Department of National Defence

Part I. Values and ethics training plans

Question 1

Has your organization developed department-specific values and ethics training plans down to the divisional level?

• Yes

If not, to what level have department-specific values and ethics training plans been developed and what is your target time frame for completing this work?

N/A

Question 2

Has your organization fully implemented department-specific training plans?

• Yes

If not, what is your target time frame for completing this work?

N/A

Part II. Codes of conduct

Question 3

Has your organization reviewed its code of conduct?

• My organization is in the process of reviewing its code of conduct.

Question 4

If your organization is in the process of reviewing its code of conduct, what is your target time frame for completing the review?

Winter 2025.

Question 5

If your organization has completed the review of its code of conduct, did this review lead to updates?

• My organization is in the process of updating its code of conduct.

Please briefly describe the nature of any updates made (e.g., to clarify expected behaviours, to align with the emerging context, to include emerging risks) or explain why no updates were deemed necessary.

N/A

Part III. Discussions on personal accountability in upholding public service values and ethics

Question 6

What activities or actions has your organization undertaken to foster a conversation at all levels on personal accountability to uphold our public service values and ethics?

• Dedicated discussions at executive and management committee meetings
• All-staff engagements (e.g., town halls)
• Focused engagement sessions for specific functional areas (e.g., operations, finance, communications, policy, human resources)
• Focused engagement sessions on specific topics (e.g., conflicts of interest, social media, emerging technologies)
• Engagement sessions with equity groups, employee groups, networks and communities
• Inclusion in employees’ performance and talent management cycle discussions
• Specific values and ethics communications campaigns

Please provide additional details on activities that you have undertaken, including those not listed above.

The Defence Ethics Program (DEP) was established by the Deputy Minister (DM) and the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) in 1997. The DEP resides within Chief Professional Conduct and Culture (CPSS), the functional authority for all ethics and culture change activities across the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).

The DEP relies on Level One (L1) organizations to conduct annual ethics-based activities through Ethics Coordinators (ECs) who are certified by the DEP. The DEP-led L1 EC Network meets quarterly to discuss and report on ethics-based activities. Examples of recent activities include the following:

• Conversation on Defence Ethics (CODE) - In 2021, the DEP led CODE, a DM- and CDS-mandated learning event on ethics with 80,000 participants between January to November 2022. The CODE contains ethical scenarios based on relevant and timely issues, including sexual misconduct, racism, hateful conduct, and discrimination, among many others.
• Ethics Cascades - The Defence Ethics team, with support from L1 ECs, aims to foster cascading conversations on personal accountability down to the divisional level with documented feedback on ethical risks and issues from all levels of the L1.
• Conduct and Culture Consultation - Beginning in October 2021, the Chief, CPSS, engaged in a six-month, cross-country consultation at dozens of bases with more than 279 sessions comprised of town halls, listening sessions, leadership consultations, and targeted interviews totalling more than 435 hours of consultation and nearly 9,000 participants.
• Introduction to Defence Ethics Course - More than 56,000 Defence Team (DT) members have taken DND’s online course on Defence Ethics. The course is recommended across the organization and mandatory in many L1s. Updated in July 2019 with the addition of a learning assessment test, the DEP will review and update the online course by 2025.
• Respect in the CAF (RitCAF) - Launched in 2016, RitCAF is a one-day training workshop which promotes the ethical principle of respect for people as a basis for preventing and responding to incidents of sexual misconduct. Since 2017, more than 15,000 CAF participants attended in-person workshops at over 20 bases. A virtual version was launched in 2023. RitCAF is now open to public service (PS) employees.
• Professional Conduct Scenarios - Since January 2023, more than 140 professional conduct scenario-based learning vignettes have been published and promoted on DND’s website as a tool for facilitating ethical conversations. Topics include artificial intelligence, social media, performance-management discussions, and respect for people.
• Department-Wide Proactive Conflict of Interest Screening - Assistant Deputy Minister Review Services is leading a department-wide exercise to assist DND employees and CAF members in proactively screening for potential conflicts of interest. This initiative aims to promote transparency through proactive disclosure.

DEP will work with key internal stakeholders to better support Defence Team managers during onboarding, performance, and talent management discussions. The DEP will also work horizontally to ensure a coordinated effort across the organization on all matters relating to ethics – including scientific integrity, artificial intelligence, and conflict of interest.

Question 7

Has your organization taken any actions to ensure that conversations on personal accountability to uphold our public service values and ethics occur on a continuing basis?

• Included as part of the onboarding process for new employees
• Incorporated in employees’ professional development and mandatory learning plans
• Integrated in career succession planning (e.g., supervisor, manager, director)

Please provide details on activities that you have undertaken, including those not listed above.

