Directive No. 33
Original

Provide feedback to the Director, Secretariat

Participation and Presentations at Non-Governmental Conferences

Policy Objective:

To outline the requirements for Civil Aviation employees participating and making presentations at non-governmental conferences in a public forum.

Background:

Attendance at conferences is controlled in accordance with Treasury Board of Canada Guidelines (http://publiservice.tbs-sct.gc.ca/Pubs_pol/hrpubs/
TBM_113/CON1-1e.html).

Civil Aviation management encourages employee participation at conferences, symposia and other non-governmental forums. However, there is a need for managers to be aware of the nature of that participation and review the content of presentations and papers prepared for these events.

As an aviation audience is likely to assume that a Civil Aviation employee is representing Transport Canada, statements of opinion, personal analysis or conclusions could lead to misinterpretation of departmental policy or regulations.

Policy Statement:

Presentations or abstracts given by Civil Aviation employees at non-governmental conferences must accurately reflect Transport Canada policy, procedures and practices, and clearly identify any opinions of the author as personal opinions.

Application:

The policy applies to all Civil Aviation employees. The policy does not apply when developing papers for academic purposes, such as medical research papers.

Approach:

In addition to obtaining approval to attend a non-governmental conference, an employee informs his or her manager, in a timely manner, of the invitation or desire to participate through a written or oral presentation at the conference. Following approval to participate, the employee should submit the abstract or presentation material to their manager for review prior to submission to the conference organizers. Based on the manager's review, the functional or regional director may also be requested to review the material. The functional or regional director determines if the material states policy and requires a review by the Director of Civil Aviation Secretariat. Any assessment recommendations are provided back to the appropriate functional or regional director for action and implementation. If a policy review is not required, the functional or regional director need only advise the Director of Civil Aviation Secretariat of the planned presentation and provide a copy of the material (RDIMS reference may be used).

Roles & Responsibilities:

Employees are responsible for:

• Informing their managers of any requests to present a paper or participate at a non-governmental conference
• Requesting initial agreement to present a paper
• Providing abstracts and presentations to their managers for review prior to submission to conference organizers

Managers are responsible for:

• Reviewing abstracts and presentations
• Determining if the functional or regional director should review
• Implementing assessment recommendations

Functional or Regional Directors are responsible for:

• Determining if a policy/content review by the Director of Civil Aviation Secretariat is necessary
• If a policy/content is not necessary, advising the Director of Civil Aviation Secretariat of a planned presentation of a paper and providing the RDIMS reference number for the documentation
• Advising the manager of the results of any review

The Director, Civil Aviation Secretariat is responsible for:

• Reviewing the abstract or presentation as requested by the functional or regional director and providing assessment recommendations
• Monitoring the performance of Civil Aviation in respect to this directive
• Reporting to the Director General of Civil Aviation and/or the National Civil Aviation Management Executive, as appropriate.

Further information

E. St. Louis
Director, Civil Aviation Secretariat (AARC)
Telephone: (613) 993-8803
Facsimile: (613) 957-4208
E-mail: stlouej@tc.gc.ca

Merlin Preuss
Director General
Civil Aviation

Effective date: August 22, 2002
Expiry date: This directive will be reviewed annually.