IRCC Minister Transition Binder 2021: Logistics and Reference Information

Overview

This presentation will provide you with logistical and reference information to assist you with gaining a high-level understanding of key corporate services and responsibilities:

1. Security - Practices and protocols
2. Corporate Services - Services available to you and your office
3. Access to Information and Privacy - Overview of the acts and recent statistics
4. Proactive Disclosure - New requirements and progress to date
5. Managing information - Duty to maintain records
6. Financial Authorities - Delegation of Spending and Financial Authorities requirements
7. Governor in Council Appointments - Roles and responsibilities

Security: Safeguards in Place for your Safety

IRCC Corporate Security and the RCMP

• There are a number of security protocols in place to ensure your security. An in-person briefing on these measures will be held soon after your arrival.
• IRCC Corporate Security coordinates with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Protective Services on security matters. This requires sharing your agenda and travel schedule with IRCC Corporate Security in a timely manner.
  • Threat and risk assessments (TRAs) are conducted by the RCMP in collaboration with law enforcement agencies, on your behalf, with regard to all domestic and international activities and public invitations.
  • TRAs of your residence(s) are conducted by IRCC Corporate Security within the first 90 days of you taking office.
  • A TRA of your constituency office is also completed in collaboration with House of Commons Security.
  • Classified information addressed to you, including special access documents, are received, distributed and accounted for by IRCC Corporate Security.
  • IRCC Corporate Security will provide security awareness sessions for your staff on request.

Corporate services at your disposal

• During the 43-2 Parliamentary Session, IRCC responded to 281 parliamentary returns and appeared at 17 committee meetings.
• Last year, the Briefings Unit reviewed 301 memoranda addressed to the Minister.
• Due to the pandemic, departmental binder production was relatively low, 55 binders, and 59 e‐binders vs 710 in 2019-2020.

DMO-21

• The Deputy Minister’s Office has a dedicated executive and a team of departmental resources to support you in all day-to-day operations and in your key interactions with the Department. Led by the Departmental Assistant, DMO-21 is comprised of three teams:
  • Advisors – your first stop for policy and program needs
  • Corporate Services – your dedicated resource for issues related to human resources, finance, security, IT and accommodations
  • Travel and Protocol Services Unit (TPS) – your support for all requests related to meetings with stakeholders, as well as international and domestic engagements

Briefings Unit

• To ensure high quality briefing products, the team coordinates, edits and packages all briefing materials provided to you by the Department. This includes memoranda for your information, decision or approval, as well as briefing binders to support you for meetings, events, trips, and parliamentary committee appearances.

Parliamentary Affairs Unit

• A multiservice team at your disposal through regular consultation on all parliamentary-related issues, including strategic advice on committee appearances, debates, the legislative process, tabling information in Parliament, as well as other parliamentary processes.

Ministerial Enquiries Division (MED) – Ministerial Correspondence

• Receives, triages, records and responds to correspondence addressed to you.
• Provides statistical reports on correspondence volumes, trends, and service standard adherence rates.
• 2.5% of responses (over 600 last year) for your consideration are drafted in close collaboration with key areas of expertise throughout the Department. These are VIP correspondents, including elected officials at all levels, foreign governments, stakeholders, partners, and your constituents.

MED provides 97.5% of the answers sent directly to clients and correspondents (nearly 27,000 last year). Most of these (about 80%) are case enquires from IRCC clients.

Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP)

• 57% of all ATIP requests in the federal government were submitted to IRCC in 2020-2021.
• Average growth of 31.5% in pages reviewed over the last five years.
• 166% growth in requests since 2014-2015.

Access to Information Act

• Provides access to corporate records, for example: memoranda, briefing notes, reports, etc.

Privacy Act

• Provides individuals access to their own personal information

Both Acts are subject to limitations in terms of information that may be disclosed

• The Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) are responsible for overseeing compliance with the Acts. IRCC has collaborative working relationships with both the OIC and the OPC.
• The growth in the number of Access to Information and Privacy requests submitted to IRCC over the past several years has been unprecedented and we expect that this growth will continue.
• IRCC is one of the largest ATIP divisions in the Government of Canada. ATIP volumes far exceed those of any other government department (i.e. the # of ATIP requests received and # of ATIP files closed).

Areas of focus for the IRCC ATIP Division include:

• Implementing the ATIP Management Action Plan, which directly responds to the issues and recommendations raised in the OIC’s Systemic Investigation Report; and
• Preparing for the Coming into Force of the Privacy Act Extension Order, a measure that will broaden access to include all individuals outside Canada to whom that right has not been extended previously.

Proactive Disclosure

Since 2019, all federal departments must publish the following materials online:

• Titles of briefing notes and memoranda to ministers and deputy ministers (monthly).
• All Question Period notes prepared for ministers (30 days after the last sitting day in June and December).
• Transition and parliamentary committee appearance binders prepared for ministers and deputy ministers (120 days after appointment/appearance).
• Bill C-58 requires proactive disclosure of all ministers’ office contracts and amendments over $10K.

Departments must also proactively publish other components according to timelines:

• Disclosure of travel and hospitality expenses for all Minister’s Office staff and senior management of the Department (monthly).
• Annual report of all expenses incurred by a Minister’s Office (within 120 days after fiscal year end).

Names and titles of ministerial staff are not considered personal information and will be disclosed through access to information requests.

Managing Information

Electronic Documents

• Electronic documents up to Protected B level must be saved in GCdocs under the appropriate folder.

Paper Documents

• Paper documents should be segregated in different cabinets according to the category of information and their designation or classification.

Classified and Designated Information

• Information must be handled, protected and secured according to its designation or classification.
• Information Security Guide

ATIP & Litigation

• Before disposing of information be aware of ongoing legal holds and ATIP requests.

MS Teams

• All conversations are deleted after 24H.
• All decisions captured in a conversation must be transferred to GCdocs.
• Protected B if everybody is using an IRCC device. If not, conversation must remain unclassified.
• Save information into GCdocs from Collaborative Tools

Personal Email Address

• Do not use your personal email address to conduct IRCC business activities.

Financial Authorities

Immediate requirements

As per the Treasury Board Directive on Delegation of Spending and Financial Authorities requirements, we will send you the Departmental Delegation of Spending and Financial Authorities Instrument within 90 calendar days of your appointment for your approval.

• The appointment of a new Minister does not nullify existing authorities.
• Responsibility for the budgetary control and spending of public money is placed on Ministers and Deputy Ministers by Parliament through Appropriation Acts, the Financial Administration Act, and Financial Administration Act Regulations.
• All expenditures incurred for the Department must be approved in accordance with the Financial Administration Act.

Governor in Council Appointments

Appointment Requirements

• An open, transparent and merit-based selection process for Governor in Council appointments was established in February 2016.
• The process supports ministers in making appointment recommendations of high-quality candidates who reflect Canada’s diversity for positions within their portfolio.
• As a Member of the Queen’s Privy Council of Canada and responsible Minister, you will be asked to recommend to Cabinet Governor in Council appointments for two organizations under your portfolio:
  • The Immigration and Refugee Board; and,
  • Citizenship Judges.