Sustainable Development Strategy
Progress Report: 2003

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Progress Toward Achievement of Goals

• Figure 1: Status of 2003 SDS Commitments
• Figure 2: Status of 2001–2003 SDS Commitments

SDS Accomplishments in 2003, by Goal

SDS Accomplishments 2001–2003, by Planned Objective

• Goal 1: Objectives and Results
• Goal 2: Objectives and Results
• Goal 3: Objectives and Results
• Goal 4: Objectives and Results

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Introduction

In Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s (CIC) second three-year plan for its Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS) covering the period 2001 to 2003, 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.” [note 1]

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.

The yearly progress reports enable the Department to outline its progress toward meeting our SDS commitments.

The current report, the third progress report on the second three-year plan, summarizes the results achieved from January 1 to December 31, 2003, and presents an overview of the entire strategy, including planned follow-up action for 2004. The target dates for which activities were to be completed, as well as their status on December 31, 2001, 2002 and 2003, are also provided.

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Progress Toward Achievement of Goals

CIC made progress toward achieving the objectives established under the four goals of the SDS in the period under review. Of the 35 actions planned for the period, all except three have been completed. Much progress has been achieved on these three, however, and work will continue on them as described in CIC’s third three-year plan tabled in the House of Commons on February 16, 2004. [note 2] The figures below indicate the status of our SDS commitments for 2003, as well as for the entire three-year period of the strategy.

Figure 1: Status of 2003 SDS Commitments

Figure 2: Status of 2001–2003 SDS Commitments

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SDS Accomplishments in 2003, by Goal

Goal 1: To minimize the negative environmental impacts of departmental operations.

• Implemented indicators on the environmental impacts of departmental operations.
• Developed and delivered awareness sessions on fleet, procurement and facilities management.
• Implemented national standards for purchasing and maintaining vehicles and tracking vehicle data.
• Reviewed current levels of consumption of paper and office equipment at national headquarters and evaluated feasibility of reducing consumption within the regions.
• Identified facilities where space optimization and retrofit were appropriate.

Goal 2: To promote awareness of sustainable development principles and objectives among departmental staff, clients and stakeholders.

• Increased departmental awareness activities.
• Updated CIC’s Internet and intranet sites to include more recent and relevant information on sustainable development for newcomers and staff.
• Prepared communications material promoting sustainable development as a citizenship value.

Goal 3: To better integrate environmental considerations into departmental policy development and decision-making processes.

• Provided policy and program staff and decision makers with more information on the social, economic and environmental impacts of CIC’s policies and programs.
• Prepared strategic environmental assessments for three memorandums to Cabinet and a Treasury Board submission.

Goal 4: To promote accountability and ensure compliance.

• Continued the activities of the Coordinating Committee on Sustainable Development (CCSD), an intradepartmental working group established to assess the progress achieved on sustainable development objectives. The CCSD also continues to guide and coordinate the implementation of sustainable development initiatives within the Department.
• Continued to develop performance measurement capacity within CIC.

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SDS Accomplishments 2001–2003,
by Planned Objective

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Notes:

^[1] Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Sustainable Development Strategy: December 2000, p. 20.

^[2] Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s third SDS, Sustainable Development Strategy III: January 1, 2004–March 31, 2007, is available on-line at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/sds/strategy-2004.asp.

^[3] Visa Plus is a special edition of Visa, the departmental news bulletin for CIC staff.

^[4] While this is done in some federal government departments, the project did not advance at CIC because of concerns raised by the landlords of the NHQ buildings.

^[5] All the materials used for the lunch were either recyclable or re-usable.

^[6] Visa Plus is a special edition of Visa, the departmental news bulletin for CIC staff.

^[7] Integration-Net was created by CIC as a communications and research tool to support the work of the Canadian settlement community.

^[8] Available at http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca.

 

Produced by the Strategic Policy and Partnerships Branch
in consultation with the
Coordinating Committee on Sustainable Development

For additional copies, please contact

Également disponible en français sous le titre Rapport d’étape sur la Stratégie de développement durable : 2003.

© Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2004
Cat. no. Ci51-120/2003-1E-HTML
ISBN 0-662-36973-4