Library and Archives Canada 2025–26 Departmental Plan

© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Canadian Culture and Identity, Parks Canada and Quebec Lieutenant, 2025
Catalogue No.: SB1-11E-PDF
ISSN: 2371-6851
2025–26 Departmental Plan (Library and Archives Canada)
Également disponible en français sous le titre : Plan ministériel 2024-2025 (Bibliothèque et Archives Canada)

LAC will continue towards the implementation of its strategic vision through focused acquisitions, training opportunities, updates to acquisition strategies, and improved processes that will aim to develop and diversify its collections. Integrating the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA) and reconciliation in acquisition practices and outreach strategies will help to ensure that all facets of the Canadian experience are represented in the national collections.

Results we plan to achieve

• LAC will work to acquire material that reflects the depth and complexity of Canadian history
  Intending to facilitate a 25% increase of published titles deposited to LAC in a digital format and aiming to cover the majority of its private archives acquisition areas, LAC will work using the resources available to continue building collections that reflect the vast range of Canadian experiences. Analysis to identify areas of the collections that should be targeted will be followed by outreach to underrepresented and Indigenous communities, developing relationships that will help LAC enhance representativeness within its holdings. Through continued training opportunities, LAC staff will increase their awareness and understanding of issues related to reconciliation and EDIA, which will help inform acquisition decisions.
  
  To develop and diversify its collections, LAC will review both the published heritage and private archives acquisition strategies. The review will be conducted with a goal of focusing LAC's resources on maximizing the acquisition of material of national importance that is underrepresented in the collections. The updated Published Heritage Acquisition Strategy will refine processes, such as reducing the number of physical copies of published material required by the legal deposit acquisition process. It will also establish guidelines that better support publishers to foster acquisitions from a wide range of publishers, which will contribute to diversifying LAC's collections. Using its current Private Archives Acquisition Orientation as its foundation, LAC will strengthen its direction with regards to acquiring private archives that will further the objectives of reconciliation and support the acquisition of material from diversified communities. Through outreach and support initiatives, the new strategies will be communicated to publishers, potential donors, stakeholders and partners, as well as LAC staff, to facilitate acquisitions that align with the new guidelines and demonstrate the diverse composition of Canadian history and life.
  
• Reviewing guidance, tools and strategies will further facilitate the transfer of GC records
  In 2025–26, LAC anticipates that 10% of federal institutions will transfer their records to LAC, in accordance with the Library and Archives Canada Act. LAC will continue to review the standardized processes and tools that assist GC organizations with a Disposition Authority in determining which records should be transferred to LAC and which records no longer have operational value and should therefore be discarded. In addition, LAC will review general guidance and tools on the transfer process, metadata standards and information management to help facilitate a smooth transfer of records from federal departments to LAC.

While maintaining its targets to process documentary heritage in a timely manner, LAC will continue to process and make searchable its growing collections. Key to making the collections discoverable will be LAC's work with respect to reparative descriptions, focusing on a collaborative approach with relevant communities and groups to ensure collections are described with accuracy and respect.

Results we plan to achieve

• LAC remains committed to processing and making documentary heritage discoverable in a timely manner
  LAC will maintain its targets to process government records, published heritage and private archives within its service standards in 2025–26. Ensuring that most of its records are processed in a timely manner enables their discoverability, meaning they can be readily found by users in LAC's public-facing systems or within internal databases by LAC staff in the service of its users.
  
  Working to update the aging databases through which LAC organizes its collections will be key for LAC staff and users to continue to effectively discover Canada's diverse documentary history and find the information they need. To replace its current aging archival information system, LAC will advance the Archival Information Revitalization Initiative (AIRI). This project aims to provide LAC with a modern system that will improve the organization's ability to process and describe records, in addition to improving overall records discoverability through better metadata quality and management. AIRI will involve various teams within LAC, who will help to define the requirements for the new archival system to ensure that there is alignment and integration across data management systems at LAC and that user needs will be met.
  
