Departmental Plan 2020-2021

Table of contents

• From the Minister
• From the Librarian and Archivist of Canada
• Plans at a glance
• Core responsibilities: planned results and resources, and key risks
  • Acquiring and preserving documentary heritage
  • Providing access to documentary heritage
• Internal Services
• Spending and human resources
• Planned spending
• Planned human resources
• Estimates by vote
• Condensed future-oriented statement of operations
• 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 Minister

As Minister of Canadian Heritage, I am pleased to present the 2020‒21 Departmental Plan for Library and Archives Canada (LAC). Whether it be in the arts, culture, heritage or communications, the Canadian Heritage Portfolio plays an important role in our society. Each of the portfolio’s organizations, including LAC, fulfills its mandate with an emphasis on inclusion, collaboration, reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and the promotion of our country’s two official languages.

Within the portfolio, LAC serves as caretaker of our documentary heritage—a heritage that reflects the richness and diversity of Canadian society. As a member of the national and international communities of libraries and archives, as well as the broader community of memory institutions, LAC takes part in joint efforts to democratize and disseminate knowledge.

In 2020–21, LAC will continue its efforts to facilitate digital access to its national collection, with the aim of reaching more Canadians. It will continue to digitize its analog collection and improve its tools, to enhance digital services and users’ search experience. Moreover, it will move forward with its project of building a new green, sustainable preservation facility that will protect thousands of Canada’s documentary treasures.

I encourage you to read this plan and learn more about LAC’s priorities. As you will see, this Canadian Heritage Portfolio organization is committed to serving Canadians and creating a Canada in which we can all take great pride.

The Honourable Steven Guilbeault
Minister of Canadian Heritage

From the Librarian and Archivist of Canada

I am very pleased to soon start the next fiscal year with you as the new Librarian and Archivist of Canada. Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has worked hard over the past year to fulfill its mandate and offer the best possible service to all Canadians in acquiring, preserving and providing access to our documentary heritage.

Our role as custodian of enduring knowledge is expanding every year. We are in the digital age: technology is constantly evolving, and new challenges are multiplying. With this in mind, LAC is committed to improving its services and continuing to offer a wide range of public activities and events to better meet the needs of Canadians. LAC is also seeking to attract an even wider audience, including new Canadians and youth.

Young people are directly and continuously connected to the digital world. Millennials are among the most enthusiastic users of libraries. However, their expectations are very different from those of past generations, so we must adapt to this reality and boost our digital presence. By taking advantage of the many opportunities offered by digital technology, we are also raising LAC’s profile, both nationally and internationally.

We have done incredible work so far in digitizing the collection. Examples include the completion of the ambitious project to digitize the personnel files of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, the Co-Lab crowdsourcing tool and the DigiLab. As a result of these projects, documents are now more accessible to the general public.

LAC will continue to work on optimizing its digital capability, infrastructure and tools, to acquire and preserve an ever-increasing volume of documentary resources securely and efficiently.

In addition, we are in the midst of a significant transformation of our services. I consider myself privileged to have arrived at LAC at this key moment, when the design of two remarkable buildings is beginning: the joint facility with Ottawa Public Library and the new preservation facility in Gatineau. I am very proud to be part of these two major, innovative projects that illustrate the evolving role of libraries and archives in our communities.

We will continue to work with our partners, users and communities to achieve our objectives and respond to the growing needs of all Canadians, now and in the future.

Leslie Weir
Librarian and Archivist of Canada

Plans at a glance

Library and Archives Canada’s (LAC) 2020–21 Departmental Plan is structured around two strategic priorities: service transformation and digital optimization.

To reach more users and provide them with the best possible experience, LAC is working to transform its services and virtual access to the collection. Users expect to find what they are looking for quickly, and to have a user-friendly, dynamic and interactive online experience, and this is what LAC aims to deliver by making the most of what digital technology has to offer.

To that end, LAC will develop its service strategy in 2020–21. It will continue to offer and feature more digital content through an expanded online presence and enhanced search tools that address the expectations and interests of all generations, including those who have grown up in the digital age and expect the collection to be easily accessible from anywhere in Canada.

LAC will also take advantage of the momentum provided by the project to build a joint facility with Ottawa Public Library to review the range of services and programs that will be offered to visitors starting in 2024. In so doing, LAC will look at the range of opportunities offered by the new facility, the results of consultations with Canadians, and innovative practices used around the world. Improvements to existing services and the development of new, leading-edge services will enable LAC to reach a broader, more diverse audience and make the national collection even more accessible.

As LAC begins transforming its services to better disseminate its collection’s content, it must also prepare by optimizing its digital infrastructure and its ability to acquire, manage and preserve the constantly growing digital content transferred to it by Canadian content producers (federal government institutions, publishers and other creators) and the content generated through digitization. LAC anticipates that the volume of digital content in its collection will increase exponentially in the coming years, as federal departments and agencies subject to the Library and Archives of Canada Act will be required to electronically transfer archival records that they have created in electronic format, after April 1, 2017.

