Department of Justice Canada

Organization

Aboriginal Affairs Portfolio

The Aboriginal Affairs Portfolio carries out a wide range of responsibilities in relation to Aboriginal matters. It has strategic and operational responsibility with regard to the conduct of Aboriginal litigation, including that associated with Indian Residential Schools. The Portfolio advises the government on legal issues that are not the responsibility of any one program department (such as Metis and non-status Indians); it develops positions on legal policy issues such as management of the Crown's fiduciary obligations; it provides legal advice to Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and to the Office of Indian Residential Schools Resolution of Canada; and it leads and manages the Government's Aboriginal Justice Initiative.

Business and Regulatory Law Portfolio

The Business and Regulatory Law Portfolio comprises the office of the Assistant Deputy Minister and twenty-four Legal Services Units. These Units provide on-site legal services to government clients whose mandates have in common a strong regulatory or business law component. These units include: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Canadian Heritage, Canadian International Development Agency, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, Canadian Space Agency, Communications Security Establishment, Competition Law Division, Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans, Foreign Affairs (JUS), Health Canada, Industry Canada, National Defence, National Research Council, Natural Resources Canada, Parks Canada Agency, Public Works and Government Services Canada, Social Development Canada/ Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, Transport Canada and Veterans Affairs Canada.

The Portfolio also includes three specialized units: the Intellectual Property Secretariat, the Maritime Law Secretariat, and the Property Law Section.

Central Agencies Portfolio

The Central Agencies Portfolio is composed of the Office of the Assistant Deputy Minister and seven Legal Services Units. These units provide on-site legal services to central agencies in their respective areas of activity. They manage critical horizontal legal, policy and operational issues related to the central agency functions of government. The Portfolio provides legal advice related to: financial institutions, public service employment law, labour law, official languages, GOL/Electronic Commerce tax law, Crown law, financial law, money laundering, terrorism, machinery of government, and the federal budget. The legal services units include: Finance Canada, Finance – Tax Counsel Division, Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, Financial Transactions and Reports Analyst Centre of Canada, Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, Public Service Commission, and Treasury Board.

Citizenship and Immigration Portfolio

The Citizenship and Immigration Portfolio includes the Office of the Assistant Deputy Attorney General, the Legal Services Unit of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Section, and the Immigration Litigation Sections of the regional offices. The Portfolio provides legal services and advice in matters relating to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Citizenship Act, and their associated regulations and other relevant legislation. It also provides legal services and advice on operational matters and on policy, program, and legislative development. In addition, it coordinates the delivery of litigation services by the regional offices and the Civil Litigation Section, and helps ensure that uniform legal positions are taken across the country in matters pertaining to the Portfolio's mandate. The Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Section is mandated to receive allegations and to investigate, assess, and litigate cases against individuals suspected of involvement in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other reprehensible acts committed during time of conflict, regardless of when or where the crimes occurred.

Civil Litigation Branch

The Civil Litigation Branch comprises the office of the Assistant Deputy Attorney General (Civil Litigation), Litigation Practice Management, Supreme Court of Canada and Charter Coordination, Coordination of Class Action and Mass Litigation, National Coordination of Legal Risk Management, Dispute Resolution and Business Management Centre. The role of the Civil Litigation Branch is essentially fourfold: (1) to coordinate the conduct of litigation and, where necessary, to coordinate legal, policy, and client perspectives and ensure the resolution of disagreements; (2) to ensure consistency in the positions taken in litigation and that the quality of representation meets the highest professional standards; (3) to assist in the refining of legal issues and positions as they arise, whether in the regions or in Ottawa, so that they are properly framed for consideration by the Litigation Committee, the Deputy Minister or the Attorney General; and (4) to provide guidance and direction in major, high profile litigation.

The Civil Litigation Section, housed in Ottawa's Headquarters, along with its counterparts in the Regional Offices, is responsible for the conduct of all litigation by or against the federal government, except tax and criminal litigation.

