2 Program Profile

2.1 Description

The Reconciliation Secretariat is the Department’s CoE on Indigenous relations, reconciliation and partnership building. It was initially created within the DM’s Office in 2017 as the RLPS and was later moved to the IRRP, formerly known as the Aboriginal Affairs Portfolio, in April 2019. With this move, the Secretariat took on different and additional responsibilities in legal policy work on Indigenous priorities.

The Reconciliation Secretariat team has always been small, starting out as a team of approximately eight in RLPS, and growing slowly over time to its current size of 15 full-time equivalents (FTEs).

The Senior Director, as the head of the Secretariat, supports and briefs the Minister and senior officials on the progress of priorities related to the reconciliation agenda, provides direction and advice, and represents Justice Canada in senior official inter-departmental meetings, inter-governmental meetings, and meetings with external partners and stakeholders. The Secretariat is comprised of two teams: the Policy Development and Strategic Advice Team, and; the Engagement and Partnership Team.

The Policy Development and Strategic Advice team leads the coordination of key legal policy initiatives aimed at advancing reconciliation, such as the Department’s response to the TRC Calls to Action and MMIWG Calls for Justice. The team provides support to the Associate Deputy Minister IRRP, Associate DM, the DM’s office and other senior officials in the Department by providing policy advice and Indigenous perspectives, where possible, on emerging and sensitive priorities. The team also prepares and develops Justice Canada’s contributions to various federal initiatives supporting the Government’s reconciliation agenda, and supports the DM’s participation in the DMCIR^{Footnote 1}, Federal-Provincial-Territorial-Indigenous (FPT-I) meetings of Justice Canada and Public Safety, and other inter-departmental and inter-governmental fora. It has also been leading work related to land acknowledgements and Elder protocol guidance, and will be contributing to other initiatives to improve Indigenous cultural competency within the Department.

The Engagement and Partnerships team provides advice and guidance to ensure that the Department’s engagement activities with Indigenous partners are inclusive and accessible, and respectful of key protocols. This team also represents Justice Canada in coordinating and attending meetings with Indigenous partners through the Permanent Bilateral Mechanisms (PBMs), and undertakes the planning, design and delivery, and evaluation of complex Indigenous engagement initiatives. The Engagement and Partnerships team also leads the policy development work related to the IJS. This involves the development of the engagement plan, data collection and analysis, research, intra- and interdepartmental coordination, provincial/territorial outreach as well as drafting the IJS. In support of the IJS, the team also provides policy direction for the IEF, managed by the Programs Branch. The IEF provides funding to Indigenous partners and organizations to engage with their members and citizens, as well as Justice Canada officials on shared Indigenous-specific justice priorities. The Engagement and Partnerships team is also responsible for developing and delivering training on Indigenous related issues to Justice Canada employees in order to improve understanding and increase cultural competency within the Department, drawing on the Principles Respecting the Government of Canada’s Relationship with Indigenous Peoples^{Footnote 2}.

The development of the IJS directly responds to the following commitment in the December 2021 mandate letter to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada: “Develop, in consultation and cooperation with provinces, territories and Indigenous partners, an Indigenous Justice Strategy to address systemic discrimination and the overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in the justice system.” After discussions among the DM, Policy Sector and IRRP, it was decided that the Reconciliation Secretariat would lead this work for Justice. The Reconciliation Secretariat received funding to develop the IJS in 2021-22, including $11M for the IEF. Indigenous-led engagement and Justice Canada-led engagement are both expected to inform the development of the IJS by identifying legislative, program, and policy initiatives needed to address the overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples and systemic discrimination in the Canadian justice system. Engagements have been structured into two Waves. Wave 1 is intended to focus on broad level engagements to identify the main issues for further exploration, and Wave 2 is more targeted to these issues and the relevant partners and stakeholders.

2.2 Resources

When the Secretariat was moved from the DM’s office in 2019, it was initially funded using temporary resources, supplemented by resources from IRRP. In addition, in Budget 2021, the federal government proposed to invest $24.25 million over three years (2021-22 to 2023-24) to support addressing key justice specific Indigenous priorities. Of this amount, $13.25 million over three years was to support stabilization of the Secretariat and $11 million was earmarked for the IEF. At the time of the evaluation, there were a total of 15 FTEs in a variety of employee categories, including Economics and Social Science Services and Law Practitioners.

During the period covered by the evaluation, Justice Canada allocated approximately $8 million to the Secretariat. The breakdown per FY is presented in Table 1 below:

Table 1: Financial Resources Allocated from 2018-19 to 2022-23

Table 1: Financial Resources Allocated from 2018-19 to 2022-23
Categories	FY 2018-19	FY 2019-20	FY 2020-21	FY 2021-22	FY 2022-23
Operating Budget^{Footnote 1 of Table 1}	$895,434^{Footnote 2 of Table 1}	$1,037,424^{Footnote 2 of Table 1}	$1,273,171^{Footnote 2 of Table 1}	$3,855,671^{Footnote 3 of Table 1}	$3,855,671^{Footnote 3 of Table 1}
Grants	$0	$0	$0	$3,000,000	$4,000,000
Total	$895,434	$1,037,424	$1,273,171	$6,855,671	$7,855,671
Table 1 footnotes Footnote 1 of Table 1 Operating budget includes salaries and benefits, as well as operations and maintenance. Comprehensive EBP rate aligns with external reporting (Public Accounts). Exercises on or after April 1, 2019 were reported at 27% comprehensive EBP rate (20% prior). Accommodation and Supply and Services Canada costs are excluded from this table as they go directly to their respective departments and they are not in Main Estimates. Return to footnote 1 referrer of Table 1 Footnote 2 of Table 1 Operating budget allocated in 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 is based on funding allocated to the Reconciliation Secretariat cost centre to cover the costs of activities performed during those years. Return to first footnote 2 referrer of Table 1 Footnote 3 of Table 1 Operating budget allocated in 2021-22 and 2022-23 is based on the approved TB Submission amounts for the Funding to support the Reconciliation Secretariat within Justice and for Indigenous Engagement on Justice-Related Issues, which includes funding for the Secretariat as well as Criminal Law Policy Section, Policy Integration and Coordination Section, and a program to support FTEs and Communications. Return to first footnote 3 referrer of Table 1 Source of Table 1 Source: Department of Justice Financial Data

Footnotes

Footnote 1

The DMCIR is chaired by the Privy Council Office and composed of 10 other DM-level members and is the primary focal point for providing strategic direction on the reconciliation agenda. Its purpose is to provide direction and coherence to the reconciliation agenda by supporting interdepartmental collaboration, making connections across initiatives to ensure coherence, tracking progress on initiatives, as well as identifying and discussing implementation challenges and next steps.

Return to footnote 1 referrer

Footnote 2

The Principles were developed to support the review of laws and policies in response to the implementation of the UNDRIP. They are intended to reflect a commitment to “good faith, the rule of law, democracy, equality, non-discrimination, and respect for human rights” and will “guide the work required to fulfill the Government’s commitment to renewed nation-to-nation, government-to-government, and Inuit-Crown relationships.” https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/principles-principes.html

Return to footnote 2 referrer

Date modified:: 2023-09-22

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2 Program Profile

2.1 Description

2.2 Resources

Table 1: Financial Resources Allocated from 2018-19 to 2022-23