Public Safety Canada Departmental Plan 2023–24

Public Safety Canada Departmental Plan 2023–24 PDF Version (1,725 KB)

Table of contents

• From the Ministers
• Plans at a glance
• Core Responsibilities: planned results and resources, and key risks
  • National Security
  • Community Safety
  • Emergency Management
• Internal Services: planned results
• Planned spending and human resources
  • Planned spending
  • Planned human resources
  • Estimates by vote
  • Future-oriented condensed statement of operations
• Corporate information
  • Organizational profile
  • Raison d'être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do
  • Operating context
  • Reporting framework
• Supporting information on the Program Inventory
• Supplementary information tables
• Federal tax expenditures
• Organizational contact information
• Appendix: definitions

From the Ministers

The Honourable Marco E. L. Mendicino
Minister of Public Safety

The Honourable William Sterling Blair
President of the King's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness

As the Minister of Public Safety, and the President of the King's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness, we are pleased to present the 2023-24 Departmental Plan for Public Safety Canada (PS). Safety and security are at the top of both the global and domestic agendas. The Department will continue working hard to keep Canadians safe during a time of global uncertainty and instabillity. This plan reflects the need to adapt to the evolving threats that Canadians face.

In 2023-24, the Department will take measures to tackle an evolving spectrum of threats, like those posed by hostile state actors or violent extremists. It will continue to inform the public on national security threats and issues. Furthermore, PS will build awareness among frontline researchers and the academic community, including through the Research Security Centre of Excellence. Through the Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence, PS will continue to advance the National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence. It will also support the Canada Centre's Community Resilience Fund, with more than 20 newly funded projects launching early in 2023-24.

As malicious cyber activities increasingly target Canadians and our institutions the Department will develop and implement a renewed National Cyber Security Strategy, and help industry secure their cyber systems. In 2023-24, the Department will lead national efforts to enhance the resilience of Canada's critical infrastructure, both cyber and physical.

This coming year will see ground-breaking firearms legislation, Bill C-21, continue its path through Parliament. PS will finalize the design of the Firearms Buyback Program, getting weapons of war off of our streets while providing fair compensation to individuals and businesses.

The Department will continue to implement initiatives announced through the National Startegy to Combat Human Trafficking 2019-2024.

Advancing Indigenous-led approaches to public safety continues to be a top priority. This Nation-to-Nation partnership is based on respecting rights and honouring commitments. PS will continue to work with Indigenous partners on legislation recognizing First Nations policing as an essential service, expand Indigenous policing and community safety investments, and support Inuit and Métis communities.

As outlined in the mandate letter, in 2023-24, the Minister of Public Safety will lead an assessment of the contract policing program, in consultation with all relevant partners. Its objective is to hear directly from provinces, municipalities and others about their communities' long-term vision for policing.

The Government has already reduced the fee for record suspensions (pardons) from $650 to $50 dollars. Now, the Record Suspension Program reforms will increase accessibility to record suspensions – supporting safe and successful reintegration and helping people move on with their lives. PS will also continue working with partners to explore how an automated sequestering of criminal records system be implemented in Canada.

Other threats to our safety can come from natural sources like weather disasters, exacerbated by the climate change crisis. The Government Operations Centre will continue to support our preparedness for future emergencies with partners across the country, and to lead coordination of the integrated federal response to emergency events in Canada. The Government is also committed to introducing a national solution for flood insurance for Canadians, and will work closely with stakeholders on that priority this year. In 2023-24, the Department will review the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements, and address the impacts caused by flooding. The Department will also release, and begin implementing, the joint 2023-24 Federal-Provincial-Territorial Emergency Management Strategy Action Plan. Further, when climate disasters turn to rescue operations, the Department will increase capability and interoperability within Canada's Search and Rescue system. And while disasters often mean our brave front-line professionals must face the unimaginable, we will continue to support them, by advancing Canada's first-ever National Action Plan on Post-Traumatic Stress Injuries (PTSI) for public safety personnel. This year, the Department will provide two years of bridge funding to the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment, and work closely with stakeholders and other government departments on a renewed PTSI Action Plan.

We encourage all Canadians to read this report for more details on these and other plans by the Department in 2023-24, and to learn about how PS is continually striving to keep Canadians safe.

Plans at a glance

In 2023-24, in addition to its internal services priorities, Public Safety Canada will continue to advance the following corporate priorities and activities in order to achieve progress towards its Departmental Results under the National Security, Community Safety and Emergency Management core responsibilities:

National Security

Departmental Result: National security threats are understood and reduced while maintaining public trust.

Departmental Strategic Priorities

• Protect Canadians, Canada's critical infrastructure and the Canadian economy from national, cyber and other emerging threats.
• Fully operationalize the Research Security Centre of Excellence and support the implementation of the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships.
• Modernize Canada's critical infrastructure policy framework.
• Deliver the national cyber-physical capstone exercise with the critical infrastructure community.
• Develop and implement a suite of critical infrastructure exercise tools and templates to support critical infrastructure stakeholders.
• Continue to advance the National Cyber Security Action Plan and develop and implement a renewed National Cyber Security Strategy.
• Advance legislation to safeguard Canada's critical infrastructure.
• Develop a comprehensive policy framework for countering economic-based threats to national security.
• Develop a whole-of-government approach to counter threats related to hostile activities by state actors.

• Strengthen Canada's ability to respond to an evolving border environment.
• Provide advice on policies, regulations and programs related to immigration and border law enforcement.
• Work with partners towards supporting travel and transportation industry recovery, and expanding Preclearance operations in Canada.

Community Safety

Departmental Results: Canadian communities are safe; Community safety practices are strengthened; and Crime is prevented and addressed in populations / communities most at risk.

Departmental Strategic Priority

• Prevent and address criminal threats, including gun violence, to Canadian communities, especially those most-at-risk, promote reform, and enhance the oversight and accountability of Canada's law enforcement agencies.
  • Advance the co-development of a federal First Nations police services legislation that recognizes First Nations policing as an essential service.
  • Engage with Inuit and Métis to better understand their unique policing and community safety priorities.
  • Continue to stabilize and expand the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program.
  • Advance work on a national firearms awareness and education campaign to inform Canadians on actions taken to reduce gun violence in Canada.
  • Continue to combat gun and gang violence through the Building Safer Communities Fund.
  • Continue implementing initiatives under the National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking 2019-2024 and continue funding the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline.
  • Develop an implementation plan for the Federal Framework to Reduce Recidivism to address barriers under the five pillars of housing, education, employment, health, and positive support networks.
  • Convene experts across the anti-money laundering field to participate in the third annual “Spin Cycle Conference.”
  • Continue to implement Record Suspension Program reforms to increase accessibility to record suspensions and facilitate reintegration.
  • Continue to implement recommendations to support the Royal Canadian Mounted Police transformation and modernization (e.g., advancing work related to the Independent Centre for Harassment Resolution; conducting an assessment of contract policing).
  • Finalize the development of the Firearms Buyback Program that will begin collecting assault-style firearms from businesses and individuals in 2023-24 and work with various stakeholders to implement the program.

Emergency Management

Departmental Result: Canada can effectively mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from all-hazards events.

Departmental Strategic Priority

• Strengthen emergency preparedness measures, government response and community resilience to natural disasters and all hazard emergencies in collaboration with federal, provincial, territorial and Indigenous partners.
• Publish the first public report of the National Risk Profile and continue to conduct assessments on a wide range of hazards to create a forward-looking national picture of risks and capabilities.
• Implement the joint 2023-24 Federal-Provincial-Territorial Emergency Management Action Plan.
• Renew the International COSPAS-SARSAT Programme Agreement in collaboration with all COSPAS-SARSAT parties.
• Extend funding support to the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment until March 2025 to enable it to continue its work to provide support to Canada's public safety personnel.
• Renew the post-traumatic stress injury Action Plan.
• Advance flood risk management in Canada by working with partners to ensure access to reliable flood risk data and through advancing a national flood insurance program.
• Create a public-facing Flood Risk Portal to help Canadians have better access to flood risk information, and to bolster emergency preparedness and awareness.
• Support the co-development of Canada's first National Adaptation Strategy for climate resilience.
• To enhance its emergency preparedness activities, the Government Operations Centre (GOC) will establish common priorities with partners and facilitate interoperability through technology, exercises, training and continuous improvement. The GOC will also enhance federal readiness through the coordination of comprehensive whole-of government all-hazards exercises.

For more information on Public Safety Canada's plans, see the “Core responsibilities: planned results and resources, and key risks” section of this plan.

Core responsibilities: planned results and resources, and key risks

This section contains information on the Department's planned results and resources for each of its core responsibilities. It also contains information on key risks related to achieving those results.

National Security

Description

Public Safety Canada develops policy, legislation and programs to support Canada's capacity to respond to a range of national security threats directed against Canadians, our critical infrastructure and our cyber systems, while advancing national counter terrorism efforts.

Planning highlights

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will seek to achieve its National Security departmental result through the following departmental strategic priorities and activities:

Countering economic-based threats to national security

In 2023-24, the Department will continue developing and implementing policy to address economic-based threats to national security, including the loss of sensitive intellectual property, military and dual-use technology, sensitive personal information, and the possible compromising of critical infrastructure, while maintaining a positive climate for innovation and investment. Sensitive technologies will be a specific focus of outreach and engagement activities with key stakeholders, particularly subject matter experts in industry and research.

To counter economic-based threats to national security, Public Safety Canada will continue leading the assessment of foreign investments under the national security provisions of the Investment Canada Act, in collaboration with designated investigative bodies across the Government of Canada. The Department will also implement amendments to the Act should Bill C-34, An Act to amend the Investment Canada Act, pass into law. These amendments, led by Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada, will allow the Government of Canada to better address economic-based threats to national security, by streamlining processes, improving communications with allies, and providing more options for effective mitigation of threats.

Strengthening cyber security and critical infrastructure resilience

National Cyber Security Strategy Renewal

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will continue to lead the cyber security community in the renewal of the National Cyber Security Strategy while continuing to implement the National Cyber Security Action Plan (2019-2024) , in accordance with the directive in the Minister of Public Safety's mandate letter.