In this context, the optimization of digital infrastructure and capability is essential to enable LAC to fulfill its mandate. In 2020–21, to better manage digital heritage from federal institutions, publishers and information creators across the country, LAC will coordinate its efforts to implement a corporate optimization approach and will rely on its Digital Asset Management System. It will also move ahead with the project to renew its archival information system.

For more information on LAC’s plans, priorities and planned results, see the “Core responsibilities: planned results and resources, and key risks” section of this report.

Core responsibilities: planned results and resources, and key risks

This section contains detailed information on the department’s planned results and resources for each of its core responsibilities. It also contains information on key risks related to achieving those results.

1. Acquiring and preserving documentary heritage

Description

LAC acquires documentary heritage of historical value and preserves it for current and future generations, as mandated in the Library and Archives of Canada Act. The collection is made up of documentary heritage preserved in a variety of media and formats. LAC advises the Government of Canada and its institutions on the management of information and ensures that records of historical value are transferred to its collection. Through legal deposit, all materials submitted by Canadian publishers, and samples of Internet content, become part of the collection. Other records of national significance are acquired to document Canadian society. The institution uses state-of-the-art techniques and infrastructure to restore the collection and provide optimal conditions for long-term preservation. LAC also builds its capacity and expertise to ensure the accessibility of its collection.

Planning highlights

To ensure that today’s documentary resources will be preserved for the future, LAC needs to optimize its digital capacity. Its efforts to improve its infrastructure and tools will enable it to acquire and preserve an ever-increasing volume of digital information resources securely and efficiently.

In 2020–21, LAC will test the Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) to acquire large volumes of digital publications. At the same time, it will continue to implement its strategy for digital preservation, using DAMS to efficiently preserve publications and university theses in digital format.

In conjunction with its interdepartmental working group, LAC will develop and share draft digital preservation guidelines for federal institutions. In addition, it will use DAMS to facilitate the process that federal institutions use to transfer their digital records of archival value to LAC. It will carry out a pilot project to acquire documents from departments using GCdocs, the system widely used by the Government of Canada to store, manage and share electronic information. In addition, LAC will explore solutions for acquiring and processing private digital archival records securely and more efficiently.

LAC will work with Public Services and Procurement Canada to issue a request for proposals for a new archival information system. At the same time, LAC will continue to review the descriptive data of its archival heritage, particularly with a view to migrating it to the future archival information system.

While working to find solutions to optimize its digital infrastructure, LAC will continue to build the new preservation facility and reconfigure the space in a number of storage vaults in the existing Preservation Centre, to ensure that LAC’s analog collection is preserved in optimal conditions. Between now and the completion of the new building in 2022–23, LAC will continue to prepare the collection for its relocation to the new spaces. LAC expects that 50 percent of the collection will be ready to be moved by March 2021.

It is expected to take publishers and federal institutions 20 years to complete their transition to mostly digital formats. During this time, LAC will continue to receive a large volume of documentary resources in analog form. It will therefore need to be able to receive, manage and preserve high volumes of both analog and digital content to fulfill its mandate. To address this challenge and meet future storage requirements, LAC will finalize its real property master plan and a strategic action plan for the future of its real estate portfolio.

In 2020–21, LAC will build relationships with new collaborators, while strengthening its existing networks with communities of creators, publishers, universities, donors and federal institutions, to raise awareness and guide them in the procedures for entrusting LAC with Canada’s treasures. LAC will also rely on its Acquisitions Advisory Committee and its Youth Advisory Council to ensure that both digital and analog acquisitions reflect Canada, past and present, in all its diversity.

Lastly, LAC will work with its library and archival networks to support them in fulfilling their own mandates. For example, LAC will support small public and academic libraries that wish to participate in the enrichment of Canada’s knowledge. It will also support the acquisition of documents and resources in alternative formats (large print, Braille, electronic and audio versions) to facilitate access, including through the National Union Catalogue Voilà, and through the interlibrary loan service.

United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The new cutting-edge preservation facility will be the very first government building in the Americas to emit no greenhouse gases. This project contributes to the achievement of SDG 9, to build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and encourage innovation, and SDG 12, to establish sustainable means of consumption and production, using resources and energy efficiently. It also meets the requirements of the Greening Government Strategy and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy for Canada with regard to energy consumption, waste management, environmental heritage preservation and greenhouse gas emissions.

Experimentation

Resources for testing new solutions will be allocated to the extent that LAC focuses its efforts on transforming its services and optimizing its digital capability.

Key risk(s)

Using its existing systems, LAC may not be able to acquire, manage and sustainably preserve the exponential volume of digital content it acquires and digitizes and that is transferred to it. To mitigate this risk, LAC must definitely optimize the systems, infrastructure, processes and tools that underpin its digital operations. The testing and deployment of LAC’s DAMS and the development of the project to renew its archival information system will partially mitigate the effects of this risk, by contributing to the improvement of its capacity and the interoperability of its digital infrastructure.

Financial, human resources and performance information for LAC’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.