The DEP is supported by a network of L1 ECs who manage L1 individualized Ethics Programs. All L1s are encouraged to organize at least one ethics related activity per year. Based on previous L1 EC reports, training typically reaches an average of 70% of the Defence Team annually. Examples of ethics activities include the following:

• Introduction to Defence Ethics Course - Since 2017, more that 56,000 DT members have taken the Defence Ethics online course, with 7,007 completing the course in 2023. The course is endorsed by the Canadian Military Colleges, recommended to the DT, and mandatory in many L1s. The DEP will continue to promote the course and update it by 2025.
• Onboarding Pilot - In 2024-25, CPSS will pilot an onboarding module with key elements for ethics and culture. The onboarding will be required of all new employees, and will be led by Directors General in a group setting on a quarterly basis.
• Voluntary Attestation - Similar to how civilian members of the DT participate in ethics-based conversations with their managers as part of the annual Public Service Performance Management cycle, beginning in April 2024, members of the CAF can participate in a voluntary ethics discussion with their immediate supervisors regarding ethical conduct. The discussion can be documented using the CAF’s performance management platform.
• Ethics Cascades - During the last three years, ECs across four L1s conducted annual ethics dialogues using a cascade-style approach, which consists of a formal kick-off session with L1s and their management teams. The cascade approach provides an opportunity to discuss DT’s ethical values and how to apply them at work and outside of work.

In 2024-25, the DEP will build further capacity within the L1 EC network to foster Ethics Cascades on personal accountability for upholding public service values and ethics, and leverage observations and recurring themes from the cascades to inform its policy, engagement, and communications planning. 

Part IV. Additional information

Question 8

What recurring themes (e.g., social media, emerging technology, conflicts of interest) have emerged from conversations with employees (e.g., students, new public servants, front-line service providers, managers, executives, members of functional/horizontal communities/employee networks) across your organization?

The most comprehensive mechanism for identifying recurring ethics themes across the Defence Team is the Defence Ethics Survey (DES). The DES has been administered on an ongoing basis since early in the program’s history (2000, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2017, and 2023). The results are disaggregated by gender, component (Regular or Reserve Force), and rank group.

Recurring Themes in the Defence Ethics Survey

In 2023, recurring themes from the DES related to satisfaction with ethics training and ethical culture, including ethical discussions, work atmosphere, the promotion of reporting ethical breaches, and the apparent disconnect between the promotion of ethics and ethical culture. Plans are underway to conduct the survey again in 2026/27.

Longitudinal analysis of the results of the DES have suggested a need for more leadership participation in ethics-related activities. As a result, the DEP organized the 2021 Conversation on Defence Ethics Code (CODE). More than 80,000 personnel participated in the event. Following the event, L1 ECs distributed feedback forms to participants and 5,811 personnel responded. Recurring themes from the CODE included:

• Requests for more CODE ethical discussions using a small group format.
• The balance between freedom of thought compared to freedom from intimidation related to the prejudices of others.
• The ethical implications of favoritism by persons in positions of power.

Defence Team Conduct and Culture Consultation

Beginning in October 2021, the Chief, CPSS, engaged in a series of six-month, cross-country, and in-person engagements at dozens of bases, hosting more than 279 sessions totalling more than 435 hours of consultation with nearly 9,000 participants. Throughout the consultation, CPSS consistently heard that Defence Team members have an enormous sense of pride in DND/CAF as an institution. As CPSS analyzed the various insights, experiences and perspectives shared, four themes emerged: Service Before Self, Warrior Identity, Leadership, and Teamwork.

Your Say Survey

DND also conducts an annual Defence Team Well-Being Survey which includes four questions on ethics, leadership, culture, and addressing misconduct. The survey is administered to the Defence Team and DEP leverages its results to inform training and communications planning.

Recurring Themes and DND’s Strategic Governance Level Reporting

In 2024-25, CPSS will reactivate the Ethics Advisory Board (EAB), dormant since 2019. Chaired by the functional authority for Values and Ethics and reporting to the Deputy Minister's Committee (DMC), all L1 members will be responsible for reporting on recurring ethical risks as well as planned activities intended to support Defence Ethics within their L1. The EAB will also serve as a forum for continuing to build stronger linkages across the portfolio on all matters relating to ethics, including Conflict of Interest and the Disclosure of Wrongdoing.

Question 9

How have you adjusted your learning activities to address recurring themes (e.g., adjusted training plans, developed specific case studies, invited expert speakers to focus on emerging themes)?

Recurring themes identified in the Defence Ethics Survey, Conversation on Defence Ethics, and feedback received through the Ethics Coordinator Network all suggested a desire for more small-group, conversation-based, experiential approaches to ethics with more direct leadership involvement.

Defence Ethics Training Plan

Based on these recurring themes, the L1 EC certification course now includes a module on facilitating ethical discussions in small groups. Additionally, the CPSS’s DEP is continually developing Professional Conduct Scenario-Based Vignettes which were recently expanded to include key linkages between public-sector ethics and Sex- and Gender-Based Analysis Plus (SGBA Plus) scenarios, culture evolution, and misconduct themes.

While there is a well-tested approach for Defence Ethics training, the DEP has begun to assess its existing training approach against other large, federal departments, and comparable private-sector entities, to explore options for further improvements to training. Options include the following:

• Compliance - what mechanisms are in place to ensure that those who require the training get it and understand the content?
• Effectiveness - what mechanisms are in place to ensure high-risk areas of the organization receive the training they need?
• Reporting/analytics - How does the organization report on training? What are current barriers to reporting on training?