Cyber Incident Response

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will continue interdepartmental implementation of the Federal Cyber Incident Response Plan. This plan establishes a formal coordination and information sharing framework for the Government of Canada to use when responding to cyber security incidents affecting non-Government of Canada systems. The Plan has been developed and tested during both simulation exercises and real-world events. In 2023–24, Public Safety Canada will be focused on obtaining final endorsements and publishing the document to its website.

Advancing Cyber Security Legislation

As the lead department for Bill C-26, An Act Respecting Cyber Security, amending the Telecommunications Act and making consequential amendments to other Acts, Public Safety Canada will support the government as this legislation moves through the legislative process toward becoming law. This proposed legislation is envisioned to protect Canadians and bolster cyber security across the federally regulated financial, telecommunications, energy, and transportation sectors.

Cyber Security Data Strategy

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will coordinate a pilot project to develop cross-cutting government-wide data sharing capabilities on cyber security and cybercrime, work to identify gaps and priorities related to national cyber security data, and develop a strategic approach to sharing needed data.

Additionally, Public Safety Canada will continue to work with Statistics Canada and the cyber security community to assess the findings from the Canadian Survey of Cyber Security and Cybercrime and apply a continuous improvement process to its design, audience, and implementation.

Modernizing Canada's Critical Infrastructure Policy Framework

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will continue to lead national efforts to enhance the security and resilience of Canada's critical infrastructure (CI) in collaboration with public and private sector partners. Further to consultations that took place in 2022-23, the Department will conduct policy research and analysis to ensure that Canada's renewed approach to CI security and resilience adequately responds to the evolving threat landscape. Doing so will involve working with international partners to better understand best practices and lessons learned that could be applied in a Canadian context. The Department is also working to enhance the number of CI tools and information products that are offered via a variety of platforms (e.g. webinars, teleconferences, newsletters and the online information portal, in-person meetings, where possible, and publicly available) to broaden access.

National cyber-physical exercise and other tools

Public Safety Canada will continue to work in collaboration with all CI stakeholders to support sectoral and cross-sectoral exercises in an effort to strengthen stakeholders ability to mitigate impacts of disruptive events. In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will focus on providing all levels of government and CI stakeholders with practical tools and actionable information to strengthen resilience, and will examine the management of cyber security incidents with physical consequences by way of a national cyber-physical exercise. These activities will be achieved by implementing an exercise cycle approach, which will include:

• A suite of facilitator-led discussion-based exercise activities, hosted both in-person and virtually, which build in scope and scale over time; better prepare organizations, teams, or personnel to respond more effectively and efficiently to an emergency; and culminate in a singular capstone activity.
• A national-level cyber-physical exercise, identified as the final component of the cycle. Exercise Cy-Phy23 will incorporate the elements and progressive observations of the entire cycle.

Additionally, a suite of online exercise tools and templates to help address all-hazard risks will be developed and implemented to support CI owners and operators in their own design, delivery, and evaluation of tabletop exercises. This self-facilitated assessment will help the CI community to examine their levels of preparedness, response and recovery capabilities within their organizations.

Ransomware

Ransomware continues to be an increasingly common and significant national, economic, and global security risk within the online environment. In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will continue to lead and coordinate the development of interdepartmental policy initiatives to address the threat of ransomware.

In collaboration with federal government partners, the Department is developing products to increase public awareness of the issue and to help Canadians and Canadian businesses address this threat. The Department is also working closely with domestic and international partners to address ransomware by actively sharing lessons learned and, as appropriate, more closely aligning policies, activities, public messaging, and industry engagement.

Combatting terrorism and ideologically motivated violent extremism

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will continue to work with the security and intelligence community to advance the Minister of Public Safety's mandate letter commitment to “bring forward measures to counter the rise of ideologically-inspired violent extremism and strengthen the capacity of Canadian police and prosecutors to bring to justice cybercriminals and terror suspects to the fullest extent of the law” and will continue to work with the security and intelligence community to ensure that the government can respond to the evolving threat landscape, including to address the rise of ideologically motivated violent extremism.

Terrorist Listings

Public Safety Canada will continue to work with Portfolio Agencies and the interdepartmental community to administer, review, and provide policy advice and recommendations relating to the list of terrorist entities under the Criminal Code of Canada. Assessing potential new terrorist entities for listing is an ongoing process based on evidence, intelligence and the law. When an entity is found to meet the threshold for listing, its designation will be considered. In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will continue work currently underway with partner agencies to consider the addition of new entities to the Criminal Code list. Listings will assist in the investigation and prosecution of terrorist acts and offences, as well as helping prevent the exploitation of Canada's financial systems by terrorist entities.

Additionally, in 2023-24, the Department, in partnership with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian Security Intelligence Service, will continue work to meet its ongoing statutory obligation to review each entity on the Criminal Code list of entities every five years. A portion of this review work was initiated, and largely completed, in 2021-22. Pending the status of other deliverables, this portion of the review work ought to be completed in late 2023-24.

Public Safety Canada will also continue working on solutions to address the criminal liability risk faced by public servants and Canadian non-governmental organizations involved in the provision of international assistance, including safe passage related activities, to vulnerable Afghans.

Combatting hostile activities by state actors

Hostile activities by state actors (HASA), which include activities known as foreign interference, espionage, and sabotage, continue to increase in frequency and sophistication, threatening Canada's national security, prosperity and sovereignty.

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will continue to prioritize work with federal partners to counter threats related to HASA, including by leading horizontal policy development efforts to provide advice and recommendations aimed at combatting HASA and increasing Canada's resilience. This includes undertaking consultations with stakeholders and the public on ways to increase transparency on foreign influence, including potentially requiring individuals acting as agents for foreign states to be properly registered. Efforts will also be made toward advancing a whole-of-government counter-HASA strategy in coordination with interdepartmental and international partners, with the objective of increasing awareness, and fortifying whole-of-society resilience, to address the increasingly complex and multi-dimensional nature of HASA.

In addition to the departmental strategic priorities discussed above, Public Safety Canada is committed to advancing work to maintain public trust and sustain new and ongoing partnerships in 2023-24.

Enhancing transparency

National Security Transparency Commitment

The National Security Transparency Commitment (NSTC) was announced in 2017 to enhance transparency within the security and intelligence community. It aims to make more national security information available and accessible to the public. The NSTC also aims to engage Canadians in the development of national security policies. Public Safety Canada coordinates the implementation of the initiative across federal departments and agencies with national security and related intelligence responsibilities.

The Department launched the National Security Transparency Advisory Group (NS-TAG) in July 2019, as a key component of implementing the NSTC. The NS-TAG is mandated to provide advice to Public Safety's Deputy Minister – and by extension, all federal departments and agencies with national security responsibilities – on how to implement the Commitment. In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will continue to coordinate the work of the NS-TAG as well as advance the implementation of the NSTC to enhance transparency and trust with Canadians on national security issues. The Department will also release a first status report on the implementation of the NSTC to date.

Research Security Centre of Excellence

In Budget 2022, Public Safety Canada was given funding to establish the Research Security Centre of Excellence, a team that will serve as the main point of contact within the Government of Canada for external stakeholders on all matters pertaining to research security. The Centre aims to bring all of the Government of Canada's expertise on matters relating to cutting edge research and national security together to ensure that Canada's world-leading research is protected from theft and misuse. The Centre will have two functions: provide advice directly to Canadian academic institutions through its regional advisor network; and aid in the implementation of the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships by providing national security advice to federal granting agencies which fund academic partnerships.

Strengthening domestic and international partnerships

Recognizing the global nature of security challenges and solutions, Public Safety Canada will continue to advance its priorities through bilateral and multilateral engagements with key international partners, such as the United States and other Five Eyes countries, and through multilateral fora including the G7 and the United Nations. For example, Public Safety Canada will deepen security relations with the United States and Mexico through initiatives under the North American Leaders' Summit, as well as with G7 Interior and Security Ministers. Public Safety Canada will continue contributing to the Government of Canada's response to support Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence; and, advance implementation of initiatives to support the promotion of peace, resilience and security in the Indo-Pacific as part of Canada's Indo-Pacific Strategy.

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will also continue to build and strengthen the partnerships required to achieve successful delivery of Canada's cyber and CI priorities as identified in the National Strategy for Critical Infrastructure. In particular, the Department will continue to bolster partnerships with provinces and territories, private sector, CI owners and operators, academic stakeholders, and international partners through existing governance mechanisms and engagement tools (e.g., the Hex Report newsletter for subscribed CI stakeholders) to share information, advance priorities, and address the full range of risks these stakeholders are facing.

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will also continue to engage with international partners bilaterally and through forums such as the Five Country Ministerial and the G7 Roma Lyon Group as part of a shared commitment to counter violent extremism in all its forms while continuing to protect privacy, civil rights, civil liberties, and human rights.

Gender-based analysis Plus

Public Safety Canada is committed to ensuring that Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) remains a central component of policy and program development, implementation, delivery, and reporting. In order to support this commitment, the Department will apply GBA Plus to its 2023-24 planned initiatives under the National Security core responsibility in the following ways:

• Research Security Centre of Excellence: As part of the Research Security Centre of Excellence's mandate, it is tasked with aiding in the implementation of the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships. Public Safety Canada will collect disaggregated data on the types of granting applications received from granting councils for a national security review which includes a breakdown based on research institution, private sector partner, and private sector partner country of origin.
• Critical Infrastructure (CI) Security and Resilience: Recognizing that the threat and risk landscape facing Canada's CI is vast, Public Safety Canada will actively work to identify and assess indirect GBA Plus implications in the development of potential approaches to strengthen CI security and resilience.
• Ideologically motivated violent extremism: Public Safety Canada takes into account the impacts of ideologically motivated violent extremism (IMVE) threat on frequently targeted demographics (e.g., religious minorities [particularly Jewish and Muslim Canadians, respectively], visible minorities, 2SLGBTQQIA+^{Footnote 1} individuals, and women), in line with the principles of GBA Plus. IMVE attacks include racialized and marginalized individuals and communities.
• Cyber Security and Cybercrime Engagement: To further build GBA Plus capacity in the cyber security policy community, a working group was created in 2022. The objective of this working group is to leverage best practices from other areas of the Government of Canada, take part in case studies, discuss scenarios and approaches to GBA Plus and Bias Sensitivity, Diversity and Identity application in policy work, identify data gaps and share and/or build toolkits to aid in the GBA Plus application of work. As a result, all participating departments/agencies can better apply GBA Plus for the National Cyber Security Strategy renewal and Action Plan(s).
• Terrorist Listings: Prior to any terrorist entity listing being formalized, GBA Plus considerations will be analyzed as part of any advice to Government related to terrorist listing.
• Cyber Security Data Strategy: Work is underway within the Department, and in collaboration with Statistics Canada, to increase GBA Plus data collection in future iterations of cyber security surveys, including the Canadian Survey of Cyber Security and Cybercrime.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

In addition to the Departmental Results and strategic priorities, Public Safety Canada remains committed to supporting the Government of Canada's overall efforts to meet the objectives under the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In 2023-24, the Department will be engaging in activities under the National Security core responsibility which align with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

• SDG 16.a – Terrorist listings under the Criminal Code support the Government of Canada's efforts to protect Canadians against the threat of terrorism, which helps to ensure Canada remains a safe and stable country. Listings also help contribute to regional stability in other parts of the world by ensuring funds are not transferred from Canada to international terrorist groups; and
• SDG 17.17 – Inter-governmental co-operation and partnerships with Governmental and non-Governmental organizations on planned National Security initiatives, such as cyber security and ideologically motivated violent extremism, will contribute to collective capacity building to prevent violence and combat terrorism and crime.

