2022-23 Departmental Plan
Plans at a Glance
Through its core responsibilities of Legal Services delivery and Justice System Support, the Department of Justice Canada supports a broad range of government initiatives and ministerial mandate letter commitments. To ensure strong and evidence-based public policy and good governance, the Department applies a range of critical considerations to its work, which includes legal risk analysis; diversity and inclusion such as Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus); privacy; modern treaty implications; strategic environmental assessments; and a people-focused approach to justice.
The following provides an overview of the Department of Justice Canada’s key priorities in 2022-23 for each of its core responsibilities, as well as its internal services.
Legal Services
The Department will support the implementation of many Government of Canada priorities through the delivery of high-quality, integrated legal advisory, litigation and legislative services.
Key actions:
- In support of efforts to finish the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and assist Canadians in need, and of economic-recovery efforts, provide legal advice on vaccination priorities in federally-regulated workplaces, on extending or modifying emergency support programs and recovery benefits, on legal aspects of government debt management and the fiscal framework, and on international trade law.
- Continue to support the Action Committee on Court Operations in Response to COVID-19 in its role of promoting a national approach to restoring Canadian court operations, prioritizing the health and safety of justice system participants.
- Provide legal advisory services to federal departments and agencies to further the Government’s ongoing commitment to advancing meaningful reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, as well as to contribute to advancing self-determination, closing socio-economic gaps, and eliminating systemic barriers facing First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.
- Provide legal advice to support efforts to secure Canada’s telecommunications systems; to combat online hate and harassment, hate groups, ideologically-inspired violent extremism and terrorist organizations; and to fight against money laundering, profiting from proceeds of crime and terrorism financing, and the negative societal impacts they cause.
- With respect to litigation, provide strategic advice and guidance in the development and national implementation of legal positions and strategies for complex cases and the increasing number of class proceedings.
Justice System Support
The Department will play an essential role in promoting respect for rights and access to justice. It will also work to ensure a fair, relevant, accessible and efficient legal framework and a justice system that effectively responds to the causes and consequences of offending.
Key actions:
- Contribute to a renewed relationship with Indigenous peoples by continuing to collaborate with federal, provincial, territorial, and Indigenous governments, national Indigenous organizations, and other partners and key stakeholders to accelerate progress on Indigenous-specific justice initiatives and priorities, such as advancing the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act; responding to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Calls for Justice; and addressing the Justice-specific Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, including pursuing negotiations on administration-of-justice agreements and supporting activities that promote the revitalization of Indigenous laws, legal systems and traditions.
- Support the appointment of an independent Special Interlocutor dedicated to working collaboratively with First Nations, Inuit and Métis governments, representative organizations, communities and families, and other stakeholders, to identify needed measures and recommend a new legal and regulatory framework to identify, protect, and preserve unmarked burial sites connected to former residential schools.
- Continue work to address systemic discrimination and the overrepresentation of Indigenous people, racialized groups, and other marginalized populations in the criminal justice system, including supporting the development of an Indigenous Justice Strategy and a Black Canadians Justice Strategy, as well as efforts to improve the collection and use of disaggregated data.
- Support criminal law reforms aimed at addressing gun violence, repealing some mandatory minimum penalties, and supporting the safe, efficient and effective operation of criminal proceedings to enhance access to justice for all participants during the pandemic and beyond.
- Continue work relating to the implementation of federal family law reforms to help ensure a more accessible and efficient family justice system that better responds to Canadian families’ needs and promotes the best interests of the child.
Internal Services
The Department will promote legal and business excellence with a strategic focus on its workforce, on innovation and collaboration, and on open, transparent and accountable operations.
Key actions:
- Maintain vigilance and readiness to adapt to changing circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic while ensuring that Justice Canada is well prepared for both the workplace and the workforce to make the transition to the “new normal” post-pandemic.
- Continue to foster a work environment that is healthy and safe – both psychologically and physically – and also respectful, diverse, inclusive, and accessible, through various priorities and initiatives. These include continuing to implement a psychological health and safety management system and the requirements under the new Harassment and Violence Prevention Program, and continuing to focus on the outcomes identified in the departmental Mental Health Action Plan for 2020-2023.
- Identify and implement meaningful strategies and practices, with the collaboration of various stakeholders, to improve equity, diversity and inclusion and to address systemic discrimination in hiring, retention and promotion that may be experienced by Indigenous, Black and racialized employees, or employees with disabilities.
- Promote digital approaches and strategies for information sharing and collaboration, while ensuring that effective safeguards, including retention and disposition practices, are maintained.
- Continue to implement strategies to minimize the impacts of the Phoenix Pay System problems on Department employees.
For more information on the Department of Justice Canada’s plans, see the “Core Responsibilities: Planned Results and Resources, and Key Risks” section of this plan.
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