• Reparative description will help to improve discoverability of LAC's collections
  Integral to discoverability is ensuring that LAC's collections are described in its systems with appropriate language and terms. LAC will aim to identify areas within its collections where material has been described inaccurately and inappropriately, including material related to Chinese immigration, Indigenous archival records and 2SLGBTQI+ publications. In its efforts to work towards descriptions that are appropriate and respectful and that meet the needs of the people and groups represented in its collections, LAC will collaborate with relevant donors and communities, including the National Indigenous Knowledge Language Alliance and 2SLGBTQI+ groups. In addition, LAC will continue to work with partners to develop and support tools and standards that are used by other libraries to make their collections more discoverable and accessible.
  
• Proactive review will improve discoverability of GC records
  LAC will streamline its efforts to proactively review historical government records to increase their availability to the public and improve their metadata so that they are more discoverable to users within LAC's systems. To maximize the public benefit of its proactive review activities, LAC will pilot new approaches to identify and prioritize historical GC records, including a consideration of the subjects and documents that will be of interest to its users. At the end of the year, LAC will review the progress of the new approaches to proactive review and plan for continued improvements.

2025–26 will be a busy year maintaining LAC's current facilities to help ensure preservation of its collections, as well as planning the move of some collections to Ādisōke, its state-of-the-art facility currently under construction, in advance of its opening in the summer of 2026. In addition, LAC will continue to process digital material for long-term preservation.

Results we plan to achieve

• Moving the collection to Ādisōke
  Over an 18-month period beginning in April 2025, LAC will be planning and facilitating the move of selected published collections, including the genealogy collection and the Jacob M. Lowy Collection of rare Hebraica and Judaica, from 395 Wellington Street to Ādisōke, its new shared facility with the Ottawa Public Library. During the project, LAC is planning to procure and test a new Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system, a technology that emits radio waves between tags and readers to identify and track object location. Selected material will be equipped with RFID tags to help ensure the security of LAC's featured collections and support collections management.
  
• Improvements to LAC's real property portfolio will help maintain the facilities that house its collections
  The preservation of Canada's national collections relies on real property management to ensure facilities are properly equipped to house and protect LAC's growing collections. For 2025–26, LAC has kept its goal that 75% of its facilities will provide an environment that meets preservation standards for analog collections. Major renovation projects to replace the roof and electrical systems and install a new generator at LAC's Renfrew Collections Storage Facility (RCSF) in Ontario will help to stabilize this facility and mitigate risks to the collections it houses. Furthermore, LAC will establish a Collection Storage Framework, which will provide guidance, strategies and objectives to help ensure that LAC's facilities can properly preserve and support access to LAC's collections over the long term. This document will help set some of the requirements for LAC's Real Property Portfolio Strategy, such as those related to space planning and management, optimal storage conditions and moving collections in the future.
  
• Preservation of digital material will remain a priority
  With a goal of processing and preserving 1,500 TB of digital archival, library and Web content, LAC will continue its work to make digital material available and discoverable to Canadians. By the end of 2025–26, LAC aims to increase the total amount of preserved digital material in its collections to 17,000 TB. Furthermore, LAC intends to process and migrate 15,000 hours of at-risk audiovisual materials to digital format, which will enable access and ensure its long-term preservation.
  
  Underpinning LAC's digital preservation activities will be its Digital Preservation Policy, which the organization aims to finalize and make available to the public in 2025–26, as well at its Digitization Strategy and Digitization Action Plan. Through these initiatives, LAC's digitization projects will help to serve LAC's priorities and support service transformation projects. Through its policies, strategies and plans, LAC will also continue to review and implement operational efficiencies and continue to support various partnerships, both within the GC and beyond.

LAC's activities and initiatives that support Core responsibility 1: Acquiring and preserving documentary heritage are supported by gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) approaches that respect distinctions and are culturally appropriate. This is evident in LAC's plans to continue to ensure that material in its collections is described with vocabulary that is respectful, culturally appropriate and historically accurate and that processes consider the diverse individuals and groups from whom LAC acquires materials to enhance its collections.

The work to replace the roof and electrical systems at the RCSF in a sustainable manner mentioned in LAC's 2024–25 Departmental Plan will continue in 2025–26. Aligning with UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9 to build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and encourage innovation, the new roof, which will include green roof elements, will be resilient against climate hazards and has a life expectancy of 35 years. Furthermore, SDG 12, which involves establishing sustainable means of consumption and production through efficient use of resources and energy, will be supported by the RCSF's new electrical system. This system includes a new transformer, low-voltage switchgear and backup diesel generator. It is also cost-effective to operate and has a life expectancy of 40 years.