Innovation

The Research Security Centre of Excellence has already begun to test high-impact programs at a small scale through the pilot project of the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships. As the Guidelines are expanded throughout 2023-24, Public Safety Canada and a number of key Government of Canada stakeholders will continue to review the program to assess where gaps exist and how best to provide accurate and timely advice to granting agencies and academic institutions on how best to safeguard Canada's world-leading research ecosystem.

Additionally, Public Safety Canada continues to make available a fund to support innovation, small-scale experiments to test new ideas, and the development or evaluation of new or different tools and approaches to bring creative solutions to existing problems, and generate improved outcomes for clients, partners and employees.

Key risks

Public Safety Canada's mission is to build a safe and resilient Canada. Accordingly, the Department must exercise a high level of awareness, engagement and adaptability to keep Canadians safe, maintain a cohesive and coordinated approach to safety and security, and generate results for Canadians while managing a variety of risks:

• Public Trust in Government Institutions: In the pursuit of balancing the advancement of open government principles, particularly around research and open science, and the need to protect Canada's national security interests, there is a risk that public trust in federal institutions could be eroded as information is protected. To mitigate this risk, Public Safety Canada will continue to actively participate in the implementation of the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships, and the establishment of a Regional Advisor network devoted to assisting the research community across the country, as well as the Department's participation in other collaborative fora.
• Access to and Responsiveness of Partners: There is a risk that the Department's National Security programs may be unsuccessful at reaching all relevant partners, and that delays or non-completion of initiatives by partners may impact Departmental performance and program delivery. As such, the Department is working to increase the number of CI tools and information products that are offered via a variety of platforms (e.g. webinars, teleconferences, newsletters and the online information portal, as well as in-person meetings where possible), and make them publicly available, in order to broaden access to these products. Existing partnerships will also be leveraged in an effort to secure continued participation in ongoing discussions on infrastructure resilience.
• Collaboration on Intersectional Priorities: Due to intersectional nature of the Department's priorities, there is a risk that Public Safety Canada's approach to addressing National Security issues may not be perceived as a holistic and whole-of-government. For example, while the Department's focus is primarily on the national security component of violent extremist threats, countering ideologically motivated violent extremism (IMVE) requires a whole-of-government and whole-of-society response. As such, there are many ongoing and inter-related initiatives across several organizations with a nexus to IMVE, including countering radicalization to violence, online safety, anti-racism and combatting hate, and the security of Parliamentarians. To mitigate this risk, the Department has established collaborative forums to address the multi-faceted approaches to mitigating and responding to these issues to further align the Government and reduce duplicative efforts.

Planned results for National Security

The following table shows, for National Security, the planned results, the result indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2023–24, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

The financial, human resources and performance information for the Public Safety Canada's program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Planned budgetary spending for National Security

The following table shows, for National Security, budgetary spending for 2023–24, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Public Safety Canada's program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Planned human resources for National Security

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department will need to fulfill this core responsibility for 2023–24 and for each of the next two fiscal years.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Public Safety Canada's program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Community Safety

Description

Public Safety Canada provides national coordination to help Canadian communities and stakeholders respond to crime and build community resilience, promote the safety and security of Canadian communities and institutions, enhance the integrity of Canada's borders, and support the provision of policing services to Indigenous communities.

Planning highlights

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will seek to achieve its Community Safety departmental results through the following departmental strategic priority and activities:

Crime Prevention

Firearms and gun control

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will continue to work with stakeholders to advance legislation, regulations, policies, and programs, including those related to Bill C-21, An Act to amend certain Acts and to make certain consequential amendments (firearms), to advance and implement government firearms commitments. The Government will also continue to strengthen Canada's gun control framework and combat the criminal use of firearms.

Additionally, in 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will finalize the development of the Firearms Buyback Program that will offer compensation to firearms owners and businesses impacted by the May 1, 2020, prohibition of assault-style firearms.

Combating gun and gang violence

Public Safety Canada continues to work with a suite of initiatives to address gun and gang violence across Canada. In 2023-24, under the Initiative to Take Action Against Gun and Gang Violence, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) will continue its efforts to enhance federal enforcement capacity.

Building Safer Communities Fund (BCSF) will continue focusing on supporting prevention and intervention activities in municipalities and Indigenous communities. Through the BCSF, Public Safety Canada will continue to work with key partners to provide $250 million over five years to municipalities and Indigenous communities, to support prevention and gang intervention programs for at-risk youth.

National Crime Prevention Strategy

Through the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS), Public Safety Canada will continue to implement projects selected under the 2018 and 2020 NCPS Call for Applications. The Department most recently held a call for applications in 2021 for the Crime Prevention Action Fund (CPAF), and plans to develop and implement forty new targeted crime prevention intervention projects through this process, representing a multi-year investment of $87 million. More specifically, through the CPAF 2021 Call, Public Safety Canada will support 25 new direct intervention projects that will provide additional support to Black Canadian and Indigenous youth; 8 research projects that will produce knowledge on multi-sectoral community-driven crime prevention initiatives and impacts of the pandemic; and 7 partnership mobilization grants that will assist organizations to develop and mobilize community partnerships to be able to fund crime prevention direct-interventions in the future.

In alignment with Canada's Gender-Based Violence Strategy (GBV), the National Action Plan to End GBV, and the Federal 2SLGBTQI+ Action Plan led by the Department of Women and Gender Equality, the NCPS will continue to fund research, awareness, and intervention activities aimed at addressing and preventing cyberbullying behaviours amongst children and youth.

The Northern and Indigenous Crime Prevention Fund (NICPF) will continue to support the development of six projects, seeking to expand that number in 2023-24. The NICPF creates a continuum of support, complimenting efforts under the Aboriginal Community Safety Planning Initiative with the development of community safety plans with Indigenous communities. This programs allows for the development of community-led, culturally appropriate projects targeting the needs of Indigenous communities.

The Security Infrastructure Program (SIP) will begin implementing upwards of 60 projects. This round of projects may include a recently added class of recipients: gender-based violence shelters. The SIP will continue to seek to make amendments to the program design to be more responsive to the needs of communities, as committed in the Minister of Public Safety's mandate letter.

Anti-Money Laundering

The Financial Crime Coordination Centre (FC3) will focus on the development of options to establish a new Canada Financial Crimes Agency, whose purpose will be to investigate these highly complex crimes. Work has been underway over the past year to assess current gaps and challenges on the detection and disruption of financial crime to support a decision on the way forward.

In 2023-24, FC3 will continue to strengthen coordination among operational partners and increase support to counter money laundering and financial crimes in Canada. This will be accomplished via close collaboration with federal, provincial, territorial and municipal partners, with a focus on legislative and policy initiatives in addition to information sharing and training opportunities for investigators and prosecutors.

In May 2022, FC3 launched the Knowledge Hub Portal for public-sector anti-money laundering (AML) professionals across Canadian jurisdictions. In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will continue to maintain and update the Knowledge Hub Portal with new resources and work with AML regime partners at all levels of government to share information relating to the detection, disruption and prevention of financial crime.

In addition, FC3 will host the Spin Cycle 2024, FC3's third annual AML conference, which will be open to all AML public-sector professionals at all levels of government in Winter 2024.

Public Safety Canada is working collaboratively with federal partners to support the upcoming statutory review of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act. FC3 is collaborating on all the preparation work for this review, including working on a range of legislative and regulatory proposals to enhance enforcement or close gaps and address challenges in the investigation, prosecution and disruption of financial crimes and professional money laundering.

Finally, Public Safety Canada is exploring potential training options to bolster existing AML-related training. The Department will consult with multiple external agencies to explore the potential implementation of a certification program for various roles within the AML regime.

National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence

In order to advance the National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence, in 2023-24, the Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence (Canada Centre) will continue to lead three key priority areas of work: 1. Building, sharing and using knowledge; 2. Addressing radicalization to violence in the online space; and, 3. Supporting front-line interventions.

Outreach will continue to be a key function of the Canada Centre, working with government, academia and practitioners to improve accessibility of knowledge, cumulative learning, multi-sectoral engagement, and capacity building. This will include hosting webinars and workshops, as well as supporting the development and sharing of knowledge products such as research reports and briefs.

The Canada Centre plans to develop a stakeholder engagement plan to enhance information sharing and capacity building at local, provincial, territorial, federal and international levels. In the Canada Centre's role as co-chair of the Federal/Provincial-Territorial Working Group on countering radicalization to violence, it will work in 2023-24 to coordinate prevention efforts nationally. The Canada Centre also plans to directly support the National Expert Committee on Countering Radicalization to Violence.

The Canada Centre will continue to advance policy priorities in preventing and countering violent extremist and terrorist use of the internet through international and multi-stakeholder engagement. The latter will include participating as an active member of both the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism's Independent Advisory Committee, and the Christchurch Call to Action steering committee to advance the Christchurch commitments with governments, civil society and industry. The Canada Centre will also actively advance cooperation on prevention of violent extremism through working groups in the G7 and Five Eyes multilateral fora.