The assessment will inform a Defence Ethics Training Plan with the overall objective of ensuring that all members of the Defence Team have an opportunity to understand how to apply public service values and ethics.

Defence Ethics Speaker Series

After the successful launch of Defence Ethics Learning Events in 2017 and 2018, the series was relatively dormant. Going forward, the Defence Ethics Engagement Plan includes plans for working with organizational partners within the defence and security portfolio, and DND’s DEP will host and co-host learning events on key issues identified in the DM Task Team Report, including artificial intelligence, social media, and public trust.

Professional Conduct and Culture Training and Education

Within the CAF, the Professional Conduct and Culture Training and Education (PCC T&E) Framework includes Ethics and Character Development guidance in all CAF training curricula for CAF members at each developmental period of their careers commensurate with their increased responsibilities. As of January 2024, the Framework has been implemented as part of basic training and reflected in training requirements. The PCC T&E Framework will be formalized into training and education policy in 2024. 

Question 10

Are there any actions or learning activities that have been particularly successful in fostering conversations within your organization (e.g., new tools, creative approaches that have resonated well with employees and managers, meeting with small groups, equipping managers to lead conversations, equipping values and ethics office/practitioners)?

The DEP’s L1 Ethics Coordinators have been instrumental in DND’s ability to manage learning activities. Maintaining the L1 EC Network, including certifying new coordinators, is essential to fostering meaningful ethics conversations across the organization when combined with leadership support. Some of the most successful activities are longstanding, including the following:

• Respect in the CAF - DND launched the Respect in the CAF (RitCAF) workshop in 2016. The training promotes the ethical principle of respect. The workshop is available to all Defence Team members. Since 2017, more than 15,000 CAF personnel received training through in-person workshops facilitated on more than 20 bases across the country. A virtual version launched in October 2023.
• Introduction to Defence Ethics Course - Defence Ethics maintains an online course on Defence Ethics. More 56,000 DT members have taken the course, with 7,007 having completed the courses in 2023.
• In addition to regular ethics activities during the last three years, in 2021, Defence Ethics led CODE, a DM- and CDS-mandated Defence Team learning event on ethics. Approximately 80,000 members of the Defence Team participated between January to November 2022.
• During the last three years, ECs across four L1s have conducted annual ethics dialogues using a cascade-style approach. A recent L1 Ethics Cascade in the Assistant Deputy Minister Materiel Group saw participation from 96% of the L1. Feedback was positive and the L1 was able to receive feedback on ethics from all levels of the L1.

In the future, the Defence Team will actively integrate feedback mechanisms into its training, engagement, and communication strategies. The primary goal is to ensure that all members of the Defence Team have the opportunity to grasp the importance of values and ethics of the public service.

Question 11

What indicators will be used to measure increased employee awareness of the role of values and ethics in their daily work (e.g., Public Service Employee Survey, pulse surveys, engagement with focus groups)?

Going forward, various indicators will be used to measure increased employee awareness of the role of values and ethics in their daily work, including the following:

• The Defence Ethics Survey has been conducted early and continuously in the program’s history (1999, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2017 and 2023). The results will be used to measure whether there is increased employee awareness of values and ethics, as well as the training, support, and communications in place intended to foster this awareness. Plans are also underway to track the key points related to ethical culture biennially using the Your Say Matter (YSM) Survey; the next YSM administration is scheduled for 2026.
• The DEP maintains internal and external facing websites. In 2023, there were more than 19,600 visits to the external site and the DND/CAF Values and Ethics Code was accessed more than 12,284 times. Metrics from DEP websites will be analyzed and used to inform the DEP Communications Plan.
• In January 2023, CPSS launched a Professional Conduct Scenarios (PCS) Portal. Now with 148 scenarios, the PCS portal enables users to filter results on ethics, conduct, and culture. Analytics can be run on the PCS, but these metrics are only a good tool to determine the number of visits and unique visitors, it does not provide metrics on completion of scenarios. Beginning in 2024, an online survey will be provided to portal users to measure the portal's perceived effectiveness for increasing awareness of values and ethics.
• More than 56,000 Defence Team members have taken DND’s online course on Defence Ethics. The course is recommended across the organization and mandatory in many L1s. Re-released in July 2019 with the addition of a learning assessment test, the DEP will review and update the online course again by 2025.

Additionally, in 2024-25, CPSS will reactivate the Ethics Advisory Board (EAB), dormant since 2019. Chaired by the functional authority for Values and Ethics and reporting to the Deputy Minister's Committee (DMC), all L1 members will be responsible for reporting on recurring ethical risks as well as planned activities intended to support Defence Ethics within their L1.

The EAB will serve as an important forum for high-level discussions on the Defence Team’s awareness of obligations to comply with the Values and Ethics Code, including its Conflict of Interest and Disclosure of Wrongdoing provisions.

Question 12

Will these indicators be disaggregated by identity factors?

• Yes

Question 13

Is there any additional information that you would like to share regarding your organization’s work on values and ethics (e.g., to advance particular recommendations of the Deputy Ministers’ Task Team on Values and Ethics Report)?

N/A