Annex A:
Departmental Profile

The Department of Justice is responsible for the legal affairs of the Government of Canada as a whole and for providing legal services to individual departments and agencies under the authority of the Attorney General and the Minister of Justice, whose duties, under the Department of Justice Act, are distinct but are traditionally carried out by the same person.

As the legal advisor to the government, the Minister of Justice is concerned with matters of policy underlying the law and must ensure that all laws are fair and comply with constitutional and other over-riding legal principles and requirements. The Attorney General is the chief law officer of the government and protects the interests of the Crown within the framework of existing legislation, by providing legal services, and conducting litigation for federal departments and agencies, including prosecution of all contraventions of federal legislation in Canada, other than Criminal Code offences in provinces.

The duties and responsibilities of the Department are set out in the Department of Justice Act. The range of its services include legal advice, preparing legal documents, litigation and drafting bills and regulations. The Department ensures that the conduct of public affairs is carried out in accordance with the law. It also has the lead responsibility in the planning, development and implementation of government policies in areas related to the administration of justice.

In addition to the Department of Justice Act, the main legislation governing the work of the Department includes the Canadian Bill of Rights, the Statutory Instruments Act and the Statute Revision Act. These require the Department to ascertain whether the provisions of all bills are consistent with the Canadian Bill of Rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and with the criteria set out in the Statutory Instruments Act, and to periodically revise and consolidate the Statutes of Canada and the regulations thereunder.

The mission of the Department of Justice Canada is to:

• support the Minister of Justice in working to ensure that Canada is a just and law-abiding society with an accessible, efficient and fair system of justice;

• provide high-quality legal services and counsel to the government and to client departments and agencies; and

• promote respect for rights and freedoms, the law and the Constitution.

The overriding goal is to create a fair, effective, affordable and well-functioning justice system that responds to public concerns about safety and security, meets the needs of a modern pluralistic society and reflects the values of Canadians (Business Plan for 1997-1998).

The Department's mission is achieved through three main activities:

1. Client Services

Through this activity, the Department of Justice Canada responds to the requirements of the Government of Canada, its departments and agencies, for quality legal and legislative services.

2. Law and Policy

The law and policy activity ensures a responsive, fair, efficient and accessible national system of justice and examines all laws and regulations to ensure consistency with, among other requirements the Canadian Bill of Rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

3. Administration and Operations

Corporate management and administrative services for personnel, information and materiel support the Department's program delivery.

The Department's service to the federal government involves several roles: as manager of the law; as provider of policy; and as a central agency. The Department of Justice Canada administers the above three main activities or business lines through three sectors and three branches: the Legal Operations

Sector, the Policy Sector, the Civil Law and Corporate Management Sector, the Legislative Services Branch, the Information Management Branch and the Communications and Executive Services Branch. The sectors expected to play the largest role in the program and policy side of sustainable development are profiled in further detail below:

The Legal Operations Sector is the largest in terms of breadth of subject matter and size of personnel and operations. It comprises, inter alia, all legal services to other government departments organized in three portfolios: (i) the business group (serving for example, CIDA, Industry, National Defence, Natural Resources, and Transport Canada), (ii) the regulatory group (serving for example Agriculture, Atomic Energy Control Board, Environment, Fisheries & Oceans, Health, Human Resources and the RCMP), and (iii) the central agency group (serving for example Finance, Treasury Board, and the Public Service Commission). These legal services are normally provided by Departmental Legal Services Units (DLSUs) collocated in their respective client departments, while the Specialized Legal Advisory Services at Justice headquarters provide advice on administrative law, constitutional and international law, as well as human rights, information and privacy law. The Legal Operations Sector also includes civil and tax litigation, criminal law, citizenship and immigration law and aboriginal affairs. As well, all regional offices of Justice across Canada (except in Québec) are managed by and supported within Legal Operations.

The Policy Sector addresses justice policy issues mainly in three broad areas:
(a) criminal law policy, including crime prevention and sentence reform,
(b) integrating justice and social policies to promote the well-being of families, children and youth, and
(c) public law policy, concerning human rights, information law, aspects of international law and judicial affairs. Programs in support of specific justice policies cover firearms, child support, legal aid, young offenders, public legal education and other areas through cost-shared programs, grants and contributions. Policy integration, coordination and research also furthers justice policy on diversity, equality and access to justice, among other issues.