The Canada Centre's Community Resilience Fund will continue to be a key mechanism for supporting researchers, front-line practitioners, and community-based organizations to prevent and counter radicalization to violence in Canada. Following the successful Call for Applications in 2022, more than 20 new projects will be launched early in 2023-24 in several provinces.

Finally, the Canada Centre will continue to work closely with federal partners to implement the government response to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security's (SECU) June 2022 report: The Rise of Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism in Canada.

Modernizing and reforming the Canadian criminal justice system

Record Suspension Program reform

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will continue to reform the Record Suspension Program (RSP) to address systemic barriers, promote reintegration and ensure the system is fair and proportionate. The Department continues to work on additional legislative and non-legislative changes to the RSP.

As part of Phase One of RSP reforms, Public Safety Canada is providing $18 million in funding over four years, through a new contribution stream within the Grants and Contributions Program to National Voluntary Organizations, to community support services to assist individuals in navigating the record suspension application process. Eighteen organizations are receiving funding through this program.

Phase Two of RSP reforms included consultations with provincial, territorial, and municipal partners and key criminal justice stakeholders on the Automated Sequestering of Criminal Records (ASCR) system. In 2023-24 the Department will continue to analyze the results of Summer 2022 engagement sessions to determine the necessary elements to develop an ASCR system in Canada, and work with federal, provincial, and territorial partners to propose a way forward for the operationalization and potential implementation of an ASCR system, including interoperability and resourcing needs.

Community Corrections

Public Safety Canada launched the Federal Framework to Reduce Recidivism (the Framework) in 2022, which aims to break the cycle of reoffending, support rehabilitation and make our communities safer for everyone.

In 2023-24, working with a diverse array of stakeholders, the Department will finalize the development of an implementation plan that will identify concrete actions in the areas of housing, education, employment, health, and positive support networks, including identifying innovative pilot projects. Public Safety Canada will also begin early implementation under the Framework with a focus on leveraging existing programs and services.

Transformation and modernization of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

In 2023-24, as part of the Government of Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) reform initiatives, Public Safety Canada will continue to work with the Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Youth and the RCMP to enhance the Management Advisory Board and to create an oversight role for the agency and the Independent Centre for Harassment Resolution to help ensure a safe, healthy and supportive work environment at the RCMP.

The Department will also continue to support the existing Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC), and support the advancement of Bill C-20, An Act establishing the Public Complaints and Review Commission and amending certain Acts and statutory instruments in Parliament, with the purpose of establishing a Public Complaints and Review Commission (PCRC) for both the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency. The PCRC will replace the CRCC and work to enhance accountability and transparency of border and law enforcement agencies.

In 2023-24, the Department will continue to respond to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security recommendations that are relevant to Public Safety Canada to combat over-representation and discrimination in the justice system, including supporting the implementation of the recommendations outlined in the Report on Systemic Racism in Policing in Canada.

Contract Policing

Public Safety Canada is responsible for the management of bilateral Police Service Agreements (PSAs) between the Government of Canada and provincial, territorial and municipal (PTM) governments where the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is employed by these jurisdictions to provide frontline policing.

In 2023-24, the Department will continue to bring focus and strong collaboration to the management of the PSAs by actively engaging with PTMs through the Contract Management Committee (CMC). Throughout the year, CMC officials meet regularly to ensure that contract policing remains current and responsive to evolving policing requirements and innovative approaches to policing within the terms of the contract. 

In particular, the Department will look to address contract jurisdictions' requests for debt relief and payment flexibility with respect to four years of retroactive cost increases related to the RCMP Regular Members and Reservists. The federal government will communicate its decision directly with contract jurisdictions, and will take appropriate action to resolve this matter in a timely manner.

Public Safety Canada will also lead an assessment of the Contract Policing program through engagement with jurisdictions, municipalities, and other partners, including Indigenous communities, to better understand how the program is functioning and hear what is important to jurisdictions in terms of a long-term vision for policing in their communities. The engagement activities and assessment will be completed in 2023-24, and will inform all partners on how to address program issues as the current contracts end in 2032.

Policing in Indigenous Communities

Public Safety Canada is committed to delivering responsive, dedicated, professional and culturally sensitive Indigenous policing services. The Minister of Public Safety's mandate letter reaffirmed the need, with the support of the Minister of Indigenous Services and the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, to co-develop a First Nations policing legislation and to engage with Inuit and Métis communities regarding their policing needs. In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will continue collaboration with the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), provinces and territories, modern treaty and self-governing agreement signatories, the First Nations Chiefs of Police Association, and the First Nations Police Governance Council through bilateral discussions to identify and advance First Nations policing priorities. It is expected that the Department will begin to co-develop elements with the AFN to inform the First Nations police services legislation, with the objective of tabling a bill in Parliament in 2023-24.

Beyond the legislation, Public Safety Canada will continue to work with Indigenous, provincial and territorial governments to implement the Budget 2021 investments to support culturally responsive policing and community safety services in Indigenous communities. These include investments to expand and stabilize the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program (FNIPP). Specifically, in 2023-24 the Department will:

• Provide federal funding, as per the cost-share arrangement of the FNIPP, for additional officer positions to stabilize current FNIPP agreements; and
• Provide federal funding (as per the FNIPP cost-share) to expand the footprint of the FNIPP and better support communities' policing and community safety priorities.
• To support this, the Department will fund Community Consultative Groups in Community Tripartite Agreements, Ontario First Nation Policing Association recipient communities, and self-administered police services in Quebec.
• In addition, Department will fund feasibility assessments for communities to examine community safety requirements and appropriate policing models.

Budget 2021 investments in this domain also included funding dedicated to support engagement with Inuit and with Métis to better understand their unique policing and community safety priorities. In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will advance this work by organizing a series of virtual engagement sessions and bilateral meetings to launch dialogues about the unique policing and community safety priorities of Inuit and Métis.

Combatting serious and organized crime

Organized crime

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will continue to advance policies and provide funding to help law enforcement combat organized crime. For example, in 2023-24, the Department will facilitate discussions between the provinces and territories and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in support of negotiations to renew the Biology Casework Analysis Agreements, which are set to expire on March 31, 2024.

Public Safety Canada will also continue to collaborate with First Nations communities to support efforts to combat organized crime and cross-border criminality. In 2023-24, the Department will continue to provide funding to the Akwesasne and Kahnawake First Nations police services under the First Nations Organized Crime Initiative (FNOCI) to help disrupt organized crime and related criminal activities in and around their communities. This work will include enhancing capacity-building for strengthened skills and techniques used in complex organized crime investigations as well as strengthening partnerships with the RCMP and other law enforcement agencies to support intelligence gathering and information sharing.

Online child sexual exploitation

This program is delivered through the National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet. It also includes funding from the Gender-Based Violence Strategy.

Public Safety Canada, in collaboration with key stakeholders, will deliver initiatives to further protect children from online sexual exploitation. Budget 2022 approved $41.6 million over 5 years, and $8.9 million ongoing to the Department to better protect children from sexual exploitation online. In 2023–24, this renewed funding will support Public Safety Canada's ongoing efforts to:

• Strengthen prevention through a national awareness campaign and targeted prevention efforts to raise awareness of online child sexual exploitation and reduce the stigma associated with disclosure;
• Expand and share knowledge through a webinar series;
• Increase capacity for municipal/provincial Internet Child Exploitation units;
• Enhance collaboration with other government departments, provinces and territories as well as national partners and stakeholders;
• Engage with digital industry to promote the Voluntary Principles to Combat Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse; and
• Collaborate with international partners such as G7 and Five Eyes partners to share information and coordinate anti-online child sexual exploitation efforts.

Public Safety Canada will also continue providing funding support to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection for the operation of Cybertip.ca, Canada's tip line for reporting suspected cases of online child sexual exploitation, as well as Project Arachnid – an automated, web-crawling tool that helps reduce the online availability of child sexual abuse material, thus breaking the cycle of abuse.

National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking

In 2023-24, the Department will be working to establish a Survivors Advisory Committee and appointing a Chief Advisor to Combat Human Trafficking. In addition, Public Safety Canada will continue working with federal partners, provinces, territories and other stakeholders to implement measures under the whole-of-government National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking 2019-2024.

Specifically, the Department will continue to:

• Provide funding to the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking in order to ensure the continued operation of the multilingual, 24/7 toll-free Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline;
• Support a national human trafficking awareness;
• Provide funding to organizations that provide trauma-informed services to victims and survivors, and to projects that raise awareness of human trafficking among at-risk youth;
• Develop guidelines for front-line community workers on how to provide trauma-informed and culturally relevant supports to victims and survivors of human trafficking; and
• Engage with a wide range of stakeholders to further collaborate and coordinate anti-human trafficking efforts.

Reducing illegal drug supply and use

Addressing the supply of illegal drugs

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will continue to collaborate with domestic and international law and border enforcement partners to combat illegal drug trafficking, including of synthetic opioids, by supporting enforcement efforts to address the illegal supply of drugs as part of the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy, the federal government's public health approach to substances and their use.

Specifically, the Department will work to:

• Address drug trafficking online and through the domestic mail system;
• Reduce the availability of precursor chemicals used to illegally manufacture controlled substances;
• Combat organized crime involvement in the synthetic drug market; and
• Support consideration of alternatives to criminal penalties for simple drug possession.

The Department will also continue to engage with international partners through bilateral and multilateral fora, such as the Canada-United States Opioids Action Plan and the North American Drug Dialogue, to coordinate policy responses to various drug threats, including the flow of illegal drugs and precursor chemicals from other countries.

Addressing the illegal cannabis market

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will continue to collaborate with federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) partners, as well as law enforcement stakeholders, to advance public safety-related components of the cannabis legalization framework, including efforts to disrupt and displace the domestic illicit cannabis market. This will include engaging with FPT partners and law enforcement agencies to discuss and exchange information on trends and successful disruption strategies and to develop knowledge products on best practices to enforce cannabis laws and regulations.

In addition, Public Safety Canada will continue implementing activities under the Online Illicit Cannabis Sales (OICS) Action Plan, which was developed by the FPT OICS working group and endorsed by the FPT Assistant Deputy Ministers of Crime Prevention and Policing Committee. In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will:

• Build on public awareness activities for consumers to help them make informed decisions when purchasing cannabis and help shift consumers to the legal market;
• Undertake public opinion research to examine the motivations behind illicit cannabis sourcing and inform future public awareness activities;
• Enhance data collection on, and monitoring of, illicit cannabis and public safety by supporting the collection of improved and more consistent data on the use and availability of illicit cannabis through the work of an FPT sub-working group on data collection; and
• Conduct outreach with third party entities, such as social media companies and financial institutions, on way to disrupt illicit cannabis activity on their platforms.

