Response to parliamentary committees and external audits
Response to parliamentary committees
Standing Committee on the Status of Women – Implementing a Red Dress Alert in Canada
In September 2024, the Standing Committee on the Status of Women (the Committee) tabled its twelfth report in Parliament—Implementing a Red Dress Alert in Canada. The report included 17 recommendations informed by witness testimony and submissions presented to the Committee during its Study on a Red Dress Alert. The department led drafting of the Government Response which included consultation with implicated departments such as Canadian Mortgage and Housing, Health Canada, Indigenous Services Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Justice Canada, Public Safety, Public Services and Procurement Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Statistics Canada, and Women and Gender Equality Canada. As the Committee's report was prepared during the 44th Parliament, a Government Response will not be presented to the current government.
INAN Report 14 – We Belong to the Land: The Restitution of Land to Indigenous Nations
- Report presented to the House of Commons on May 8, 2024
- Government Response presented to the House of Commons on September 16, 2024
The report provided 22 recommendations for the Government of Canada pertaining to the access and transfer of Crown lands across Canada, Indigenous rights related to lands, and comprehensive land claims and compensation. It also provided recommendations around fostering economic growth opportunities associated with the restitution of land. The Committee heard from 32 witnesses, including: First Nations government officials; think-tanks; Indigenous led organizations such as the First Nations Financial Management Board, and; leaders from Métis Nation organizations.
APPA Report 14 – Honouring the Children Who Never Came Home: Truth, Education and Reconciliation
- Report presented to the Senate on July 19, 2023 (PDF)
- Government Response presented to the Senate on April 26, 2024 (PDF)
The report provided 6 recommendations to support and advance the work of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) and the Office of the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites. The recommendations called on the Government of Canada to fund and address the issues identified by those organizations, including: taking action to ensure all withheld records from the NCTR were provided; funding is extended to the Residential Schools Missing Children—Community Support Fund; the creation of a single window approach to connect the Office of the Special Interlocutor and Indigenous families; long-term funding for the NCTR, and; taking action to combat the rise of residential school denialism. The Committee heard from the NCTR and the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools.
Response to audits conducted by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (including audits conducted by the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development)
Report 1—Contaminated Sites in the North
This audit focused on whether Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) and Transport Canada (TC), working with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), effectively managed federal contaminated sites in the North by reducing the risks to the environment and human health and the associated financial liability for current and future generations. The departmental responses to the 2 recommendations addressed to CIRNAC can be found in the report, under the section titled "Recommendations and Responses" (tabled April 30, 2024).
This audit focused on the federal government's horizontal initiative, led by ECCC, which aims to deliver the federal contribution to the Canada-wide goal of reaching zero plastic waste by 2030. It examined federal activities and excluded the actions of other levels of government while acknowledging that the actions of other levels of government play a vital role in achieving the waste-reduction goal. The departmental responses to the 2 recommendations addressed to CIRNAC can be found in the report, under the section titled "Recommendations and Responses" (tabled April 30, 2024).
Report 7—Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act—2024 Report
This audit focused on whether selected federal organizations had made progress towards effectively implementing selected measures to reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions and whether ECCC had reported on progress in a transparent manner. There were no recommendations for CIRNAC (tabled November 7, 2024).
Report 8—Departmental Progress in Implementing Sustainable Development Strategies—Clean Energy (PDF)
This audit focused on whether the selected federal organizations contributed to meeting the target on clean power generation and the target on energy efficiency under the clean energy goal in the 2019–2022 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy and reported on their results towards the achievement of related targets 7.2 (to increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix) and 7.3 (to double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency) under the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 7 (affordable and clean energy), as applicable to each organization. The departmental response to the single recommendation addressed to CIRNAC can be found in the report, in the section titled "Recommendation and Responses (PDF report)" (tabled November 7, 2024).
Response to audits conducted by the Public Service Commission of Canada or the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
The Public Service Commission's Results of the Second System-Wide Staffing Audit focused on whether appointments and appointment processes between December 1, 2020, and September 30, 2021, complied with specific legislative, policy and other requirements. Departments are encouraged to implement mechanisms or practices to ensure that information on priority clearance requests, advertisements, merit criteria, assessment material and notifications are the same in English and French throughout the appointment process as per the PSC's Appointment Policy. In response, CIRNAC has taken steps to enhance translation accuracy and verification processes, providing high-quality, bilingual documents for key appointment activities through standardized templates, internal quality checks, regular audits, and resources like glossaries, all aimed at fostering compliance, clarity, and inclusivity.
The Public Service Commission's Audit of Employment Equity Representation in Acting Appointments examined the gaps and trends in the representation of the 4 employment equity groups, including some visible minorities sub-groups, in acting appointments of 6 months or more to identify areas where systemic barriers may exist for employees pursuing acting appointment opportunities. Departments are encouraged to monitor acting appointments so that members of all designated employment equity groups are not disadvantaged, especially persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities sub-groups where gaps have been identified. Departments should also implement measures to improve the representation of employment equity groups in acting appointments to positions in the technical occupational category. In response, CIRNAC has integrated acting appointments into its staffing monitoring activities to identify barriers and address them promptly, if any.
The Public Service Commission's Audit on the Application of the Order of Preference for Veterans During the Data Transfer Outage Between the Department of National Defence and the Public Service Commission of Canada examined the impact of a technical issue with the Public Service Resourcing System from November 13, 2020, to January 19, 2024, which may have prevented some veterans from being properly recognized for preference under section 39(1) of the Public Service Employment Act. There were no recommendations for CIRNAC.
Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages: There were no audits in 2024–25 requiring a response.