SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
Progress Report
2002

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

• Background
• This Year's Report

Progress Toward Achievement of Goals

• Figure 1: Status of 2002 SDS Commitment
• Figure 2: Overall Status of SDS Commitments

SDS Accomplishments in 2002

• Goal I: To minimize the negative environmental impacts of departmental operations.
• Goal II: To promote awareness of sustainable development principles and objectives among departmental staff, clients and stakeholders.
• Goal III: To better integrate environmental considerations into departmental policy development and decision-making processes.
• Goal IV: To promote accountability and ensure compliance.

Appendix 1: Summary Table

• Goal I: To minimize the negative environmental impacts of departmental operations.
• Goal II: To promote awareness of sustainable development principles and objectives among departmental staff, clients and stakeholders.
• Goal III: To better integrate environmental considerations into departmental policy development and decision-making processes.
• Goal IV: To promote accountability and ensure compliance.

INTRODUCTION

 
Background

In our current Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS), we note:

"Sustainable development and its applications within the CIC mandate is an evolving process. The Department needs to improve its understanding of sustainable development and the linkages between sustainable development and CIC policies and programs. To that end, CIC has undertaken the challenge of balancing environmental considerations against our broader social and economic goals."

This continues to apply today and is reflected in the four key goals of our SDS:

• to minimize the negative environmental impacts of departmental operations;
• to promote awareness of sustainable development principles and objectives among departmental staff, clients and stakeholders;
• to better integrate environmental considerations into departmental policy development and decision-making processes; and
• to promote accountability and ensure compliance.

Last year, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) prepared its first stand-alone progress report on its SDS in a new annual publication entitled Sustainable Development Strategy Progress Report. This publication provides the Department with the opportunity to present a consolidated and detailed report on our progress toward meeting our SDS commitments. The first section of this report provides a summary of the activities completed in calendar year 2002, as well as a high-level overview of the entire SDS. The table presented in appendix 1 provides a detailed report of the Department's actions toward meeting our SDS commitments, as well as planned follow-up action for 2003. The table also provides the target dates for which activities were to be completed, as well as their status as of December 31, 2001 and 2002.

 
This Year's Report

In last year's Sustainable Development Strategy Progress Report, CIC noted that we were not able to meet all our 2001 SDS commitments because of the events of, and our necessary response to, September 11, 2001. We are pleased to note that we have made significant progress on the majority of our outstanding SDS commitments targeted for completion in 2001.

The following information presents the results which CIC achieved with regard to the overall scope of sustainable development from January 1 to December 31, 2002. Appendix 1 contains detailed information on the progress made on the actions planned for every objective under the goals described in the Department's Sustainable Development Strategy, published in December 2000.

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PROGRESS TOWARD
ACHIEVEMENT OF GOALS

 
From January 1 to December 31, 2002, CIC made progress toward achieving the objectives planned under the four goals of the SDS. Of the 35 actions planned for the period covered by the strategy, 17 have already been completed, an additional 12 are mostly completed and the remaining six are partially completed. Perhaps the most important of these accomplishments was continued activity and development of CIC's Coordinating Committee on Sustainable Development (CCSD). The CCSD, which has representatives from all branches across the Department, meets quarterly to coordinate the implementation of our SDS. The committee has been instrumental to the Department's success to date and will continue to remain essential if we are to achieve the objectives outlined in our SDS.

Below is a summary of the status of our SDS commitments for 2002, as well as for the entire period of the strategy.

STATUS OF 2002 SDS COMMITMENTS

OVERALL STATUS OF SDS COMMITMENTS
(2001-2003 SDS)

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SDS ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN 2002

 
Goal I: To minimize the negative environmental impacts of departmental operations.

Developed awareness and training sessions on procurement and facilities management.

Began delivering the facilities management awareness and training sessions to facilities personnel in the National Capital Region.

Re-established the Fleet National Committee and began implementing national standards for purchasing and maintaining vehicles and tracking vehicle data.