In line with the federal government's commitment to reconciliation and renewed relationship with Indigenous Peoples, in 2023-24, the Department will engage with Indigenous communities to help address community safety issues pertaining to illicit cannabis in their communities.

Drug-impaired driving

This initiative aims to protect public safety on roadways in Canada by equipping law enforcement with the tools, technology and training necessary to enforce the new drug-impaired driving legislation, and by adding to this deterrence through research, public awareness and the development of evidence-based policies.

Public Safety Canada conducts outreach and research projects on drug impaired driving to continue supporting evidence-based development of drug-related policies, legislation, and programs.

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will work with the provinces, territories, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to prepare the 2023 version of the Annual National Data Report to Inform Trends and Patterns in Drug-Impaired Driving for release in early 2024.

Through contribution agreements between Public Safety Canada and the provinces and territories^{Footnote 8}, efforts will continue within the Department to improve the availability of data on specific issues such as law enforcement use of approved drug screening devices and standardized field sobriety tests, and their results. Funding agreements now allow for the reimbursement of expenses related to conducting public awareness campaigns to prevent drug-impaired driving, and to implementing new or improved data collection tools. Starting in 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will provide funding to a team of researchers from the University of British Columbia to collect and analyze toxicological data from injured drivers in fifteen hospitals and trauma centres across the country. This data will provide invaluable knowledge to the understanding of trends and patterns in drug-impaired driving, including when cannabis is involved. Public Safety Canada will integrate the results in the annual national data report on trends and patterns in drug-impaired driving.

Public Safety Canada is continuing to fund two laboratory studies conducted by the Centre on Addictions and Mental Health to measure the dose-dependent impacts of smoked cannabis and edible cannabis products on driving abilities. In 2023-24, the final results of the first study, on the impacts of smoked cannabis, will be released. A similar study on the impacts of edible cannabis products on driving abilities will be commencing in 2023-24, with expected results early in 2024-25.

Strengthening border policy and security

Public Safety Canada will seek to achieve its mandate commitments and departmental strategic priority related to responsible, compassionate, and modernized management of the evolving border environment via the following initiatives:

Immigration and Border Policy

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will, in coordination with Portfolio Agencies and key international partners, continue to protect the health and safety of Canadians by providing federal policy leadership to strengthen the integrity and efficient management of Canada's borders. This will include providing advice on the formulation of policies, regulations and programs related to immigration and border law enforcement matters such as irregular migration and illicit firearms and drug trafficking.

The Department will also work with partners towards supporting travel and transportation industry recovery, and expanding Preclearance operations in Canada. In 2023-24, the Department will continue to oversee Preclearance governance in collaboration with U.S. and Canadian government partners, and pursue program legislation changes to ensure Preclearance remains aligned with recent legal developments.

Gender-based analysis Plus

Public Safety Canada is committed to ensuring that Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) remains a central component of policy and program development, implementation, delivery, and reporting. In order to support this commitment, the Department will apply GBA Plus to its 2023-24 planned initiatives under the Community Safety core responsibility in the following ways:

• Indigenous Policing and First Nations policing legislation: The Department will continue to collaborate with implicated partners and stakeholders from diverse groups (e.g., Indigenous police services and communities, provinces and territories, women, 2SLGBTQQIA+, etc.) on the development of the upcoming First Nations policing legislation and Inuit and Métis engagement. Public Safety Canada will also continue to explore ways to improve data collection in Indigenous communities and to ensure the safety of vulnerable groups, including women and girls.
• Combatting Organized Crime: The Biology Casework Analysis Agreements (BCAA) and the First Nations Organized Crime Initiative (FNOCI) funding agreements support GBA Plus principles. For example, through the BCAA, the cross-jurisdictional National DNA Data Bank will provide indirect support to women and girls who continue to be over-represented as victims of crime. As well, FNOCI provides culturally responsive policing services (i.e. outreach officers, online video content) which targets youth, including girls, to support crime prevention.
• Firearms Buyback Program: Given the national scope of the Firearms Buyback program and regional dispersion of firearms, Public Safety Canada will continue to engage with provinces, territories, municipalities and Indigenous communities to establish partnerships to implement the program. National and regional considerations relating to the deployment of resources (both public and private sector) are also being factored into design, to ensure the implementation of the program is safe and efficient and does not overburden program delivery partners.
• National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS): GBA Plus considerations are central to the work of the NCPS. The NCPS will continue to draw on statistics and research to inform priorities and determine the complex mix of risk factors that may put individuals at risk for contact with the criminal justice system. This information will help to set priorities for the Strategy, and inform program design and project evaluation.
• Online Child Sexual Exploitation: The Department's initiatives to combat child sexual exploitation online are informed by GBA Plus results. For example, in 2023–24, Public Safety Canada will fund White Ribbon, the world's largest movement of men and boys working to end violence against women and girls, by promoting gender equity, healthy relationships and a new vision of masculinity, for their project entitled Preventing Online Sexual Exploitation Together project: Responding to the Critical Need. This project includes the development and delivery of resource material and workshop presentations in schools to educate youth about the dangers of online child sexual exploitation. The project also includes the development of culturally relevant resource and workshop materials for Indigenous and Black communities.
• National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking: The Strategy was developed through a robust GBA Plus analysis and considerations are incorporated into the design, delivery and implementation of initiatives. For example, organizations funded under the Strategy submit annual reports containing information about who has been engaged in their projects; this includes demographic categories of their target population, and ages and gender of project participants where possible. An analysis of the data as provided will be completed in 2023-24. Public Safety Canada is also investing in the development of guidelines for front-line community workers to support victims and survivors of human trafficking. These guidelines will apply a trauma-informed, culturally-relevant and gender-responsive lens in the development process.
• Record Suspension Program (RSP) reforms: The Department will include GBA Plus in its ongoing policy development for a potential Automated Sequestering of Criminal Records system. Minority groups in Canada, including Indigenous Peoples and Black Canadians, are over-represented in the criminal justice system. Public Safety Canada is working in collaboration with the Parole Board of Canada to determine to what extent demographic information could be collected so that outcomes can be reported on in a way that considers marginalized groups and how the RSP reforms impact them. Such demographic information could include: age, gender, race or ethnicity, employment status, area of residence, and other variables.

Additionally, Public Safety Canada will work diligently with its Portfolio partners (i.e., Canadian Boarder Services Agency, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canadian Security Intelligence Service), and other partner departments (i.e., Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Global Affairs Canada) to collaboratively address a number of public safety issues. This includes countering radicalization to violence, and ensuring that vulnerable cohorts are not negatively impacted when implementing immigration policy initiatives. This will be done by analyzing disaggregated data and continually applying a GBA Plus lens. The Canada Centre will also continue to fund relevant projects via the Community Resilience Fund; these funded programs will report to the Canada Centre, including disaggregated results.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

In addition to the Departmental Results and strategic priorities, Public Safety Canada remains committed to supporting the Government of Canada's overall efforts to meet the objectives under the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In 2023-24, the Department will be engaging in activities under the Community Safety core responsibility which align with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

• SDG 5.2, 8.7, and 16.2 – Public Safety Canada's initiatives related to addressing online child sexual exploitation and to advance the National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking work to address and prevent sexual violence against children as well as trafficking in persons, which has a disproportionate effect on women and girls.
• SDG 10.7 – Public Safety Canada's planned activities related to border management will ensure that Canada is working towards planned and well-managed migration policies that facilitate the safety and security of Canadians while facilitating access of migrants to Canada.
• SDG 10.3,16.3, and 16.6 – Public Safety Canada's planned activities related to Bill C-20 are expected to strengthen transparency and accountability of Canada's law enforcement agencies, and reduce inequalities to increase public trust in these institutions. There is currently no independent review mechanism in place for the Canadian Boarder Services Agency, which has been highlighted by stakeholders. Additionally, the Department's plans related to the modernization of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police aim to ensure equal access to justice for all.
• SDG 10.2 – Public Safety Canada's planned activities related to First Nations policing and supporting Inuit and Métis policing and community safety priorities is expected to support the establishment of accountable and culturally responsive policing services in Indigenous communities.

Innovation

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada intends to work towards experimental results to evaluate the Social Impact Bond. This initiative was launched in September 2021 under the National Crime Prevention Strategy. This innovative partnership allows private sector investors to directly fund a service provider and receive a return on the investment from Public Safety Canada when the intervention reaches the targets established at the outset. The project is maintaining a comparison group examining the change in behaviour of school-aged kids before and after receiving the intervention against those with similar disciplinary history who did not receive the intervention, in order to calculate results, consistent with experimentation best practices. The results are expected to be available in August 2023.

Additionally, Public Safety Canada continues to make available a fund to support innovation, small-scale experiments to test new ideas, and the development or evaluation of new or different tools and approaches to bring creative solutions to existing problems, and generate improved outcomes for clients, partners and employees.

Key risks

Public Safety Canada's expansive commitments under the Community Safety core responsibility warrant the management of a diverse array of risks and associated mitigation strategies. For 2023-24, the following key risks and mitigation strategies were identified:

• Resource Availability: Due to the rapidly changing landscape affecting community safety, there is a risk that allocated resources will be insufficient to adequately adapt to the demands of new and existing challenges of equal priority, which may result in the delay or inability to complete initiatives. To mitigate this risk, Public Safety Canada maintains frequent, ongoing, and strategic engagement with implicated governmental and non-governmental partners in order to monitor, mitigate, and address resource availability, priorities, and initiatives.
• Reliance on Partnership Action: Given that many initiatives rely on the infrastructure as well as the active and ongoing participation of partners outside of the federal government, there is a risk that delays or non-completion of initiatives may arise due to the core activities of the initiative falling outside the jurisdiction of the Department. For example, external partners may be delayed or unable to distribute funds received from the Department to fund initiatives under their purview within the fiscal year, or may not collect anticipated data or do so in a standardized manner. To mitigate this risk, close collaboration with all partners and stakeholders to ensure completion of initiatives and to monitor needs and progress will be maintained.