More information on LAC's contributions to Canada's Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

Preparations for Ādisōke will be top of mind in 2025–26, finalizing the plans for the exhibitions, services, programs and spaces that will welcome visitors beginning in summer 2026. In addition, models for online and in-person services and programming will continue to be developed as LAC transforms to a more user-centric approach. Lastly, fostering partnerships and utilizing new technologies will allow LAC to further increase public access to Canada's documentary heritage.

Results we plan to achieve

• Beyond Ādisōke, LAC will continue to implement user-centric service models
  While 2025–26 will see LAC busy preparing for Ādisōke's opening, it will also continue to gather and incorporate user feedback to improve its integrated service delivery online as well as its service points across the country. This will fulfill the requirement to design and deliver client-centric service in line with the GC Policy on Service and Digital. Aiming to meet the needs of current and future audiences, LAC will review models for client services, programs and fee structures, develop and update service standards, and continue to create research guides to support clients in finding relevant material in the collection. With the help of these service initiatives, LAC expects to perform 60,000 service transactions onsite and remotely at its national services points across the country.
  
• New integrated approaches for online spaces and collection search services
  Through updated reporting mechanisms, LAC has observed a growing number of users accessing its services online, with projections of three million unique visitors to its website and online applications in 2025–26. To expand its reach across Canada and better meet the needs of current and future users, LAC is continuously improving its online services using user experience research and design. Ongoing efforts include increasing the functionality of user accounts, enhancing user interfaces to make them more intuitive, and consolidating databases. An initiative this year will be the development of an Immigration Search tool, which will provide users with a central access point for records related to immigration in Canada. Furthermore, improving record metadata based on user needs will promote self-service and discovery of LAC's collections, as will the digitization of analog reference tools and finding aids.
  
• LAC will continue to actively listen to its users to improve services
  To create successful online and in-person services that cater to the needs of its users, LAC will continue to transform the way it works to elicit more user feedback and incorporate client ideas and suggestions into its models and programs. To this end, LAC will continue to track, share and action user feedback from multiple sources to improve service delivery.
  
• Digitization and AI initiatives will expand access to LAC's collections
  In a continued effort to provide ready access to its collections, LAC will aim to digitize 5.8 million images in 2025–26. The slight decrease from the 6.5 million images projected for 2024–25 reflects the conclusion of the Indian Day School Project. Aligning with its goals to foster partnerships to better meet the changing needs of its users, LAC's continued collaboration with Internet Archive Canada will endeavour to digitize up to 100,000 out-of-copyright publications, dating from the 1200s to 1920, for free access on this online platform.

As the permanent repository of records for the Government of Canada (GC), LAC holds unique and significant responsibilities with regards to ATIP surpassing those of other federal departments. In 2022, LAC initiated its ATIP Action Plan to reduce backlog and respond to incoming ATIP requests in a timely manner. In 2025–26, LAC will continue to provide responsive support and access to records to fulfill GC class action litigation needs and other legal obligations.

Results we plan to achieve

• Continued implementation of the ATIP Action Plan will help LAC process ATIP requests more efficiently
  LAC plans to steadily improve its ability to respond to ATIP requests through the continued implementation of the ATIP Action Plan. LAC's goal in 2025–26 is to process 70% of all ATIP requests, including both new requests and the existing backlog. LAC will also strive to respond to 95% of all formal ATIP requests within the statutory time limits. To achieve these goals, LAC will review and streamline its operational procedures to ensure business stability and continuity. It will also focus on developing and delivering targeted training for staff to strengthen ATIP capabilities. Updates to standards and policies on privacy management, privacy breaches and disclosure, as well as investments in information technology will help improve the processing of protected and classified material. LAC will also aim to reduce its overall backlog by 50% and work to address complaints made to the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada in a timely manner.
  
  External engagement will remain key to implementing LAC's ATIP Action Plan. LAC will continue to communicate with GC partners on matters related to ATIP and meet regularly with the Office of the Information Commissioner. Through public events, it will promote the tools and processes in place to assist Canadians in making ATIP requests. Also, in advance of the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day in May 2025, LAC will work with the Métis National Council and the Royal Canadian Legion National Office to proactively manage the expected high volume of ATI requests for commemoration purposes.
  
