Public Safety Canada's 2024 to 2025 Departmental Plan at a glance

A departmental plan describes a department's priorities, plans and associated costs for the upcoming three fiscal years.

• Vision, mission, raison d'être and operating context
• Minister of Public Safety's mandate letter
• President of the King's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness Mandate Letter

Key priorities

Public Safety Canada's overarching priorities remain:

• Protecting Canadians, Canada's critical infrastructure and the Canadian economy from national, cyber and other emerging threats;
• Preventing and addressing criminal threats, including gun violence, to Canadian communities, especially those most-at-risk; promoting reform; and enhancing the oversight and accountability of Canada's law enforcement agencies;
• Strengthening Canada's ability to respond to an evolving border environment;
• Strengthening emergency preparedness measures, government response and community resilience to natural disasters and all-hazard emergencies in collaboration with federal, provincial, territorial and Indigenous partners;
• Promoting an ethical and values-based departmental culture supported by practices focused on respect, diversity and inclusion, mental health and workplace wellness; and
• Enabling a connected workforce as well as transparent and effective management practices within the Department using proactive modern approaches, in collaboration with Portfolio agencies and other partners.

Refocusing Government Spending

In Budget 2023, the government committed to reducing spending by $14.1 billion over the next five years, starting in 2023 to 2024, and by $4.1 billion annually after that.

As part of meeting this commitment, Public Safety Canada is planning the following spending reductions.

• 2024 to 2025: $482,443
• 2025 to 2026: $482,443
• 2026 to 2027 and after: $1,505,549

Public Safety Canada will achieve these reductions by doing the following:

• Reducing the funding base for Policy Development Contribution Program;
• Reducing the Search and Rescue New Initiatives Fund by 10 percent.

The figures in this departmental plan reflect these reductions.

Highlights

A Departmental Results Framework consists of an organization's core responsibilities, the results it plans to achieve, and the performance indicators that measure progress toward these results.

National Security

Departmental result:

• National Security threats are understood and reduced while maintaining public trust

Planned spending: $34,453,992

Planned human resources: 213 full-time equivalents

Threats to Canada's sovereignty have increased in recent years, and the national security landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace, affecting our political system, economy and communities. In 2024 to 2025, the Department will advance a number of commitments to ensure that security threats are understood and reduced while maintaining public trust, such as:

• Providing advice and recommendations to combat foreign interference, including developing the office and function of the National Counter-Foreign Interference Coordinator; engaging domestically and internationally; leading horizontal policy development efforts; and supporting the safeguarding of Canada's research ecosystem through the Research Security Centre;
• Coordinating responses to a range of national security threats, including continued lead on the assessment of foreign investments under the national security provisions of the Investment Canada Act;
• Releasing a new National Cyber Security Strategy which is envisioned to raise the bar through a whole-of-society approach to promoting a resilient and secure cyberspace; and,
• Continuing to steer Bill C-26: An Act respecting cyber security, amending the Telecommunications Act and making consequential amendments to other Acts through the legislative process. The proposed legislation will protect Canadians and increase baseline cyber security in four federally-regulated critical infrastructure sectors: finance, telecommunications, energy, and transportation.

In addition, Public Safety Canada will advance other commitments, including:

• Continuing the implementation of the National Security Transparency Commitment and welcoming the fourth report of the associated Advisory Group;
• Releasing a renewed strategy for Canada's critical infrastructure (CI) to ensure that it is secure, protected, and resilient in the face of a complex and rapidly evolving threat landscape; and building and maintaining trusted relationships with diverse stakeholders in the public and private sectors that share responsibilities for vital assets and systems that deliver services to Canadians;
• Advancing the effort to counter the rise of violent extremism, deepening engagement with communities and experts and reviewing the tools needed to keep pace with the evolving threat environment; and,
• Engaging with domestic and international partners and stakeholders through key bilateral and multilateral fora, on a range of national security issues, including global volatility, ransomware, the Indo-Pacific, Haiti, and others.

More information about National Security can be found in the full departmental plan.