Planned results for Community Safety

The following table shows, for Community Safety, the planned results, the result indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2023–24, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

The financial, human resources and performance information for the Public Safety Canada's program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Planned budgetary spending for Community Safety

The following table shows, for Community Safety, budgetary spending for 2023–24, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Public Safety Canada's program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Planned human resources for Community Safety

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department will need to fulfill this core responsibility for 2023–24 and for each of the next two fiscal years.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Public Safety Canada's program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Emergency Management

Description

Public Safety Canada works to strengthen national emergency management to help prevent, mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from all-hazards events. Public Safety Canada provides resources and expertise to Canadian communities in support of emergency preparedness, disaster mitigation and recovery.

Planning highlights

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will seek to achieve its Emergency Management departmental result through the following departmental strategic priority and activities:

Emergency Preparedness

Enhance federal emergency response readiness

To enhance its emergency preparedness activities, the Government Operations Centre (GOC) will establish common priorities with partners and facilitate interoperability through technology, exercises, training and continuous improvement activities. The GOC will coordinate comprehensive whole-of government all-hazards exercises in collaboration with federal, provincial and territorial stakeholders and share their lessons learned to ensure readiness is maintained across all levels of government.

The GOC will also continue advancing preparedness activities through cyclical and contingency planning. To support emergency management literacy, the GOC will continue to develop and deploy e-learning capabilities associated with onboarding and training for internal and external stakeholders.

Emergency Management Strategy and Action Plan

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada, in collaboration with provinces and territories, will release the 2023-24 edition of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) Emergency Management Strategy Action Plan, which identifies how FPT governments are implementing the objectives of the Emergency Management Strategy for Canada: Toward a Resilient 2030.

The Department will continue to uphold the principles of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and work with international institutions, including the United Nations, as well as key strategic partners in the five priority areas of the Emergency Management Strategy for Canada: Toward a Resilient 2030. This will involve advancing whole-of-society efforts with international partners to build resilience and strengthen Canada's all-hazards approach to emergency management. In doing so, the Department will strengthen its partnerships with Five-Eyes partners, North Atlantic Treaty Organization and key allies through bilateral relations, to support Canada's commitments and participate in key bilateral and multilateral institutions.

Federal Emergency Management Modernization Project

The frequency and severity of recent emergency events requiring national and provincial-level response and coordination continues to highlight the importance of ensuring alignment and coherence between all levels of government, as outlined when the Federal Emergency Management Modernization Project (FEMMP) was established in 2017.

In 2023-24, the FEMMP will:

• Continue to advance an update to the Federal Emergency Response Plan to more clearly define federal institutional roles and responsibilities and reinforce preparedness and best practices. The focus for this year includes clarifying event governance structures and processes, revising the approach to managing emergency support functions, and implementing processes to define emergency management capabilities;
• Work with federal partners to establish a federal Functional Community for Emergency Management, which will provide structure and oversight of federal training and workforce development to ensure and sustain a prepared, capable emergency response workforce at all levels of federal organizations. This includes working with the Canada School of Public Service to provide basic training modules, and defining a core curriculum for federal institutions;
• Convene federal partners to define a common approach to information management technology procurement to support a data-driven approach to managing emergency response functions and information; and
• Work with Public Services and Procurement Canada and Shared Services Canada to fully implement the fit-up of a new facility for the GOC by Spring 2024. This facility will provide a modern whole-of-government centre for preparing for and managing major emergency events.

National Adaptation Strategy on Climate Change

The National Adaptation Strategy (NAS) outlines a shared path and sets common direction for a more climate resilient Canada. The Government of Canada Adaptation Action Plan is the federal plan to implement the NAS, and will be updated over time to ensure it reflects the totality of work at the federal level. To that end, Public Safety Canada will support the implementation of the NAS through continued development and delivery of disaster resilience programming and collaboration with key partners across the fields of emergency management and disaster resilience.

National Action Plan on Post-Traumatic Stress Injuries

In 2023-24, the Department will support public safety personnel by extending funding support to the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment for two years to enable it to continue its work as the Knowledge Exchange Hub of the National Research Consortium on Post-Traumatic Stress Injury Among Public Safety Personnel (PTSI), as well as to continue to offer the Internet-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy pilot, PSPNET, to public safety personnel in Saskatchewan, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The Department will also begin to work with stakeholders and other government departments on a renewed PTSI Action Plan, taking into account the increased mental health challenges faced by public safety personnel as a result of COVID-19.

Understanding disaster risks

Emergency Management Public Awareness Contribution Program

The Emergency Management Public Awareness Contribution Program continues to fund the Canadian Red Cross to develop and implement its project to deliver a national public awareness campaign targeting at risk populations, including seniors, youth, women, new Canadians, and Indigenous communities.

National Risk Profile

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will publish the first public report of the National Risk Profile based on the results of risk and capability assessments conducted in 2021-22, which focused on three of the most concerning hazards to Canadians: earthquakes, wildland fires and flooding. This report will serve as an evidence-based review of these key disaster risks and will be a useful resource for emergency management practitioners, decision-makers and the public.

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will lead a second round of risk assessments that focus on extreme heat events, hurricanes, and space weather. Stakeholder participants will be invited to attend virtual information sessions and complete risk assessment surveys, after which data will be aggregated, analyzed, and used to inform decision making.

The Department is also working to create an online public-facing Flood Risk Portal to provide more comprehensive flood risk information as well as resources and suggestions for Canadians.

Emergency Response

Enhancing disaster response capacity and emergency response coordination

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will build on its 2022-23 Search and Rescue Incident Prevention Environmental Scan and continue development of a National Search and Rescue Framework by engaging with search and rescue partners to determine potential gaps in the search and rescue incident prevention landscape.

Additionally, the Government Operations Centre (GOC) will continue to coordinate the integrated federal response to all-hazard emergency events in Canada. To enable improved awareness and coordination, the GOC's geomatics team will integrate Transport Canada's National Aerial Surveillance Program imagery tool to provide updated imagery to responding organizations and senior leadership during event response. Additionally, the GOC will continue developing its common operating picture online platform to enable efficient and effective sharing of situational awareness of events with its federal, provincial and territorial partners.

National Public Alerting System and Public Safety Broadband Network

In 2023-24, the Department will also continue the collaborative work to strengthen the overall use, sustainability, continuity of service and governance of the National Public Alerting System (NPAS) to ensure the effectiveness and safety of first responders and the safety of Canadians. This includes advancing an ongoing collaborative federal, provincial and territorial plan to strengthen governance, sustainability, and guidelines around the usage of the NPAS to maintain a public alerting system for all Canadians that is stable, accessible, inclusive and trusted.

Canadian Red Cross and the humanitarian workforce

As part of its response to domestic emergency events such as COVID-19, floods and wildfires, the Government of Canada has committed to support the Canadian Red Cross and other non-governmental organizations in building and maintaining a humanitarian workforce to provide surge support in response to the pandemic and other large-scale emergency events in Canada. In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will engage provinces, territories, Indigenous partners, and stakeholders on the need for a civilian response capacity.

Heavy Urban Search and Rescue (HUSAR) Program

In 2023-24 Public Safety Canada will finalize a national concept of operations for Heavy Urban Search And Rescue (HUSAR), ensuring that Canada's HUSAR teams could effectively and uniformly respond to emergencies anywhere across Canada in the event of a major cross-jurisdictional disaster. The Department will also continue to work towards establishing a national HUSAR team accreditation process certified by the United Nations International Search and Rescue Advisory Group.

International COSPAS-SARAST Programme

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will continue to coordinate Canada's participation in, and contribution to, the global leadership of the International COSPAS-SARSAT Programme and will assume the Deputy Chairmanship of the COSPAS-SARSAT Council in mid 2023. The Department will also lead the Canadian effort to advance, in collaboration with the three other COSPAS-SARSAT Parties, the multi-year process to renew of the International COSPAS-SARSAT Programme Agreement.

Emergency Recovery

Flood Insurance

Following the completion of the work of the Task Force on Flood Insurance and Relocation (TFFIR), Public Safety Canada is working to advance a sustainable solution to rising residential flood costs. Building on the TFFIR's August 2022 report, the Government of Canada is working towards a functional, sustainable, and low-cost national flood insurance system.

Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements

Following the completion of the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA) Advisory Panel, which reviewed Canada's approach to post-disaster financing and reflected on how best to align these efforts with broader disaster mitigation and climate adaptation work, the Department is working to review the existing disaster recovery programs and ensure that an updated, and sustainable system continues to be available to provinces and territories for disaster recovery.

Gender-based analysis Plus

Public Safety Canada is committed to ensuring that Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) remains a central component of policy and program development, implementation, delivery, and reporting. In order to support this commitment, the Department will apply GBA Plus to its 2023-24 planned initiatives under the Emergency Management core responsibility in the following ways:

• National Risk Profile (NRP): In 2023-24, the Department will continue to apply its understanding of the effects of disasters on vulnerable populations through its work on the NRP risk and capability assessment sessions. This includes building on current evidence and leveraging diverse national-level expertise as part of additional assessments to identify areas where emergency management capabilities could be improved, notably for vulnerable populations.
• Enhancing and Sustaining Public Alerting Capabilities: To improve the accessibility, relevance, and reach of emergency public alerts to vulnerable and underserved populations, Public Safety Canada will continue to collaborate with stakeholders to address accessibility issues (e.g., alert presentation, user devices, and technological barriers), and inform strategies to ensure the responsiveness of the National Public Alerting System.
• Public Safety Broadband Network (PSBN): A future PSBN will help to address connectivity and capability gaps across the country, as well as enhance the delivery of emergency management services in underserved and marginalized communities. In working to realize a PSBN, Public Safety Canada will engage with key stakeholders to ensure the way forward to address capability gaps and provides equitable service nationwide.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Injury (PTSI): As part of the National Research Consortium on PTSI Among Public Safety Personnel, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research is providing ongoing investments in research and data collection that will help the Department establish data and identify gaps in GBA Plus, and other intersecting identity factors that may exacerbate or influence instances of PTSI in public safety personnel (e.g., race, ethnicity, religion and socio-economic status). This research will inform further investments in prevention, early intervention, care, and treatment to ensure that public safety personnel are better able to identify, prevent and address symptoms associated with PTSI.
• Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI): Public Safety Canadawill build on the existing SoVI, developing a ‘Version 2.0' that will enable more detailed analysis of GBA Plus and social vulnerability considerations in policy decision-making. This may include partnerships with Statistics Canada and other departments. The planned outputs include searchable spatial data layers (e.g. maps) and other analytical tools.
• Flood Risk Portal: The Flood Risk Portal is being developed as an online tool for all Canadians. GBA Plus is therefore critical to ensure that all can benefit from it, whether they be impacted by broadband limitations (making the tool lighter to access in data), or through accessibility measures (clear text, image descriptions, etc.).
• Government Operations Centre (GOC): The GOC will continue integrating GBA Plus into its cyclical planning materials, specifically examining how to best integrate socio-economic data from Statistics Canada into its situational awareness products, risk analyses, exercises and web maps. The integration of this data will better support decision-makers about specific actions that can be taken to support populations, including vulnerable populations, impacted by emergencies. Further, the GOC will continue to monitor its level of representation of employment equity groups and actively seek out under-represented groups through its student recruitment activities and traditional staffing actions.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