  LAC's implementation of the ATIP Access Plan will be complemented by the renovation project at the Winnipeg Records Centre. Aiming for completion by the end of 2025, this modernization and optimization of the facility will further help LAC in its ATIP obligations by increasing capacity for staff within the facility and by expanding space for digitization activities.
  
• LAC will remain committed to supporting GC settlement agreements, class action litigation and other legal matters
  LAC will continue its support to finalize the LGBT Purge 4^th Settlement Agreement Historical Records Project by ensuring the timely delivery of the historical records to the LGBT Purge Fund. LAC will also continue to support other GC class action litigation or other legal matters, with activities related to the research, discovery, examination and production of any records or publications within its collections that concern ongoing GC litigation.
  
• Transferring records from the Department of National Defence into LAC's systems will improve access
  LAC will continue discussions on ingesting and migrating records, along with their associated metadata, from the Department of National Defence's (DND) Personnel Electronic Records Management Information System (PERMIS). These discussions aim to determine the time required for a test migration of 100 digitized records currently held by DND into LAC's systems. Transferring records from PERMIS to LAC will help streamline the process for veterans requesting access to their records.

Prioritizing outreach activities, stakeholder engagement and national and international collaboration will help LAC bring to life the material and knowledge contained within its collections. LAC is dedicated to embedding EDIA and reconciliation principles across these outreach activities, ensuring that everyone can see themselves reflected in the national collections. By increasing access to diverse stories, LAC enables Canadians to connect through shared experiences and insights, strengthening the fabric of our society.

Results we plan to achieve

• LAC will work to support data sovereignty with Indigenous Peoples
  LAC is the custodian of numerous records collected from or relating to First Nations, Inuit and the Métis Nation. As part of its ongoing commitment to reconciliation, LAC will continue to advance the federal approach to facilitate Indigenous data sovereignty (IDS), which recognizes the ability of Indigenous peoples and communities to control data that is created with or about themselves as they see fit. In 2025-26, LAC will begin by consulting with the Indigenous Advisory Circle (IAC) on the policy and approach to IDS. It will also begin internal engagement at LAC to integrate IDS guiding principles into its policies, programs and activities, and continue engaging with other GC organizations, including Indigenous Services Canada and the Treasury Board Secretariat.
  
• A new Indigenous Heritage Action Plan will see LAC deepen its commitment to reconciliation
  LAC's Indigenous Heritage Action Plan (IHAP) was initiated in 2019 to outline LAC's commitment to playing a significant role in reconciliation between the Government of Canada and First Nations, Inuit and the Métis Nation, and to recognize Indigenous rights in a meaningful and concrete way throughout LAC's operations and activities. This year, in consultation with the IAC, LAC will continue its review work to update its current IHAP with a goal to strengthen areas regarding Indigenous engagement and relationship building. The action items in the plan will also be re-evaluated to reflect measurable targets.
  
• 2025–26 will see LAC increasing awareness of Canada's documentary heritage through exhibitions and loans
  Anticipating 150,000 participants to attend its exhibitions and events in 2025–26, LAC will continue to expand access to its collections across the country. In addition to preparing for the inaugural exhibitions that will mark the opening of Ādisōke, LAC will lead and support numerous exhibitions in 2025–26. Chief among these will be the exhibition commemorating the 150^th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada. Throughout the fiscal year, LAC also expects to loan 75 items to institutions across the country, including to the Remai Modern in Saskatoon, the Maison Jean-Baptiste-Mâsse in Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu, and Resurgo Place in Moncton. In the spirit of reconciliation, LAC is also preparing for the possible travel of relevant treaties to Métis Nation of Ontario, Enoch Cree Nation, and the Corporation of the County of Lambton.
  
• LAC will implement new strategies to increase engagement with national collections
  With a commitment to enhancing user-friendly access to its extensive collections, LAC has developed its first Master Interpretative Plan. This strategic plan outlines a comprehensive approach to enriching visitor experiences across all regions and locations, ensuring they are tailored to meet the diverse needs and interests of its audiences. Scheduled for rollout in 2025–26, the plan aims to revitalize public programming and expand LAC's reach to new audiences.
  
