The Commissioner's Mandate

The mandate of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development is to ensure the federal government is accountable for greening its policies, operations, and programs. The Commissioner leads a specialized unit within the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) of Canada that focusses on environmental and sustainable development issues and that is devoted entirely to providing environmental audits of the government's activities. The Commissioner assists parliamentarians in overseeing the federal government's efforts to protect the environment and foster sustainable development. She provides them with objective, independent analysis of progress and recommendations for further action. The Commissioner also assists the Auditor General to audit environmental and sustainable development issues.

The Commissioner's responsibilities

Monitoring sustainable development strategies

Twenty-eight federal departments and agencies are required to prepare sustainable development strategies. The Commissioner monitors the extent to which departments have implemented the action plans and met the objectives outlined in their strategies. The first round of strategies was tabled in the House of Commons in December 1997; the second and third rounds were tabled in February 2001 and February 2004 respectively. The next round of sustainable development strategies is to be tabled in the House of Commons in December 2006.

Annual report to the House of Commons

Each year, the Commissioner reports on environmental and sustainable development matters that she believes should be brought to the attention of the House of Commons. The reports include chapters on sustainable development strategies, audits, special studies, and since 2001 chapters on environmental petitions. Some of our recent Reports include the following:

• 1998 Report -- dealt with the federal government's efforts in key areas that included climate change, ozone depletion, and environmental assessment.
• 1999 Report -- examined the management of toxic substances and federal-provincial environmental agreements.
• 2000 Report -- focussed on smog and government support for investments in non-renewable and renewable energy. It also included follow-up audits on ozone-layer protection and biodiversity
• 2001 Report -- focussed primarily on the condition of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River basin.
• 2002 Report -- discussed the federal government's track record for implementing key sustainable development agreements that have occurred since the Rio Conference. The Report also contained chapters that dealt with invasive species, abandoned mines in Canada's North, the legacy of contaminated federal sites, and the management of toxic substances.
• 2003 Report -- examined the federal government's actions in response to specific commitments that have implications for both human health and the environment.

The 2004 Report examines the federal government's environmental performance. The audits deal with issues that affect Canadians, including results achieved in relation to five international agreements, environmentally sustainable assistance to developing countries, and the management of salmon habitat and stocks. Other audits examine the government's use of strategic environmental assessment in decision-making, the handling of its own office solid waste, the use of the tax system in advancing sustainable development, and departmental responses to petitions.

Studies of special interest to Parliament.

The Commissioner's staff also conducts studies on cutting-edge environmental and sustainable development issues and have included the following:

• Canada's international environmental commitments and the extent to which they are being met;
• environmental issues in the Arctic;
• managing for sustainable development in both the public and private sectors; and
• federal department partnerships with the provinces, the private sector, or other federal departments.

Environmental Petitions

The 1995 amendments to the Auditor General Act created an environmental petitions process  -- a formal way for the public to ask federal departments questions about environmental and sustainable development issues. Under this process, residents of Canada send a written petition to the Auditor General of Canada.

On behalf of the Auditor General, the Commissioner forwards the petition to the appropriate federal minister. The minister must respond to the petition within 120 days. The Commissioner monitors the status of the petition and reports the findings in her annual report to the House of Commons.

Petitions must relate to environmental matters that are the responsibility of specific departments and agencies -- the same entities that are required to prepare and implement sustainable development strategies.

As of 30 June 2004, 139 petitions have been received on topics such as genetically modified crops, abandoned rail lines, timber harvesting in the north, environmental assessments, invasive species, and pesticide labelling and advertising.

The Commissioner's Team

The Commissioner works with over 35 highly qualified staff who have backgrounds in environmental studies, business management, accounting, economics, political science, geology, biology, law, urban planning, public administration, and engineering. The Commissioner's team also draws on the expertise and methods of the Office of the Auditor General of Canada and assists other OAG teams to incorporate environmental considerations in their work.

The Commissioner

Johanne Gélinas is Canada's Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development. Ms. Gélinas was appointed in August 2000 and is the second person to occupy this position.

The Commissioner is an integral part of the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. She and her team function as a specialized unit within the Office, investigating issues of concern to Canadians by auditing how well the federal government meets its environmental and sustainable development commitments. Like the Auditor General, the Commissioner reports directly to Parliament.

Ms. Gélinas has had a long career as an advisor to business and to federal and provincial governments on environmental and sustainable development issues. Prior to joining the Office of the Auditor General, Ms. Gélinas served for 10 years as Quebec's Commissioner of the Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement (BAPE). In that capacity, she conducted numerous public hearings and mediations on environmental issues. From 1995 to 2000, she was a member of the National Round Table on the Economy and the Environment (NRTEE) and chaired its Task Force on Sustainable Transportation. She has also been heavily involved in climate change issues.

Ms. Gélinas received an undergraduate degree in Human Geography and a Master's degree in Environmental Sciences from the Université du Québec à Montréal and has numerous reports and publications to her credit.

Apart from ensuring that Canadians are getting good value for their money by providing parliamentarians with a specialized focus on so-called "green" issues, Ms. Gélinas sees her role as ensuring that both the environment and sustainable development remain at the top of the federal agenda.

Background

The position of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development is the result of important amendments to the Auditor General Act in 1995. These amendments encourage stronger performance by the federal government in environmental and sustainable development areas.

As early as 1989 environmental, conservation, and Aboriginal groups identified the need for the federal government to strengthen its performance on environmental and sustainable development issues, and to be held more accountable for that performance. Parallels were drawn with the Auditor General's role in helping Parliament to hold government to account for the collection and spending of public funds. What was needed was an environmental auditor general.

On 16 March 1994, the Minister of the Environment asked the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development to examine ways to establish an environmental auditor general who would ensure that the government's actions were carried out in a sustainable manner.

In May 1994, the Standing Committee recommended the establishment of a commissioner of the environment and sustainable development. The commissioner would be independent of government and have two roles:

1. reviewing how well government policies, programs and spending support Canada's move towards sustainable development; and
2. providing liaison, monitoring, and encouragement to government, parliamentarians, and the public on sustainable development.

In April 1995 the government, responding to the Standing Committee’s recommendation, proposed the creation of a Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development within the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. It also required ministers to prepare and table sustainable development strategies for their departments.

In December 1995 amendments to the Auditor General Act to establish the position of Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development received royal assent. Canada's first Commissioner was Brian Emmett (June 1996 to January 2000). In August 2000, Johanne Gélinas was appointed as Commissioner.

1995 Amendments to the Auditor General Act

• Created position of Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development.
• Formally added the environmental element among the considerations the Auditor General takes into account when determining what to report to the House of Commons.
• Ministers required to table sustainable development strategies in the House of Commons by December 1997 and update them every three years.
• Authorized the Auditor General to receive petitions on environment and sustainable development matters, and require ministers to respond to them within 120 days after receiving the petition from the Auditor General’s Office.

Travel and Hospitality Expenses

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