In addition to the Departmental Results and strategic priorities, Public Safety Canada remains committed to supporting the Government of Canada's overall efforts to meet the objectives under the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In 2023-24, the Department will be engaging in activities under the Emergency Management core responsibility which align with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

• SDG 9.c – Once implemented, a national Public Safety Broadband Network (PSBN) will create synergy between broadband and wireless and facilitate increased access to communications technologies to communities across Canada. The implementation of the PSBN will also support targets 9.3 and 9.4 of the Canadian Indicator Framework for the Sustainable Development Goals.
• SDG 11.5 and 11.b – Public Safety Canada recognizes that disasters disproportionately impact vulnerable populations and communities. The Department will continue to work with civil society and international partners to uphold to the principles of the Sendai Framework to reduce disaster risks, adapt to climate change and foster resilience in a manner that reduces inequities towards most vulnerable populations, including, but not limited to women, Indigenous People, and minority communities.    
• SDG 13.1 – Public Safety Canada's ongoing development of the National Risk Profile (NRP) will serve to provide the necessary evidence base needed to strengthen the disaster awareness, preparation, and response capabilities of Canadians and governmental and non-governmental organizations. Additionally, the GOC's Watch program provides the federal government with 24/7 emergency event monitoring services. Its planning, preparedness and risk products are developed and disseminated to federal, provincial and territorial partners in anticipation of and in response to climate-related hazards and natural disasters with the expressed purpose of preventing harm to Canadians.

Innovation

In support of our commitment to innovation, Public Safety Canada is:

• Continuing with our Emergency Management Framework, a major initiative that underscores the linkages between climate change and emergency management, and the need for all areas of society to work together to enhance resilience in order to ensure the safety and security of Canadians;
• Releasing the first public National Risk Profile report;
• Supporting Canada's first National Adaptation Strategy to build resilient communities and a strong economy;
• Advancing Canada's first-ever National Action Plan on Post-Traumatic Stress Injuries for public safety personnel;
• Providing better flood risk information to Canadians through the creation of a public-facing online portal; and
• Advancing the first national flood insurance program.

Additionally, Public Safety Canada continues to make available a fund to support innovation, small-scale experiments to test new ideas, and the development or evaluation of new or different tools and approaches to bring creative solutions to existing problems, and generate improved outcomes for clients, partners and employees.

Key risks

Public Safety Canada's responsibility to ensure that Canada can effectively mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from all-hazards events requires the Department to manage several key risks:

• Resource Availability: Due to the ever-changing and often unpredictable nature of emergencies, there is a risk that investments may not be perceived as sufficient and sustainable to address ongoing federal commitments while adequately responding to emerging priorities. To mitigate this risk, Public Safety Canada will continue to work closely with stakeholders and governments to promote alignments and cohesion across initiatives to increase its capacity to shift resources and address emerging priorities as they arise.
• Complexity of the multi-hazard environment: There is a risk that the Department's emergency management efforts will be unable to keep up with the pace, complexity, and frequency of simultaneous emergency events. It is possible this risk would be exacerbated by the previous risk. To mitigate this, the Department continues to review its internal organizational design and implement a strategic plan to assess its capabilities against the needs it faces. The Department also continues to seek partnerships with and resources from governmental and non-governmental partners to improve knowledge capacity related to emergency management.
• Inter-Sectoral Collaboration: Due to the reliance of initiatives on the ongoing participation of stakeholders at various levels of government and the private sector, there is a risk that changes in the capacity and willingness of stakeholders could impact the delivery of initiatives. To mitigate this risk, Public Safety Canada has established various collaborative forums to discuss and seek input and guidance among stakeholders to establish effective communication channels and promote the alignment of stakeholders prior to project implementation.
• Protection for Canadians Most At-Risk: There is a risk that initiatives may not respond to the needs of those most at-risk of being impacted by emergencies. To mitigate this risk, Public Safety Canada continues to invest in the design and implementation of initiatives with a particularly focus on the availability and accessibility of supports for those most at-risk in mind.

Planned results for Emergency Management

The following table shows, for Emergency Management, the planned results, the result indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2023–24, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

The financial, human resources and performance information for the Public Safety Canada's program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Planned budgetary spending for Emergency Management

The following table shows, for Emergency Management, budgetary spending for 2023–24, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Public Safety Canada's program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Planned human resources for Emergency Management

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department will need to fulfill this core responsibility for 2023–24 and for each of the next two fiscal years.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Public Safety Canada's program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Internal services: planned results

Description

Internal services are the services that are provided within a department so that it can meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs. There are 10 categories of internal services:

• management and oversight services
• communications services
• legal services
• human resources management services
• financial management services
• information management services
• information technology services
• real property management services
• materiel management services
• acquisition management services

Planning highlights

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will seek to achieve results of its internal services through the following departmental strategic priorities and activities.

These priorities are directly linked to the Minister of Public Safety's mandate letter commitment to combatting racism and discrimination in federal institutions, and the principles of modernization, transparency, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Diversity and Inclusion

Building on the departmental Strategic Framework on Diversity and Inclusion and the associated action plan, in 2023-24 Public Safety Canada will continue to:

• Work collaboratively with stakeholders to develop a performance measurement framework to facilitate accountability and track results in regards to diversity, equity and inclusion;
• Foster a culture of inclusion through targeted outreach and awareness initiatives in collaboration with all departmental equity, diversity and inclusion forums;
• Provide resources and advice to support meaningful inclusion of diverse perspectives in the development of policies and programs;
• Build awareness and a culture of inclusion by promoting and supporting employee networks and enhancing ongoing learning and development resources such as offering new diversity and inclusion training and launching a new learning and development policy suite;
• Implement the Public Safety Canada 2023-2026 Accessibility Plan to remove and prevent barriers faced by persons with disabilities in the workplace and to help foster an inclusive and accessible environment. In 2023-24, the Department will begin implementation of the actions identified under the seven pillars of the Accessibility Plan (Employment, Built Environment, Information and Communication Technologies, Communication, Procurement, Design and Delivery, and Transportation) and create a network for employees with disabilities which will be leveraged to identify any potential new barriers as the hybrid workforce is put in place;
• Conduct an Employment Systems Review (ESR) of the department's policies and practices to identify systemic and attitudinal barriers to employment opportunities for designated group members. The findings from the ESR will be used to guide the actions the organization will take in updating and adjusting its policies and guidelines with a diversity and inclusion lens; and
• Work with internal and external stakeholders to identify and address systemic barriers to the full participation of all employees by facilitating broader understanding and engagement on equity, diversity and inclusion issues.

People Management

Recruitment of strong new employees and retention and successful talent management of existing employees is central to maintaining a strong and competitive workplace. To help support Public Safety Canada's growth agenda and ensure a strong focus on results through effective performance measurement and sound management practices, the Department will continue to build its people management capacity by:

• Increasing the intake of new talent from the student community via targeted university recruitment campaigns and career fairs. In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will run three Post-Secondary Co-operative Education and Internship Program recruitment campaigns and work with the Public Service Commission on a targeted Federal Student Work Experience Program campaign. The Department will also participate in the Federal Safety, Security, and Intelligence career fairs (spring and fall 2023) along with other university career fairs. Continuous enhancements will continue to make the departmental student employment programs a recruitment asset, and the student onboarding program will be leveraged to provide a positive experience;
• Implementing professional developmental programs such as the Human Resources Advisor and Administrative Support development programs via recruitment of new external and internal participants; delivery of training, workshops and coaching; and retantion of participants through meaningful placements and guided developmental support; and
• Continuously improving the employee experience by focusing on the improvement of existing programs, including delivering hybrid onboarding sessions to new employees, launching new learning and development resources and directives, streamlining the performance and talent management process, as well as reinforcing the management capacity of the Managers community through training sessions and guest speakers.

Health and Safety

A key factor of a strong and competitive workplace is the mental health and wellness of its employees. Public Safety Canada is committed to advancing efforts to address employee mental health and wellness. In 2023-24, the Department will continue to advance this commitment by:

• Conducting a departmental workplace risk assessment that will result in the implementation of preventative measures, and influence the mental health initiatives;
• Reinforcing the hazard prevention program to protect workers' health and safety by ensuring that all employees have a current hazard profile including tele-workplace hazards;
• Offering timely and efficient tools in support of the change management efforts to fully implement a hybrid workplace model. This would include leveraging technology to facilitate the process, such as using the MyWorkArrangement application; and
• Monitoring employee mental health and wellness indicators such as the 2022-23 Public Service Employee Survey results with the view of tailoring employee programs and activities.

Workforce Planning and Modernization

The Department's internal Hybrid Workforce Framework Strategic Plan ensures clear and measurable objectives are set and monitored for each enabling function and that change initiatives are integrated in a way that minimizes disruptions and maximizes performance. To advance work related to the Plan, in 2021-22, the Department established a dedicated secretariat to develop a detailed Action Plan and establish measurement and reporting tools.

In 2023-24, Public Safety Canada will continue to define and direct the implementation of the Treasury Board Hybrid Workforce Vision within the Department by:

• Supporting the development of work arrangements for all employees including hybrid arrangements, where possible;
• Modernizing the Public Safety Canada workplace, technologies and processes to optimize performance in the hybrid environment;
• Engaging with security personnel and Deputy Minister communities on defining and ensuring the consistent application of security controls in shared hybrid risk environments;
• Assessing and evaluating evolving client service needs, risks and opportunities in the hybrid environment to optimize the corporate services delivery model; and
• Supporting effective change management, communications and engagement at all levels.