Civil litigation services are provided to virtually every federal department and agency. Counsel appear before all levels of provincial and federal courts and before many federal administrative tribunals and international panels, such as North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) panels. Civil litigation counsel also advise on potentially litigious issues and are involved in finding policy and legislative solutions to problems that have come, or may come, before the courts. Their expertise covers many areas of law, including administrative, constitutional, debtor-creditor, employment, immigration, and native law, to name a few.

Communications Branch

The Communications Branch sets communications objectives for the Department through needs analyses and reviews of both the government's agenda and the Department's agenda. It develops and implements strategic communications plans for the Department's legislative initiatives, major court cases, and programs and policies. It advises the Minister and the Department on communications issues, and provides coordination and functional advice for satellite communications offices such as those with the Family, Children and Youth Section, the Youth Justice Policy Section, and the Victims of Crime program. It assists sectors in planning and implementing their communications projects, and provides expert services and advice in such areas as promotion and publishing. The Branch is responsible for providing the Minister's Office with communications services, for liaison with the news media, for external communications such as news releases, speeches, exhibits and departmental advertising campaigns, and for liaison with other federal and provincial departments. The Branch also manages the departmental web site, as well as a public inquiry centre [telephone: (613) 957-4222; fax: (613) 954-0811].

Corporate Services

The Corporate Services plays a functional leadership and operational role in relation to financial management and accountability, information management and technology, human resources management, access to information and privacy, and internal audit. Corporate Services activities focus on many government-wide priority initiatives including, for example, HR Modernization; Results for Canadians; strengthening comptrollership and oversight; reviewing government expenditures and modernizing management practices; assuring accountability, transparency, good governance and enhanced role for Parliament; and building public capacity.

Deputy Minister's Group

The Deputy Minister Group provides essential support services to the Deputy Minister, ensuring appropriate advice, communication and liaison on a range of issues between the Deputy Minister and the Minister's Office, the Department and other government departments and agencies. The Deputy Minister shares his responsibilities with three Associate Deputy Ministers, who together make up the Deputy Minister Team (DM Team). The DM Team has responsibility for the overall performance and management of the Department, handling issues that require attention at the Deputy Minister level. In addition to their collective responsibility for the overall management of the Department, the Associate Deputy Ministers have specific responsibility for Constitutional Affairs, Dispute Resolution Services, Francophonie, Justice in Official Languages and Bijuralism, and the Official Languages Law Group.

Federal Prosecution Service

The Federal Prosecution Service (FPS) is a national entity within the Department of Justice. It encompasses all staff counsel and prosecution agents engaged in the delivery of prosecution and criminal law advisory services at the federal level across Canada. Headed by the Assistant Deputy Attorney General (Criminal Law), the FPS consists of a central component (FPS-Headquarters), a regional component (prosecutors working in the Department's twelve regional offices and sub-offices and the legal agents working under their supervision), and the prosecutors with the Competition and Consumer Law Division within the Departmental Legal Services Unit at Industry Canada.

Headquarters is comprised of the Criminal Law Section, which includes the Federal Prosecution Service / Ottawa-Gatineau and the International Assistance Group; the e-prosecutions Secretariat; the Executive Services Office; the Renewal Secretariat; and the Strategic Prosecution Policy Section, which includes the Agent Affairs Unit and the National Security Group.

Integration

The mandate of the Integration initiative is to coordinate the implementation of the Department's Strategic Plan 2001-2005 and to facilitate teamwork in all sectors and regions with a view to achieving corporate objectives. It encourages partnerships and strategic linkages among the Sectors and Regions and with our external partners. The initiative provides the focus for teamwork, better information sharing and communication about best practices, innovation and continuous learning throughout the Department. In addition, the initiative promotes the integration of conflict management into the life and work of the Department.

International Cooperation Group

The International Cooperation Group is responsible for the development and implementation of cooperation programs in support of foreign countries' efforts to reform their system of justice.

