The Federal Prosecution Service
DESKBOOK
[ Previous | Table of Contents | Next ]
Part II
THE FEDERAL PROSECUTION SERVICE- ORGANIZATIONAL AND MANDATE
Chapter 6
Table of Contents
6.1 THE FUNCTIONS GENERALLY
6.2 THE CARRYING OUT OF THE PROSECUTION-RELATED FUNCTIONS
6.3 THE ORGANIZATION WITHIN JUSTICE
6.4 PRINCIPLES APPLYING TO THE PROSECUTION FUNCTION
6.5 FUNCTIONALRESPONSIBILITYWITHIN THEDEPARTMENT
6.6 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ADAG (CRIMINAL LAW) AND
REGIONAL MANAGERS
6.7 MANAGEMENT BOARD
6.8 THE NATIONAL WORKING GROUP
6.9 APPENDIX
6 FUNCTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE ASSISTANT
DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL (CRIMINAL LAW)
6.1 The Functions Generally The Attorney General and Minister of Justice of Canada is responsible
for carrying out many varied duties which either involve or are related
to the prosecution of offences. These duties serve to delineate the Minister’s “prosecution
functions”.
6.2 The Carrying out of the Prosecution-Related Functions The Minister is aided in the carrying out of the prosecution function
by prosecutors whose principal task is the prosecution of offences, and
by other counsel whose principal task is assisting the Minister in the
carrying out of prosecution-related functions. These include, for example,
advice and support to the Minister in the area of mutual legal assistance
and extradition and the development of prosecution policies.1
6.3 The Organization Within Justice The Minister’s prosecution function is carried out nationally
through a central component,2 and
a local component (prosecutors and senior managers working out of the
department’s regional offices).
Although regional prosecutors are primarily involved in the prosecution
of offences, and the principal focus of the Criminal Law Branch is to
assist in prosecution-related activities, some prosecutions are carried
out by counsel in the Criminal Law Branch while counsel in regional offices
may sometimes provide both advice and assistance outside their purely
prosecutorial role. The result is that the Criminal Law Branch, and local
prosecutors and managers, are all part of a group within the Department
of Justice which is dedicated to carrying out or assisting the Minister
in carrying out an identifiable function which has traditionally been
subject to particular requirements of a quasi-constitutional nature.
This may be referred to as the Federal Prosecution Service.
6.4 Principles Applying to the Prosecution Function Tradition and case law require political independence for the Attorney
General and Minister of Justice in the carrying out of the prosecution
function. On the other hand, the Minister remains accountable to Parliament
for the manner in which his or her functions have been carried out. The
following principles have emerged as a result of the need to satisfy
the requirement for both independence and accountability.
- Prosecutors and counsel acting on behalf of, or assisting the
Attorney General, have no more authority than that which the Attorney
General
has provided them with: they are subject to review as determined
by the Attorney General and are required to act in accordance with
the Attorney
General’s guidelines set out in this deskbook3.
- The Attorney General will rarely intervene in the carrying out
of day-to-day operations of the prosecution function so as to avoid
any suggestion of political interference.
6.5 Functional Responsibility Within the Department The ADAG (Criminal Law) has been given functional responsibility over
the manner in which the prosecution function is carried out on behalf
of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice. He or she is in turn
answerable directly to the Deputy Minister and then to the Minister,
with respect to the manner in which he or she exercises that functional
responsibility.4
On the other hand, the Senior Regional Director remains responsible,
at the local level, for the manner in which the prosecution function
is carried out by counsel under his or her supervisory or managerial
control.
6.6 The Relationship Between the ADAG (Criminal Law) and Regional
Managers Functional responsibility, which includes functional authority, means
establishing policies and guidelines, giving direction, advice, assistance
and guidance. The reorganization of the Department added a new element
to the notion of functional responsibility: it also means having a say
in how resources are allocated and re-allocated to provide for an adequate
service level.
Functional responsibility is the primary tool to ensure integrated and
nationally co-ordinated service delivery. Without functional responsibility,
a co-ordinated national program according to national standards could
not be provided.
The ADAG (Criminal Law) provides functional direction, advice and assistance
to all units in Justice that discharge direct prosecution functions or
prosecution related activities.