Community Safety

Departmental results:

• Community safety practices are strengthened
• Canadian communities are safe
• Crime is prevented and addressed in populations/ communities most at-risk

Planned spending: $819,103,631

Planned human resources: 468 full-time equivalents

In 2024 to 2025, the Department will advance a number of commitments to ensure that Canadian communities are safe, community safety practices are strengthened, and crime is prevented and addressed in populations and communities most at risk, such as:

• Addressing firearms violence in Canadian communities through the effective and timely implementation of Bill C-21, An Act to amend certain Acts and to make certain consequential amendments (firearms) and other firearms-related measures, and the safe and secure removal of assault-style firearms from Canadian communities via the Firearms Compensation Program also known as the Firearms Buyback Program;
• Continuing to work with all partners to co-develop First Nations policing legislation, and deliver on Budget 2021 commitments which aim to enhance investment in Indigenous policing, support self-administered First Nations and Inuit police services, support dedicated community policing by the RCMP and other police forces, and pilot a Community Safety Officer Program;
• Promoting law enforcement by strengthening interjurisdictional collaboration, consistent with recommendations in the final reports of the Public Order Emergency Commission and Mass Casualty Commission; working with the RCMP to analyze and address the recommendations in these two reports; finalizing a “What We Heard” report, which summarizes the results of consultations to review Contract Policing Program; and continuing discussions towards a shared vision for contract policing beyond 2032; and,
• Providing national leadership on countering radicalization to violence through the Department's role in the National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence (CRV), including supporting front-line interventions through the Community Resilience Fund (CRF), and executing a renewed Stakeholder Engagement Plan to inform policy and research efforts aimed at addressing radicalization to violence online and offline.

In addition, Public Safety Canada will advance other commitments, including:

• Supporting community-based crime prevention efforts through the National Crime Prevention Strategy and the Communities at risk: Security Infrastructure Program;
• Continuing work with portfolio partners and other government departments to engage with community organizations and stakeholders to discuss approaches to prevent hate speech, hate-motivated crimes or violence;
• Supporting efforts to address various forms of serious and organized crime such as illicit drugs and cannabis, child sexual exploitation, and human trafficking; and,
• Ensuring the safety and security of Canadians, including vulnerable communities, through the actions identified in the Federal Framework to Reduce Recidivism Implementation Plan, and collaborating inter-governmentally to leverage existing programs and services and working with partners in community corrections to identify new opportunities.

More information about Community Safety can be found in the full departmental plan.

Emergency Management

Departmental result:

• Canada can effectively mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from all-hazards events

Planned spending: $673,516,974

Planned human resources: 330 full-time equivalents

Public Safety Canada helps Canadians and their communities protect themselves from emergencies and disasters related to all kinds of hazards – natural, human-induced and technological. In 2024 to 2025, the Department will advance a number of commitments to ensure that Canadians are well-equipped to mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from all-hazards events, such as:

• Continuing to conduct assessments on a wide range of hazards through the National Risk Profile to create a forward-looking national picture of disaster risks and emergency management capabilities. These efforts will directly support the continued implementation of the Emergency Management Strategy and the work taking place on the Action Plan, now titled Advancing the Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Emergency Management Strategy: Areas for Action;
• Continuing to develop federal capability to notify Canadians of emergencies through the National Public Alerting System, such as through work to advance the Missile Warning Protocol;
• Continuing to advance a modern approach to federal emergency management preparedness and the renewal of the Federal Emergency Response Plan (FERP), which defines the federal approach to preparing for and responding to emergencies, through the Government Operations Centre (GOC);
• Continuing to advance efforts towards the deployment of a low-cost flood insurance program, which will mitigate the financial impact of disasters on Canadians and incentivize proactive risk reduction and a flood risk awareness portal; and,
• Continuing to advance the renewal of the Disaster Financial Assistance Agreements, with the aim of launching the renewed program in April 2025.

In addition, Public Safety Canada will advance other commitments, including:

• Playing a key role in the implementation of the National Adaption Strategy, further integrating adaptation principles into emergency management, preparedness and disaster resilience efforts;
• Continuing to fund the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment to provide mental health resources to public safety personnel, and work with stakeholders and other government departments on a renewed PTSI Action Plan.

More information about Emergency Management can be found in the full departmental plan.

Date modified:

2024-02-29