program integrity and to provide an oversight and monitoring of its national and international operations.

IRCC's hospitality expenses are mainly derived from activities related to events and meetings with foreign dignitaries as well as with federal, provincial, and territorial stakeholders.

IRCC's conference includes congress, convention, briefing seminar or other formal gathering where participants debate or are informed of the status of a discipline.

Significant variances compared to the previous fiscal year

This section is used to provide a brief explanation of significant variances from the previous year's annual expenditures for each category.

Travel:

1. Public Servants: Compared to fiscal year 2015-2016, departmental travel expenditures by public servants increased by $850 thousand. The increase in 2016–2017 is mainly attributable to:
   • Travel to support initiatives such as but not limited to the visa lift for Mexico, Bulgaria and Romania, the expansion of Electronic Travel Authorization, the Atlantic Immigration Pilot and the Federal Internship for newcomers.
   • Travel to support the delivery of core business such as but not limited to the audits and review of IRCC operations in missions abroad and in Canada or the Regional Immigration Program Managers Meetings.
   • A national conference on the Refugee Assistance Program held in Ottawa.
   Offsetting these increases, travel costs related to the Syrian refugee initiative decreased from the previous year as this initiative is now at the settlement stage.
2. Non-Public Servants: Compared to fiscal year 2015-2016, departmental travel expenditures by non-public servants decreased by $137 thousand and is mostly explained by:
   • The reclassification of travel expenses for citizenship judges to Public Servants instead of Non-Public Servants for fiscal year 2016-2017.
   • The reduction in travel costs related to the Syrian refugees initiative as it is now at the settlement stage where travel requirements are less important.
3. International Travel by Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries and Ministers' Staff: There was no significant year over year variation for these expenditures.

For further details on international travel, please visit the IRCC Proactive Disclosure web page.

Hospitality:

Compared to fiscal year 2015-2016, departmental hospitality expenditures increased by $35 thousand mainly as a result of the 16^th plenary meeting for the Transatlantic Council on Migration that was held in Toronto in June of 2016.

Conference fees:

Compared to fiscal year 2015-2016, departmental conference fee expenditures increased by $117 thousand mainly as a result of:

• The One Young World Summit which attracted 1,300 of the world's most valuable young talented individuals from over 100 organizations across the world that was hosted by Ottawa from September 28 to October 1 in 2016.
• The participation of the Department, which involved over 16 government departments and central agencies, in the Policy Community Conference to support and strengthen the federal policy community that was held in Ottawa from March 28 to March 29 in 2017.