Promoted environmentally preferred procurement to all resource centre managers through 1) electronic messages; 2) Environment Week; and 3) the National Administration Conference held in the fall.

Identified and conducted retro fits and space optimization on a number of floors at national headquarters (NHQ).

Implemented a recycling program in the Canadian building, which means that 90 percent of CIC's facilities at NHQ have recycling facilities.

Increased the number of recyclable products at NHQ recycling centres and promoted their use with new posters.

 
Goal II: To promote awareness of sustainable development principles and objectives among departmental staff, clients and stakeholders.

Introduced a message on the protection of the environment into speech modules delivered by citizenship judges.

Included a section on sustainable development in Welcome to Canada, a major departmental document aimed at newcomers.

Distributed communications material during Citizenship Week on the responsibility of newcomers to contribute to the social, economic and environmental well-being of Canada.

 
Goal III: To better integrate environmental considerations into departmental policy development and decision-making processes.

Continued our participation in interdepartmental networks and working groups to acquire information on and determine approaches to sustainable development, and to contribute a citizenship and immigration perspective to horizontal policy issues. CIC participated in the following initiatives:

• Interdepartmental Network on Sustainable Development Strategies and its various working groups;
• Interdepartmental Working Group on Promoting Sustainable Communities;
• Policy Research Initiative's Sustainable Development Network;
• National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy; and
• Canadian Information System for the Environment.

Commissioned a consultant to help the Department draft guidelines and tools for conducting strategic environmental assessments.

 
Goal IV: To promote accountability and ensure compliance.

Continued the activities of the Coordinating Committee on Sustainable Development (CCSD), an intradepartmental working group to assess the progress on attaining sustainable development objectives. The CCSD also continues to guide and coordinate the implementation of sustainable development initiatives within the Department.

Improved reporting on performance measurement in the Report on Plans and Priorities and the Departmental Performance Report.

Elaborated on the performance measurement requirements for business plans in the new planning process.

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APPENDIX 1: SUMMARY TABLE

Facilities
A document entitled National Accommodation Guidelines is being developed.
With respect to sustainable design, we will refer to:

• Canadian Environmental Protection Act
• PWGSC SDS 2000 (and future SDSs)
• PWGSC Green Construction Toolbox- Architect's Guide for Sustainable Design of Office Buildings.

Since this document will be used by project delivery teams across the country (including our own design group at NHQ), they will be obliged to consider sustainable design principles and practices in delivering their projects.

• number of vehicles;
• number of annual kilometers traveled;
• number of vehicles in the vehicle management system with reported fuel consumption;
• number of vehicles with complete vehicle utilization records;

• Changes to be made to the fuel reporting process;
• Fuel consumption with a concrete plan in place by March 2003;
• Complete utilization records for the regional fleet..

• Regional reporting of monthly odometer readings within the framework of the new vehicle management system.

• Through electronic messages;
• During Environment Week;
• At the National Administration Conference held in the fall

• Interdepartmental Network on Sustainable Development Strategies and its various working groups;
• Interdepartmental Working Group on Promoting Sustainable Communities;
• The Policy Research Initiative's Sustainable Development Network;
• National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy; and
• Canadian Information System for the Environment.

Notes :

1. Integration-Net was created by CIC as a communications and research tool to support the work of the Canadian settlement community.

2. Citzine is a site designed to broaden the views of young people. As such, it is a multipurpose communications tool that aims to inform the public of Canadian issues, people and products. Citzine supports the work of CIC's main site, but it is unique, thanks to contributions from its readers. Its force is rooted in their ideas and thoughts on being or becoming Canadian.

Produced by Strategic Policy and Partnerships
in consultation with the Department of Citizenship and Immigration's
Coordinating Committee on Sustainable Development

For additional copies, please contact:

Communications Branch
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1L1
Fax: (613) 954-2221

© Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2003
Cat. no. Ci51-120/2002E-IN
ISBN 0-662-33943-6