The Civil Law part of the Civil Law and Corporate Management Sector reflects the fact that Canada is bijural, as well as bilingual, with side-by-side systems of common law and civil law. For international development, this better qualifies Canada to provide legal technical assistance to developing countries in the civil law francophone world as well as in common law Commonwealth and other countries. The Civil Code section has an important function to review federal laws and propose amendments required to harmonize them with the Québec civil law. The Civil Law Sector also comprises the Civil Litigation and Real Property Law (Québec) section and the Québec Regional Office of Justice Canada, which serves federal government departments in Québec. Legal services provided include files on aboriginal affairs, maritime and trade law, and tax litigation in Québec.

Headed by the same Associate Deputy Minister as Civil Law, the Corporate Management Sector supports the administration and operation of the Department. It includes divisions for planning and management of resources, finances, contracts and material, and facilities, the Human Resources Directorate, and various other offices, sections and services which help Justice employees deliver the Department's programs. The staff of the Department of Justice are housed at headquarters in Ottawa, in 35 departmental legal services units collocated with client organizations, and thirteen offices located across Canada.

The Department employs approximately 2,500 people, about 1,300 of whom are lawyers, from all over Canada, and is the largest single legal organization in the country. Approximately 500 staff provide legal support in such occupations as legal secretaries and para-legals. Other important staff include: administrators, researchers, social scientists, economists, computer specialists, personnel and finance officers, and communicators.

The Department promotes employment equity and actively seeks qualified candidates from among aboriginal people, women, visible minorities and persons with disabilities. The Deputy Minister has enunciated the Department's key values as: respect, integrity, and honesty; service to clients; fairness; and a collaborative, participatory and collegial working style.

Future Directions

The Department of Justice Canada had identified a number of key factors which will affect the Department now and in the immediate future. Due to recent government restructuring, the Department is facing new challenges that relate to budgeting and adapting to new service agencies, such as the food inspection agency. There will be a need to work more in partnership with other levels and branches of government.

The Department is also renewing and revitalizing the Justice workforce to meet the changing needs of tomorrow, assisted by new human resource policies.

Rapid demographic, social, economic and technological change, as well as globalization, are all putting pressures on the justice system. In looking to the future, the Department of Justice Canada is working to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of its actions and to ensure that the system's key resources are used in areas where their impact will be the greatest. A strategic planning process is developing common departmental policy directions and identifying priorities for action.

Current Activities Related to Sustainable Development

The Department of Justice is involved in a number of activities which relate to sustainable development. Much of the Department's work, for example, focuses on improving social conditions. Many laws aim to protect rights, assign responsibilities, and create social conditions that foster the well-being of Canadians. Some of the current initiatives of the Department include support for Canadian unity by participating in federal-provincial relations, operationalizing policies for community safety, child support and firearms control; crime prevention through social equity and security. The Department has set up institutional mechanisms to handle such cross-cutting issues as environmental law, employment equity, and gender equality.

Specifically serving the environmental dimension of sustainable development, the Department of Justice is involved in the design and enforcement of laws and regulations that provide a healthy environment. Its recent contributions include amending the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, drafting additional regulations under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, a bill on the Endangered Species Protection Act, and updating the Fisheries Act.

Like other federal departments, Justice Canada also has emphasized its stewardship responsibilities in recent years. Much of this work has been focused on the development of a departmental Environmental

Management System. In addition, Legislative Services has made significant progress towards reducing the paper associated with new and revised laws and regulations, both by adopting a policy of printing bills using both sides of pages, and by placing the revised Statutes of Canada on CD ROM and on the Internet.

In Directions 97-98, the Department explicitly states that sustainable development is one of the key factors for the future and that respect for the natural environment will continue to shape internal administrative policies. Similarly, the Department's Business Plan 1997 -2000 cites sustainable development as one of the challenges facing the department.

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