Minister’s Responsibilities

Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness^Footnote1

The Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness has a broad array of statutory duties, functions and responsibilities which are set out in a wide range of federal statutes. The Minister has sole responsibility for a series of statutes, and shared responsibility with other ministers for many others. The legislation administered by the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness (Public Safety Canada) and portfolio agencies^Footnote2 includes over 100 federal statutes and their regulations. Each portfolio agency has its own governing legislation which sets out its statutory authority and to various degrees, the role of the Minister.

In addition, the Governor in Council may, through an Order in Council (OIC), make the Minister responsible for additional duties or provide the authority to take certain actions (e.g. to enter into an agreement with a province, territory, municipality or First Nation community). 

The Prime Minister may  also assign additional responsibilities to the Minister through a mandate letter and through Cabinet and committee roles. It is important to note that these responsibilities are not statutory in nature, but rather are responsibilities relating to the Minister’s official mandate and role as a member of Cabinet.  The Prime Minister may also appoint a Minister of State to assist the Minister in the carrying of the Minister’s responsibilities.

Notable Statutory Responsibilities

Notable legislation and statutory responsibilities include:

• The Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Act of 2005 established the Department and sets out the Minister’s general powers, duties and functions. The Minister “presides” over and has “the management and direction” of Public Safety Canada. The “powers, duties and functions” extend to and include all matters relating to “public safety and emergency preparedness” over which Parliament has jurisdiction — and that have not been assigned by law to another department, board or agency of the Government of Canada. The Minister also exercises national leadership in relation to public safety and emergency preparedness.
• The Minister is responsible for most of the federal agencies operating in the areas of national security, policing and law enforcement, border services and corrections and conditional release, namely the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Canada Border Services Agency, Correctional Service of Canada and the Parole Board of Canada. The Minister’s role is to coordinate their activities and establish strategic priorities relating to public safety and emergency preparedness. The relevant statutes are: the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act (RCMP Act), the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act (CSIS Act), the Canada Border Services Agency Act (CBSA Act) and the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA).
• Under the Emergency Management Act, the Minister is responsible for exercising leadership in Canada relating to emergency management by coordinating amongst federal government institutions, in cooperation with the provinces and other entities. This includes coordinating the federal Government’s response to emergencies in Canada; establishing arrangements for the continuity of constitutional government in the event of an emergency; and, in consultation with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, developing joint emergency plans with the United States and coordinating Canada’s response to emergencies that may take place in the United States.  
• Statutes for which the Minister has sole responsibility include: the Criminal Records Act, DNA Identification Act, Sex Offender Information Registration Act, Firearms Act, Prisons and Reformatories Act, International Transfer of Offenders Act, Witness Protection Program Act, Security of Canada Information Disclosure Act, Secure Air Travel Act, and the Prevention of Terrorist Travel Act.
• Statutes for which the Minister will play an important role along with other ministers include: the Criminal Code, Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), Extradition Act, Charities Registration (Security of Information) Act (CRSIA), Security Offences Act (SOA), Investment Canada Act, Customs Act, Canadian Passport Order, and many others.
• Statutes for which all Cabinet Ministers have responsibilities, notably include: the Access to Information Act, Privacy Act, Financial Administration Act, and the Emergency Management Act.  

Authority For Others to Exercise the Minister’s Statutory Responsibilities

Not all the Minister’s responsibilities need be personally exercised by the Minister.  Most of the Minister’s statutory duties are exercised by officials on the Minister’s behalf, either because of a specific designation or delegation, or because of authority granted by the Interpretation Act to officials occupying a position appropriate to carrying out the Minister’s responsibility.  As a consequence, many authorities and responsibilities assigned by statute to the Minister may be exercised by the Deputy Minister or other departmental officials who occupy positions appropriate to carry out the functions.

While the Interpretation Act provides authority for others to act in the place of Minister, and an appointment under the Ministries and Ministers of State Act provides authority to a Minister of State to assist the Minister, they do  not confer authority (1) where a statute expressly states that the Minister must personally act; (2) where the statutory scheme or the nature of the subject matter at issue (its importance) indicates that it was likely Parliament’s intention for the Minister to exercise the responsibilities personally; or (3) where the statutory power relates to the making of a regulation or a recommendation to the Governor in Council.  

The Interpretation Act applies only to officials of the Department over which the Minister presides.  It thus does notprovide authority for persons outside the Department, such as officials in Portfolio agencies, to exercise ministerial powers, unless the Minister designates or authorizes named officials in an agency.

Delegations or designations should be set out in a written instrument. The instrument can identify a specific person or class of persons (those occupying particular positions). All delegation, designation or authorization instruments signed by a Minister, unless amended, revoked or superseded, continue in effect when a new Minister takes office.

No Authority for Minister to exercise the Statutory Responsibilities of Others

The Minister is not authorized to exercise authority that Parliament has assigned to specifically named classes of officials, as opposed to the Minister. Where Parliament has chosen to assign the responsibility to some officer other than the Minister, that choice constitutes a legal limit on the Minister’s authority.For example, the Minister is not authorized to make decisions on whether to transfer an offender from one prison to another or hold an inmate in segregation at a particular prison, since they are specifically given in statute to CSC officials. Similarly, the Minister is not authorized to decide whether or not to admit someone or detain someone at the border since those decisions are specifically given in statute to CBSA “officers”. They are often highly factual decisions and can best be made by the officer who has dealt with, and has had an opportunity to examine, the individual in question. In such cases, Parliament often authorizes a specific category of officials, other than the Minister, to make such decisions.

Ministerial Authority to Give Direction to Agency Heads

The Minister has an overall direction power not only with respect to Public Safety Canada, but also the RCMP, CBSA, CSIS, and CSC. Under the various statutes establishing the agencies, the Minister has the authority to provide “direction” to the Agency Heads, who are responsible for the “control and management” of the agency, “under the direction of the Minister”.   Direction is sometimes provided through formal instruments known as “Ministerial Directives”.

Most directions should provide high-level direction and require the Deputy Minister or Agency Head to determine the ways and means of accomplishing objectives. In some cases, this is required by law; in other cases, it may still be advisable as an exercise of good governance. The question of how the Minister may legally exercise the direction power is complex and the answer will depend on the specific statutory power or function at issue and the specific fact situation.

The Principle of Police Independence

The  limits above apply even more strongly in the case of the RCMP, due to the principle of police independence. The principle of police independence requires that police, in exercising their police powers and making decisions related to law enforcement and the investigation of individual cases of alleged criminal activity, must be free of direction or influence from the executive. This principle was endorsed by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1999 in the case of Campbell and Shirose, which explained that the RCMP Commissioner “is not to be considered a servant or agent of the government while engaged in a criminal investigation. The Commissioner is not subject to political direction”.  This includes political direction by the Minister of Public Safety, to whom the Commissioner ultimately reports.  Any Directive to the RCMP must be provided to the Commissioner only and fall outside the law enforcement function so as to not infringe on police independence. They should not interfere with a specific law enforcement function, often referred to as “core policing decisions”, as expertise, tactical and implementation decisions should be left to the RCMP.

Departmental officials will work with our office to schedule a more details briefing about your legal responsibilities.

Date modified:

2023-11-23