Government of Canada Business Continuity Management Program Renewal

Public Safety Canada's Business Continuity Management (BCM) Lead Security Agency role is to provide whole-of-government leadership, expertise, tools, and training to all federal institutions to support the development of organizational BCM programs. In this vein, Public Safety Canada will continue to advance the BCM program renewal across the federal government to increase organizational readiness and resilience to all events.

Specifically, the Department will:

• Continue research and standardization of BCM methodologies and practices within the Government of Canada;
• Increase Public Safety Canada's leadership, collaboration and engagement within the federal BCM community;
• Work with the Canada School of Public Service to develop and implement BCM training solutions for usage within federal organizations;
• Develop guidance and tools for federal organizations to assess and evaluate their BCM programs; and
• Explore innovative ways to enhance the practice of BCM across the Government of Canada by researching and studying methods utilized internationally and testing new tools.

Planning for Contracts Awarded to Indigenous Businesses

Public Safety Canada plans on contracting with Indigenous businesses in support of achieving the mandatory minimum target of 5% as announced by the federal government through the following activities:

The Department has seven standing offers valued at up to $2 million each that were set aside under the mandatory Set-Aside Program for Indigenous Business. These funds will support workshop delivery for the Aboriginal Community Safety Development Contribution Program. Under these standing offers, facilitators deliver strategic planning workshops and provide support to communities in the development of Community Safety Plans, which Indigenous communities use to foster safer communities in a culturally relevant manner. Public Safety Canada anticipates that these will continue to be renewed in support of the Department's Indigenous procurement plan for 2023-24.

Public Safety Canada also has a translation standing offer in place that has been set aside according to the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business program. The Department anticipates setting this aside for the 2023-24 reporting period in support of the achieving its mandatory minimum targets.

Finally, Public Safety Canada also promotes Indigenous business by requiring its contracting officers to invite at least one Indigenous business when using Mandatory Supply Arrangements or standing offers when possible. This initiative creates more opportunities for Indigenous business with an objective of surpassing predicted numbers by enabling more incidental contracts.

Planned budgetary spending for Internal Services

The following table shows, for internal services, budgetary spending for 2023–24, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.

Planned human resources for Internal Services

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department will need to carry out its internal services for 2023–24 and for each of the next two fiscal years.

Planned spending and human resources

This section provides an overview of the department's planned spending and human resources for the next three fiscal years and compares planned spending for 2023–24 with actual spending for the current year and the previous year.

Planned spending

Departmental spending 2020–21 to 2025–26

The following graph presents planned spending (voted and statutory expenditures) over time.

Budgetary planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)

The following table shows information on spending for each of Public Safety Canada's core responsibilities and for its internal services for 2023–24 and other relevant fiscal years.

The 2022-23 Forecast Spending are $2.4 billion higher than the 2021-22 Expenditures. This increase is primarily attributable to $2.3 billion of funding received under the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA) for existing liabilities from past events as well as to support British Columbia's response and recovery efforts following recent natural disasters (floods, landslides, wildfires). The one year funding in 2022-23, in support of the Nation's Capital Extraordinary Policing Costs Program in 2022-23 ($90.7 million) in regards to unexpected protracted protests, demonstrations and an illegal occupation that occurred in 2022, also contribute to this funding increase.

The decrease of $1.8 billion (69%) in planned spending from 2023-24 to 2025-26 is mainly attributable to a decrease in payments under the DFAA program based on forecasts from provinces and territories for disbursements. Public Safety Canada regularly consults with provinces and territories to ensure funding levels meet disbursement requirements under the DFAA legislation, and aligns funding levels accordingly.

In addition to the DFAA decrease, the decrease of $1.2 billion (46%) in planned spending from 2023-24 to 2024-25 is also attributable to the completion of the capital investment for the relocation and accommodations for the Government Operations Centre ($19.9 million) as well as the maturation of the funding requested to eliminate the Memorial Grant Program for First Responders ($21.6 million) backlog and accommodate projected near-term growth in program applications.

In addition to the DFAA decrease, the decrease of $598.6 million (42%) in planned spending from 2024-25 to 2025-26 is also attributable to decreases in funding levels for the Building Safer Communities Fund ($32.5 million), the Memorial Grant Program for First Responders ($34.5 million) and the First Nations and Inuit Policing Facilities Program ($31.3 million).

Planned human resources

The following table shows information on human resources, in full-time equivalents (FTEs), for each of Public Safety Canada's core responsibilities and for its internal services for 2023–24 and the other relevant years.

Public Safety Canada FTEs increased by 29.3% (347 FTEs) over the last two years, from 1,186 FTEs in 2020-21 to 1,533 FTEs forecasted in 2022-23. This increase is primarily attributable to staffing related to new initiatives, such as for Indigenous Policing, various firearms control initiatives, the Anti-Money Laundering Action, Coordination and Enforcement Team as well as for the improvement to the federal emergency management capacity.

Overall FTEs in 2023-24 will decrease by 106 FTEs (7%) from 1,533 in 2022-23 to 1,427 in 2023-24 primarily as a result of funding maturation for various firearms control initiatives, the Initiative to Take Action Against Gun and Gang Violence, which is in the process of securing renewal, and the Anti-Money Laundering Action, Coordination and Enforcement Team. The same trend, as a result of program maturation, is seen in 2024-25 with a decrease of 64 FTEs (5%) from 1,427 in 2023-24 to 1,363 in 2024-25, and in 2025-26 with another minimal decrease of 25 FTEs (2%) from 1,363 in 2024-25 to 1,338 in 2025-26. 

Estimates by vote

Information on Public Safety Canada's organizational appropriations is available in the 2023–24 Main Estimates.

Future-oriented condensed statement of operations

The future-oriented condensed statement of operations provides an overview of Public Safety Canada's operations for 2022–23 to 2023–24.

The forecast and planned amounts in this statement of operations were prepared on an accrual basis. The forecast and planned amounts presented in other sections of the Departmental Plan were prepared on an expenditure basis. Amounts may therefore differ.

A more detailed future-oriented statement of operations and associated notes, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations with the requested authorities, are available on Public Safety Canada's website.

The difference of $729 million in the expenses between 2022–23 and 2023–24 is mainly due to the fact that Public Safety Canada intends to review future funding levels for the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA) and, if required, seek the appropriate level of funding to meet its obligations under the DFAA program.

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister(s):

• The Honourable Marco E.L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P.
• The Honourable William Sterling Blair, P.C., C.O.M., M.P.

Institutional head:

Mr. Shawn Tupper

Ministerial portfolio:

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Enabling instrument(s):

• Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Act (2005)
• Emergency Management Act (2007)

Year of incorporation/commencement:

2003

Raison d'être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

Information on Public Safety Canada's raison d'être, mandate and role is available on the Public Safety Canada's website.

Information on Public Safety Canada's mandate letter commitments is available in the Minister of Public Safety's mandate letter and the President of the King's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness' mandate letter.

Operating context

Information on the operating context is available on Public Safety Canada's website.

Reporting framework

Public Safety Canada's approved departmental results framework and program inventory for 2023–24 are as follows.

Note 1: Incorporates changes to existing program outcome and indicator wording.

Note 2: Incorporates changes to program description.

Note 3: See Note 2.

Note 4: Incorporates changes to program indicator data source.

Note 5: Incorporates new outcomes and indicators.

Note 6: See Note 5.

Supporting information on the program inventory

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to Public Safety Canada's program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables will be available on Public Safety Canada's website:

• Details on transfer payment programs
• Gender-based analysis Plus
• Horizontal initiatives
• Up-front multi-year funding
• United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals

Federal tax expenditures

Public Safety Canada's Departmental Plan does not include information on tax expenditures.

Tax expenditures are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for government­‑wide tax expenditures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. This report provides detailed information on tax expenditures, including objectives, historical background and references to related federal spending programs, as well as evaluations, research papers and gender-based analysis Plus.

Organizational contact information

Mailing address:

269 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1A 0P8

Telephone:

General enquiries: 613-944-4875 or 1-800-830-3118

Media enquiries: 613-991-0657

National Crime Prevention Centre (NCPC): 1-800-830-3118

National Office for Victims: 1-866-525-0554

TTY: 1-866-865-5667

Fax: 613-954-5186

Email:

General enquiries: enquiries.enquetes@ps.gc.ca

Media enquiries: 613-991-0657 or media@ps.gc.ca

Cross-Cultural Roundtable on Security (CCRS): roundtable@ps.gc.ca

National Crime Prevention Centre (NCPC): prevention@ps.gc.ca

Passenger Protect Inquiries Office: PS.PPinquiries-demandesPP.SP@canada.ca

Website:

Public Safety Canada

Appendix: definitions

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, organizations 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 document that sets out a department's priorities, programs, expected results and associated resource requirements, covering a three‑year period beginning with the year indicated in the title of the report. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)

A change that a department seeks to influence. 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 factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

A framework that consists of the department's core responsibilities, departmental results and departmental result indicators.

departmental results report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on a department's actual performance in a fiscal year against its plans, priorities and expected results set out in its Departmental Plan for that year. Departmental Results Reports are usually tabled in Parliament each fall.

full‑time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person‑year charge against a departmental budget. Full‑time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.

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 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 socio-cultural (gender) differences to consider other factors, such as age, disability, education, ethnicity, economic status, geography, language, race, religion, and sexual orientation.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2023–24 Departmental Plan, government-wide priorities are the high-level themes outlining the Government's agenda in the 2021 Speech from the Throne: building a healthier today and tomorrow; growing a more resilient economy; bolder climate action; fighter 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.

high impact innovation (innovation à impact élevé)

High impact innovation varies per organizational context. In some cases, it could mean trying something significantly new or different from the status quo. In other cases, it might mean making incremental improvements that relate to a high-spending area or addressing problems faced by a significant number of Canadians or public servants.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative in which two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

non‑budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)

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

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization 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 up to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

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

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)

An inventory of a department's programs that describes how resources are organized to carry out the department's core responsibilities and achieve its planned results.

result (résultat)

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

Date modified:

2023-06-29