  Other key initiatives include increased participation in national awareness campaigns and significant commemorative events that encourage reflection on Canada's collective history. In anticipation of Ādisōke's grand opening, LAC is preparing to broaden its in-person programming and introduce new educational programs specifically designed for schools and families. These efforts will be supported by strategic partnerships, enabling LAC to create and distribute compelling content that attracts and captivates new users. Through these diverse activities, LAC is poised to transform how Canadians connect with their national collections.
  
  To further foster partnerships at both national and international levels, and in alignment with its Vision 2030 objective of “engaging with the community, partnering with the world,” LAC has developed a strategic approach to partnership development for organizational initiatives and programming. This fiscal year, LAC will engage internally to refine this approach in advance of its final approval and eventual implementation.
  
• LAC will continue to optimize its use of social media platforms to engage the Canadian public
  Following its Social Media Strategy, updated in 2024, LAC will remain actively engaged on five of the most prominent social media platforms: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter), while closely monitoring X's evolving features, metrics and audience dynamics. In 2025, LAC will reassess its presence on X to determine its continued value. Additionally, LAC will explore opportunities to establish a presence on Bluesky, recognizing the platform's growing popularity among the archival and library communities. Through monitoring, engagement and analytics, LAC will develop original, tailored content for each platform to serve its diverse audiences. In addition, aligning with its Master Interpretative Plan, LAC's online content will touch on several subjects from Canadian music, film and literature to diverse perspectives on Canadian history.
  
• LAC will continue initiatives to enhance capacity building within the documentary heritage community
  LAC's role as a national institution places it in a unique position to provide leadership and support within the library and archival communities. Through the Documentary Heritage Communities Program (DHCP), LAC provides contribution funding to local organizations across the country to enhance their capacity to preserve and provide access to Canada's documentary heritage. Previous years have demonstrated that this program is very successful, and LAC anticipates similar success for the 2025–26 fiscal year, projecting that 90% of the contribution program recipients will have achieved their expected results by the close of their funded projects.
  
  With the launch of the 2026 DHCP call for proposals, LAC will also update the program's guidelines, offer webinars to support potential applicants with the process, and organize training for members of the External Evaluators Committee who are responsible for selecting funding recipients. Furthermore, to help provide the leadership required to build the skills, competency and knowledge necessary in the library and archival communities while also reflecting the principles of EDIA and reconciliation, LAC's Walter Charles Price and Adis Florence Mary McIntosh Bursary will continue to provide financial support to students who identify as visible minorities, and to Indigenous people and persons with disabilities to assist in their pursuit of a profession in documentary heritage.
  
• Continued stakeholder engagement
  LAC's engagement with Canadians from diverse backgrounds across the country is central to its commitment to transforming how it preserves and disseminates Canada's documentary heritage in meaningful ways. The 2025–26 year promises to be particularly dynamic for LAC's Youth Advisory Council. Alongside its regular meeting schedule, the council will launch a recruitment campaign to select 20 new members. These new members will provide unique perspectives, innovative ideas, feedback and advice, helping LAC refine its programs and initiatives to better connect with younger audiences. Furthermore, LAC's Stakeholders' Forum will continue to involve its members in strategic discussions related to policies and operations at LAC, serve as a testing ground for new ideas, and identify new collaborative opportunities. LAC will also continue its work with the Official Language Minority Communities (OLMC) through its internal advisory committee and the OLMC Archival and Library networks. LAC will remain an active member in the National, Provincial and Territorial Archivists Conference (NPTAC) to continue fostering collaboration on archival matters across Canada.
  
• Participation in national and international committees, organizations and forums will ensure LAC continues to share and develop its expertise
  2025–26 will witness LAC playing a central role on the international stage, providing important opportunities to develop and share its expertise. As mentioned in the 2024–25 Departmental Plan, Librarian and Archivist of Canada Leslie Weir will take on the position of President of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions for a two-year term beginning in August 2025. This role will allow LAC to increase its visibility within this international community where it can continue to convey Canadian perspectives. Complementing this prominent appointment, Leslie Weir will also serve a three-year term as an executive committee member of the Réseau francophone numérique, a consortium dedicated to preserving and digitizing francophone and French-language historical documentary heritage.
  