However, the day-to-day exercise of the functional responsibility of
the ADAG (Criminal Law) in a region has been delegated to the Senior
Regional Director who is:
- responsible for ensuring that the prosecution resources within
the region are deployed so that the prosecution responsibilities of
the Attorney General are fulfilled;
- accountable to the ADAG (Criminal Law) for ensuring directly
or through Prosecution Group Heads or Deputy Group Heads that all counsel
in the region for whom the Senior Regional Director is responsible
exercise the prosecutorial discretion of the Attorney General independently
in accordance with the guidelines contained in the Federal Prosecution
Service Deskbook.
It is recognized in this context that the ADAG (Criminal Law) has the
authority:
- to intervene personally in a local matter. In practice, however,
this authority should be exercised rarely;
- in partnership with Senior Regional Directors, and Portfolio
Heads where appropriate, to participate actively in the allocation
of resources for the performance of the federal prosecution function;
- to develop, in consultation with the regions, prosecution
policy and guidelines as required.
6.7 Management Board The Federal Prosecution Service (FPS) is managed by the ADAG (Criminal
Law) with the assistance of a Management Board chaired by the ADAG (Criminal
Law) and comprising the five Senior Regional Directors and the two Senior
General Counsel of the Criminal Law Branch. The mandate of this board
is two-fold: it has responsibility for the allocation of resources within
the FPS, and for advising the ADAG (Criminal Law) on major strategic
directions and policies of the FPS.
This management structure recognizes the need to provide the FPS with
national direction while acknowledging that the day-to-day exercise of
the functional responsibility of the ADAG (Criminal Law) in the regions
has been delegated to Senior Regional Directors. They, in turn, are accountable
to the ADAG for the effective delivery of prosecution services in their
respective regions.
6.8 The National Working Group The Management Board is supported at the operational level by the National
Working Group which comprises all the regional Prosecution Group Heads5,
the two Senior General Counsel at Headquarters, the head of the International
Assistance Group and the head of the Agents Affairs Unit. It is co-chaired
by two Senior General Counsel. The mandate of this group is to discuss
substantive issues of national importance (eg., national policies), to
agree on consistent strategies and approaches to deal with legal issues
across the country and to make recommendations to the Management Board,
when required.
6.9 Appendix The core functional responsibility of the ADAG (Criminal Law) is the
discharge of duties imposed on the Minister of Justice and Attorney General
of Canada by common law, treaties and legislation, including the Department
of Justice Act, the Criminal Code, the Extradition
Act and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters
Act. The ADAG (Criminal Law) is responsible for all functional direction,
advice and assistance generally in areas related to criminal law. More
specifically, the ADAG (Criminal Law):
- plays a leadership role in the conduct of criminal litigation,
and exercises responsibility for the position to be advanced by the
Minister of Justice and Attorney General in criminal litigation, including
all criminal cases to be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada;
- has responsibility for the substance and quality of prosecution,
legal advisory and international assistance work in the criminal context,
carried out by counsel reporting to the prosecutions group head, Senior
Regional Directors and the two Senior General Counsel of the Criminal
Law Branch;
- develops and implements criminal prosecution and related
litigation policy for the Department;
- advises the Minister, the Deputy Minister and government
departments and agencies on issues related to the enforcement of criminal
law, including practice, procedure and cases;
- discharges the Attorney General’s duties under legislation,
common law and treaties and criminal law matters; and
- is involved in decisions relating to the sufficiency and
deployment of prosecution resources.
1 Other examples of prosecution-related
functions are: provision of advice to the Minister of Justice; liaison
with the Criminal Law Policy
Section in the development of amendments to the Criminal Code and
other federal statutes; agent co-ordination; legal advisory role to other
government departments in criminal law; support to the Minister and others
in national security related areas; funding and management of the prosecution
function.
2 The Criminal Law Branch;
the Competition Law Division of the Department Legal Services Unit at
Industry Canada.
3 These issues are canvassed
more fully in Part III, Chapter 8 “Independence and Accountability
in Decision Making”.
4 The principal duties
of the ADAG (Criminal Law) are set out in the Appendix to this document.
5 Including the head
of the Ottawa/Hull Prosecution Group and the head of the Competition
Law Division of the DLSU at Industry Canada.
[ Previous | Table of Contents | Next ]
|
