Departmental Results Report 2022-23
View as: Erratum This Erratum is to correct an error found in the Departmental Results table in the Results achieved section under the Core Responsibility of Intergovernmental Conference Services. The 2022-23 actual result for the Conference organizer satisfaction rate (found under R1: Facilitate productive federal-provincial-territorial and provincial-territorial discussions through centralized planning and professionally supported conferences), was incorrectly input as 91.1%; The data shows an actual result of 94.1%. The data in the table has been adjusted to reflect this correction. The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, P.C., K.C., M.P.Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs ISSN: 2562-7376 Table of Contents From the Institutional Head Results at a glance Results: what we achieved Core responsibility Internal services Spending and human resources Spending Human resources Expenditures by vote Government of Canada spending and activities Financial statements and financial statements highlights Corporate information Organizational profile Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do Operating context Reporting framework Supporting information on the program inventory Supplementary information tables Federal tax expenditures Organizational contact information Appendix: definitions From the Institutional Head I am pleased to table the Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat’s (CICS) 2022‑23 Departmental Results Report (DRR). For 50 years, CICS has been a key player in the Canadian intergovernmental machinery, providing administrative and logistical support required for the planning and conduct of federal-provincial-territorial and provincial-territorial conferences of First Ministers, Ministers and Deputy Ministers across Canada. And 2022‑23 was no exception; CICS having supported 44 videoconferences and 37 in-person conferences, for a total of 81 events. Beyond the numbers, the major evolution in service delivery this year has been the rise of the hybrid conference. CICS had anticipated that this format would become the new post pandemic norm and tirelessly worked at broadening its expertise, focussing on videoconferencing and adding to the current technology options, all while setting new standards for the future of hybrid conferencing. As a result, almost every in-person event now has a videoconferencing component, to greater or lesser extent, thus allowing significant flexibility for conference participants and organizers. Despite the financial constraints felt throughout the year, the Secretariat’s ability to realign and retool itself in the face of such substantial shifts in its operating environment demonstrated the organization’s ability to continually adapt and to rise to the challenge. Ruth OnyanchaSecretary, Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat Results at a glance Key results achieved in 2022‑23 CICS expanded its slate of services to support hybrid conferences. This included enabling remote interpretation, improving internet quality in conference rooms, facilitating in-person dialogue with online participants, virtual break-out rooms, and other forms of parallel meetings for discussions, communiqué preparation, virtual press conferences, and much more. The videoconferencing platform (secure, user-friendly and with an integrated interpretation module) continued to be the platform of choice during the third year of the pandemic, and will continue to be used for linking remote participants to in-person meetings. Actual full‑time equivalents 30 CICS continued to focus on innovation and delivering high-quality, responsive, and cost-effective conference services to federal, provincial, […]
by Aaron Lampole
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Operating Context 2022-23
Although videoconferencing remained popular throughout 2022-23, the lifting of the latest travel restrictions related to COVID-19 resulted in a return to face-to-face conferences; the vast majority of which were in fact hybrid meetings. As this type of conference requires additional human and technical resources, hybrid conferencing resulted in an increase of costs. This was compounded by a significant inflation in prices which increased the average cost of in-person events from approximately $27,000 in 2019-20 to approximately $42,700 in 2022-23; This represents a 58% increase in costs over a period of just two years. This considerable increase in costs has had a serious impact on CICS’ ability to financially support the numerous conference requests it received. Throughout the year and despite the financial challenges outlined above, the Agency demonstrated its capacity to respond, often on short notice, to the very high demand for services, ensuring that they remained relevant, forward-looking and of the highest quality. CICS was able to successfully serve 44 videoconferences and 37 in-person conferences, for a total of 81 events. Throughout the fiscal year 2022-23, CICS tested and implemented a series of innovations that created efficiencies and enhanced service delivery related to conference services. The most impactful innovation was the introduction of remote interpretation services. The significant demand for interpretation services required that CICS strengthen its network of private sector interpretation and audiovisual suppliers. The Agency tested audiovisual service companies to ensure they had the equipment and technical skills to support remote interpretation. The implementation of remote interpretation has led to significant cost savings, and CICS now offers remote interpretation services for all in-person and virtual conferences, when possible. In 2022-23, CICS continued to mitigate the risk that the organization would be unable to sustain an adequate workforce with the appropriate competencies due to a large turnover of staff (attributed to retirements and departures, provincial-territorial secondment rotations, and peak period staffing). CICS mitigated this risk by implementing staffing strategies to enable the continued staffing of key positions, including career development opportunities, staffing pools, taking advantage of the Federal Student Work Experience Program, and implementing temporary staffing actions to ensure prompt staffing at peak intervals. CICS also continued to promote job rotations, as the lean nature of a micro-agency emphasizes the need for an agile and multi-skilled workforce.
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Response to parliamentary committees and external audits
Response to parliamentary committees There were no parliamentary committee reports requiring a response in 2022-23. Response to audits conducted by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (including audits conducted by the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development) There were no audits in 2022–23 requiring a response. Response to audits conducted by the Public Service Commission of Canada or the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages There were no audits in 2022–23 requiring a response.
by Aaron Lampole
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