  Not only will LAC occupy key positions within the international community, but the five-year framework arrangement LAC signed in September 2024 with the seven national libraries and national archives of the United States, Australia and New Zealand will provide unique opportunities for LAC in 2025–26 to actively engage with these institutions, share best practices and collaborate in areas of mutual interest.
  
  At the national level, LAC will actively participate in and provide support to several organizations. LAC will continue to sit on national committees, including North/Nord: The Canadian Share Print Network, the Canadian Research Knowledge Network, the National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance, the Canadian Committee on Cataloguing, and the National Sixties Scoop Healing Foundation of Canada. These efforts will foster partnerships and promote the exchange of knowledge and expertise.

GBA Plus approaches support the activities and initiatives related to Core responsibility 2: Providing access to documentary heritage. Working to recognize distinctions and ensuring cultural appropriateness in providing services to the public, LAC aligns with the Government of Canada's approach to GBA Plus. It is also consistent with the Accessible Canada Act (S.C. 2019, c. 10).

As ATIP legislation prohibits the collection of applicant data, LAC's ATIP program uses GBA Plus approaches to focus on impacts to the broader equity-seeking communities that this program serves. In particular, by meeting the growing demand for historical documents to support settlements of past harms and discrimination, and to advance reconciliation between the Government of Canada and Indigenous peoples, the ATIP program will generate positive direct and indirect outcomes for these communities.

An example of sustainable infrastructure, LAC's new public-facing joint facility with the Ottawa Public Library, Ādisōke, has been designed to be a net-zero carbon facility and target LEED® certification.

More information on LAC's contributions to Canada's Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

• Spending
• Funding
• Future-oriented condensed statement of operations
• Human resources

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, departments 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 report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a three-year period. Departmental Plans are usually tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)

A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. 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 quantitative measure of progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

A framework that connects the department's core responsibilities to its departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on a department's actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

fulltime equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person-year charge against a departmental budget. For a particular position, the full-time equivalent figure is the ratio of the number of hours the person actually works divided by the standard number of hours set out in the person's collective agreement.

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. GBA Plus is a process for understanding who is impacted by the issue or opportunity being addressed by the initiative; identifying how the initiative could be tailored to meet the diverse needs of the people most impacted; and anticipating and mitigating any barriers to accessing or benefitting from the initiative. GBA Plus is an intersectional analysis that goes beyond biological (sex) and sociocultural (gender) differences to consider other factors, such as age, disability, education, ethnicity, economic status, geography (including rurality), language, race, religion, and sexual orientation.

Using GBA Plus involves taking a gender- and diversity-sensitive approach to our work. Considering all intersecting identity factors as part of GBA Plus, not only sex and gender, is a Government of Canada commitment.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2025–26 Departmental Plan, government priorities are the high-level themes outlining the government's agenda in the November 23, 2021, Speech from the Throne: building a healthier today and tomorrow; growing a more resilient economy; bolder climate action; fight 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 where two or more federal departments are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

Indigenous business (entreprise autochtone)

For the purpose of the Directive on the Management of Procurement Appendix E: Mandatory Procedures for Contracts Awarded to Indigenous Businesses and the Government of Canada's commitment that a mandatory minimum target of 5% of the total value of contracts is awarded to Indigenous businesses, a department that meets the definition and requirements as defined by the Indigenous Business Directory.

non budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Non-budgetary authorities that comprise assets and liabilities transactions for loans, investments and advances, or specified purpose accounts, that have been established under specific statutes or under non-statutory authorities in the Estimates and elsewhere. Non-budgetary transactions are those expenditures and receipts related to the government's financial claims on, and obligations to, outside parties. These consist of transactions in loans, investments and advances; in cash and accounts receivable; in public money received or collected for specified purposes; and in all other assets and liabilities. Other assets and liabilities, not specifically defined in G to P authority codes are to be recorded to an R authority code, which is the residual authority code for all other assets and liabilities.

performance (rendement)

What a department did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the department intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)

A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of a department, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how a department 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 to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in 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 the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)

Identifies all the department's programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department's core responsibilities and results.

result (résultat)

A consequence attributed, in part, to a department, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single department, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the department'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 a department, 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.