Portfolio Environmental Scan
2002

Executive Summary

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The 2002 Portfolio Environmental Scan provides a summary of the key environmental trends and issues having an impact on the Portfolio of the Solicitor General, and, more broadly, the Canadian criminal justice system, that were identified during a consultation exercise involving officials from the Department and all four Portfolio Agencies (Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Correctional Service of Canada, National Parole Board, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police).  The 2002 Scan focuses on some of the key factors influencing the current operating environment, both domestic and international, and their likely implications for corrections and conditional release, policing and law enforcement, and national security.

Methodology

The 2002 Portfolio scan piloted an innovative approach to environmental scanning, directly involving Portfolio opinion.

In January 2002, the Strategic Policy Branch of the Strategic Operations Directorate began an extensive Portfolio-wide consultation to query participants within the Department and Agencies on what they felt would be the five most important "policy-drivers" having the greatest impact on public safety work over the next five years.  The consultation, while not strictly following the Delphi model of group communication, closely approximated this approach in that it:

• Involved ranking of issues;
• Was conducted anonymously; and
• Was carried out primarily through the medium of electronic communication (e-mail).

The consultation process, coordinated through the Portfolio Priorities Working Group, took the form of a series of questionnaires administered to participants drawn from the Department of the Solicitor General and each of the Portfolio Agencies.  Participants were organized according to their area of expertise. Corrections and Conditional Release (CCR), Policing and Law Enforcement, and National Security. 

Participants were initially asked to identify and rank emerging policy-drivers, providing some rationale as to why the issues identified were deemed important.  In subsequent "weighted" voting rounds, participants were asked to rank the top five identified issues in order of importance.  Results were compiled, collated and ranked. 

As a result of this process, the top five issues identified by Portfolio opinion, in order of importance, were: Globalization; Technology; Transnational Organized Crime and Terrorism; Demographics; and Aboriginal Issues.

Issue	Rank Order
Globalization	1
Technology	2
Transnational Organized Crime, and Terrorism	3
Demographics (Aging and Diversity)	4
Aboriginal Issues	5

Format of the 2002 Portfolio Scan

Strategic Operations officers wrote individual scanning articles for each of the five top issues, or themes.  Reflecting participant opinion, identification and ranking, each article provides a description of the issue, based on recent data and research findings.  Wherever possible, we have let the participants speak, in their own words, to the significance of the issues at hand.  Participant opinion is therefore a key feature of the 2002 Scan; participant quotes are prominently referenced throughout the document.  Finally, each theme is analyzed in light of the possible impacts that projected developments will have on the policing and law enforcement, national security, and corrections and conditional release fields.

By relying on relatively short (each article is under 10 pages) but well documented and focussed articles that reflect participants' insight, we hope to provide readers with informative, thoughtful, and pleasant to read material.

Lastly, we hope the 2002 Portfolio Environmental Scan, produced in the spirit of partnership and collaboration, contributes to a meaningful and productive dialogue on public safety and security issues in Canada.