Legislative Services Branch

The Legislative Services Branch is responsible for the drafting of all government bills and motions to amend; the drafting and examination of regulations; the Program for Harmonization of Federal Legislation with the Civil Law of Quebec; the official publishing of Acts of Parliament following Royal Assent and related reference tables; and the updating and consolidation of federal statutes and regulations. The Chief Legislative Counsel acts for the Minister of Justice in reviewing government bills and regulations for compliance with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Bill of Rights. The Branch also ensures the recognition of the bijural nature of the Canadian legal system in bills and regulations.

Policy Sector

The Policy Sector plans, develops and implements justice policies dealing with both substantive and procedural criminal law, family law, youth justice and sentencing. In addition, the Sector provides policy, planning, and coordination capability within the Department. This includes the management of the Department's substantive policy agenda and the management of key relationships with the Department's policy partners in the federal government, the provinces and territories, and non-governmental organizations. The Sector is responsible for research and development, public legal education and information, and the coordination of the Department's consultation process. The Sector contributes to the development and maintenance of a fair and accessible justice system through the design, development, and implementation of federal/provincial/territorial contribution funding arrangements and grants and contribution programs. The Sector also provides a program evaluation capacity for the Department.

The principal components of the Policy Sector are: the Criminal Law Policy and Community Justice Branch, which includes the Criminal Law Policy Section, the Policy Centre for Victim Issues, the Sentencing Reform Team, and the Youth Justice Policy Group; the Family, Children, and Youth Section; the Policy Integration and Coordination Section, which includes the Evaluation Division, the Intergovernmental and External Relations Division, the Priorities and Strategic Planning Division and the Research and Statistics Division, and the Programs Branch.

Public Law Sector

The Public Law Sector is composed of the Office of the Chief Legal Counsel and eight advisory and policy sections. The Constitutional and Administrative Law Section provides legal advice and litigation support to the Government of Canada on all matters of constitutional law, administrative law and Crown law, including the interpretation of statutes and regulations. The Human Rights Law Section provides legal advisory services and litigation support to the Government of Canada on matters relating to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Canadian Bill of Rights; it also provides services in the area of international human rights law. The Information Law and Privacy Section's primary role is to provide legal interpretation and advice and litigation support to the Government of Canada relating to the Access to Information and Privacy Acts. The Public International Law Section provides leadership and coordination in public international law matters and ensures the consistency of the Department's legal advice on international law. The Trade Law Bureau (JLT) provides legal advice to government departments on international trade and investment law, and represents Canada in litigation before international trade panels. The General Public Law Team provides policy advice and guidance to the Government of Canada on all public law related matters. The Judicial Affairs, Courts, and Tribunal Policy Unit fulfills both a specialized legal advisory role as well as a policy function on all matters relating to the Canadian judiciary and the courts and also provides policy advice in relation to structure and independence issues as they relate to administrative tribunals. Working closely with its provincial and territorial partners, the International Private Law Team deals with the development and implementation of international private law from a policy and an advisory perspective in four broad areas: international commercial law, judicial cooperation and enforcement of judgments, family law and child protection and protection of property.

Regional Offices

Six regional offices report directly to the Deputy Minister: the Atlantic Regional Office, located in Halifax; the Quebec Regional Office, located in Montreal; the Ontario Regional Office, located in Toronto; the Prairie Region, with regional offices in Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Edmonton and a sub-office in Calgary; the British Columbia Regional Office, located in Vancouver; and the Northern Region, with regional offices in Yellowknife, Inuvik, Iqaluit and Whitehorse. The Regional Offices represent the client departments in civil and criminal matters, and provide a wide variety of legal services.

Tax Law Services

The Tax Law Services Portfolio includes the Office of the Assistant Deputy Attorney General, the Legal Services Unit of the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency and Tax Litigation Sections in Ottawa and the Regional Offices. The Portfolio provides legal advice, litigation services and drafting services to the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency in respect of all fiscal matters including income tax, excise tax and GST, employment insurance, customs and border services and international trade.