IRCC Minister Transition Binder 2025-05

Departmental Liaison Unit and Corporate Services Unit

May 2025

Overview

• Welcome to IRCC
• Overview of the Departmental Liaison Unit
• How can the Departmental Liaison Unit help you?
• Regular Meetings
• Supporting Teams
• Overview of the DMO Corporate Services Unit
• How can the Corporate Services Unit help you?
• Helpful Resources

Welcome to IRCC

• The Deputy Minister is the primary public service advisor to the Minister and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Department.
• There are two teams in the Deputy Minister’s office (DMO) that will be your main points of contact for information and support:
  • Department Liaison Unit (DLU) is your key contact for all interactions with the Department outside the direct relationship between the Deputy Minister and the Minister.
  • DMO Corporate Services Unit is your contact for help with human resources, financial, and corporate issues (e.g., information technology assets, building passes, issues with facilities, etc.)

Overview of the Departmental Liaison Unit

The Departmental Liaison Unit is your entry point for accessing information from the Department.

• There are two key contacts in the Departmental Liaison Unit (DLU):
  • Departmental Liaison (DL): Donahue Richard
  • Assistant Departmental Liaison Unit (DL2): Jessica Doyle
• The unit also includes a briefing coordinator (Kristina Malizia), a meeting and travel coordinator (Mariette Sheldon), and an administrative officer who manages reception area among other duties.
• Someone in the DLU is on duty from 8:30 to 18:00 Monday to Friday.
• After hours support is available evenings and weekends via the on-call DL.
• You can contact DLU by email IRCC.DMODepartmentalLiaison-BSMLiaisonMinisterielle.IRCC@cic.gc.ca.

How can the Departmental Liaison Unit help you?

Advice to the Minister about how to move initiatives forward or address challenges comes to the Minister via the Deputy Minister.

The DLU is here to help manage the flow of information and provide support in three ways:

Policy/Operational Translation

• Providing context, information, and answers to questions about processes, policies, and operations to support the Minister in executing their responsibilities and making decisions.

 Briefings and Information Management

• Setting up briefings between the Minister and the Deputy Minister; transmitting official advice and information from the Deputy Minister to the Minister, transmitting direction from the Minister to the Deputy Minister (e.g., signed memoranda).
• Coordinating responses to questions and access to information in support of the Minister’s decision making.

Logistics and Coordination

• Coordinating support for the Minister for official travel (domestic and international), engagements with stakeholders, and government-related parliamentary duties (e.g., committee appearances and question period).

Regular Meetings

MinDM

• MinDM is short for Minister–Deputy Minister briefings.
• MinDM is a standing weekly meeting where the Deputy Minister, with support from other public service officials, briefs the Minister on emerging issues, regular operational updates, and policy or program proposals.
• The agenda for MinDM is set by the Deputy Minister based on operational needs and government priorities and starts with a “Look Ahead” to briefly review upcoming milestones, including the following:
  • Parliamentary reporting dates and appearances
  • Cabinet presentations and Treasury Board Submissions
  • Major events/public communications (e.g., announcements, advertising campaigns, etc.)

Minister–Deputy Minister Bilats

• The Minister and the Deputy Minister typically have regular weekly bilateral meetings to discuss sensitive issues and ensure that the Minister has the opportunity to share priorities with the Deputy Minister in a confidential setting.

DLU–Chief of Staff Bilats

• The Departmental Liaison and the Chief of Staff to the Minister typically have weekly bilateral meetings to discuss pending briefing notes, upcoming briefings, and process issues to keep things running smoothly. 

Supporting Teams

Working in Collaboration with the DLU

Parliamentary Affairs

• The Parliamentary Affairs team coordinates support for the Minister in carrying out their parliamentary duties.
• The team supports the Minister by coordinating preparation of question period cards and speeches, responses to opposition party questions and petitions, and briefing materials for committee appearances.

Communications

• Given how quickly day-to-day communications decisions must be made (e.g., media monitoring, media calls, etc.), the communications team has a direct liaison that works with DLU to support the Minister’s team on daily communications issues.
• Longer-term communications strategies (e.g., advertising campaigns, etc.) are still coordinated through the DLU.
• Coordination of press conferences/ministerial announcements; drafting speeches.

Specialized Case Inquiries

• The specialized Ministerial Inquiries Liaison unit within the Service Delivery Sector supports the Minister in triaging the many requests that come to their office about specific immigration cases.
• These cases are brought to the Minister’s attention by members of Parliament, stakeholders, and individuals.
• The unit provides updates to the Minister on these cases and, when appropriate, investigates any issues related to the case processing.

Corporate Secretariat

• The Corporate Secretariat houses the Briefings Unit, the Corporate Governance Unit, and the Ministerial Enquiries Division. 
• These teams operate behind the scenes to coordinate logistics for departmental committee meetings (e.g., MinDM, lookahead meetings, etc.),  ministerial travel, and parliamentary committee appearances, as well as responses to letters and emails addressed to the Minister.

Ministerial Enquiries 

• A part of the Corporate Secretariat, the Ministerial Enquires Division (MED) coordinates responses to the hundreds of thousands of pieces of correspondence that are addressed to the Minister each year.
• When correspondence is received, MED triages it, drafts, quality controls responses, and sends them out on behalf of the Minister following approval.
• DLU works with you and MED to triage correspondence coming in to make sure it is logged and processed for response.

Overview of the DMO Corporate Services Unit

• The Corporate Services Unit is a single window for human resources, financial services, and accommodations for the Deputy Minister and the Minister’s offices working in collaboration with relevant parts of the Department.
• The unit supports the Minister’s office in adhering to the Policies for Minister’s Offices and can help you connect with the right people regarding questions about hiring, pay and benefits, budget, the Minister’s vehicle, building and House of Commons passes, information technology (IT), office repairs and cleaning, among other issues.
• Someone on the Corporate Services Unit is on duty between 8:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday.
• You can connect with the Corporate Services Unit at IRCC.DMOCorporateServices-ServicesMinisterielBSM.IRCC2@cic.gc.ca.
• Urgent after-hours issues can be flagged to the DL on call who can help address them in the short term and loop back with the Corporate Services Unit.

How can the Corporate Services Unit Help You?

HR and Pay

• Working with the Minister’s Chief of Staff to support management of the budget and human resources (e.g., payment and reconciliation of corporate credit cards, creation of letters of offer, onboarding and off boarding staff, security clearances for staff, etc.).
• Answering to questions about pay or benefits for members of the Minister’s team.

Accommodations and Security

• Obtaining building and parliamentary passes and access to secure networks and devices for the Minister’s team and coordinating security clearances for the Chief of Staff and ministerial staff (Minister and Parliamentary Secretary clearances are handled by the Privy Council Office).
• Facilitating accommodations requests, including repairs, furniture, etc.

Logistics and Coordination

• Coordinating support with IT, travel claims, Minister’s vehicle, hospitality and procurement, reporting, and records management.

Helpful Resources

• GCDocs Repository – copies of information provided to the Minister’s office. This includes memos, parliamentary questions, meeting recommendations, as well as other supporting materials, such as meeting notes, dashboards, and onboarding material.
• IRCC Website – Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) public website that provides information about the Department’s operations, including the Help Centre and Processing Times calculator.
• Open Government Portal– publicly available data and information on various immigration topics.
• The Treasury Board Sectretariat’s Policies for Minister’s Offices.
• Minister’s staff are designated public officer holders under the Lobbying Act and the Conflict of Interest Act.