2. Providing access to documentary heritage

Description

LAC provides access to its collection, while respecting legal, policy and contractual obligations. It enables Canadians to access and consult its collection and thereby enrich their knowledge of Canada’s documentary heritage. Through its website and social media, LAC improves access to its digital content and the whole collection. The institution provides online and in-person services at its four national service points. It uses innovative strategies such as crowdsourcing (Co-Lab) and the Digi-Lab to increase the digital content of its collection. LAC also promotes Canadian heritage by creating exhibitions that enable the public to discover its collection in cultural sites across Canada. Through the Documentary Heritage Communities Program, LAC supports memory organizations in Canada by increasing their capacity to preserve and make their collections accessible.

Planning highlights

The Departmental Plan’s two strategic priorities, service transformation and digital optimization, have a major impact on access plans for 2020–21 and subsequent years. LAC wants to leverage its employees’ expertise, the richness of its collection and the opportunities offered by digital technology to better serve Canadians and reach even more citizens interested in discovering their history through Canada’s documentary heritage.

LAC will develop a service strategy to improve virtual access to its collection and services. Most Canadians want access to content online; digitization is essential to expanding digital access to LAC’s collection from coast to coast to coast. In 2020–21, digitization efforts will focus on Indigenous documentary heritage and reference materials. Users will benefit from enhanced digital content accessible on LAC’s website, its blogs and its social media platforms. LAC specialists will bring their expertise and passion to the creation and sharing of articles, photo albums, videos and podcasts, as well as activities and events that will showcase our country’s documentary heritage while engaging all generations.

To facilitate the retrieval of content, LAC will refine its integrated search tools, enhancing the search experience of users. It will also invite users to visit its Co-Lab crowdsourcing tool, to help transcribe, describe, translate and tag six new “challenges.” In addition to continuing to incorporate existing databases and new functionalities into its tools, LAC will explore the possibilities offered by artificial intelligence for modernizing its reference services. In addition, with a view to continuously improving the user-friendliness, clarity and accessibility of its website, LAC will develop a plan to implement the models and principles of Canada.ca, the official Government of Canada (GC) website, based on regular consultations with its users.

LAC will improve access to government records held in its archives. It will review and implement solutions to improve the efficiency of the digital request handling process, since the number and complexity of requests under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act (ATIP) continue to increase.

In addition, LAC will support the GC’s response to the settlement of class action lawsuits regarding sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence. LAC expects to process nearly 9,000 requests for access to the records of former military service members and former federal public servants for whom claims have been filed. If necessary, LAC will carry out an ATIP analysis and provide a digital copy of the available records.

Over the next five years, LAC will rethink the range of services and programs that it plans to offer future visitors at the new facility shared with Ottawa Public Library, which is expected to open in 2024. In 2020–21, when the new building’s design is finalized, LAC will define its requirements for radio frequency identification, a technology that tracks objects using bar codes and electronic chips.

LAC will work to increase Canadians’ awareness of its services, its expertise and the treasures in its collection, through public programming activities and a collaborative approach with its partners. It will continue to develop dynamic introductory research and discovery workshops suitable for all users and offer them across Canada on a regular basis. It will explore opportunities to reach young people, who are more open to interactive experiences in which digital technology plays an important role. LAC will consult its Youth Advisory Council and develop activities and events specifically for university students. In addition, it will partner with Defining Moments Canada to mark, in high schools, the anniversary of the discovery of insulin.

Other key opportunities to promote LAC and the rich national documentary heritage in its care will be public events, exhibitions and guided tours of the Preservation Centre. The public relies on memory specialists to tell the story of this heritage, which reflects the social, political, economic, military and environmental circumstances that have shaped the Canadian identity. While a third exhibition of historical portraits will be held at the Glenbow museum in Calgary from March 2020 to January 2021, there will be other exhibitions at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. The travelling exhibit on the history of the Métis Nation will be at the Jasper Yellowhead Museum in Alberta from March 2019 to May 2020; it will then move to the Western Development Museum in Moose Jaw and North Battleford, Saskatchewan, for the summer, after which it will be featured at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany next fall. In addition, items in LAC’s collection, including documents, works of art, photographs, artifacts and more, will be loaned to and showcased by several cultural institutions in Canada and other countries.

LAC will continue to leverage its partnership ties with Canadian and international academic, cultural, and memory institutions, including through collaborative activities to increase the visibility and accessibility of documentary heritage. For example, LAC will continue to collaborate on the implementation of the National Heritage Digitization Strategy. In addition, agreements with universities will provide opportunities to share, promote LAC’s national collection and mandate, and attract young professionals with diverse expertise who are interested in helping to promote Canada’s cultural heritage. For example, in 2020–21, LAC will hold its third forum with university partners, on the theme of memory institutions as sites of inclusion and diversity.

In recognition of the rights of Indigenous peoples and in a spirit of reconciliation, LAC will continue to implement its Indigenous Heritage Action Plan. In 2020–21, it will host two symposia, one on Indigenous stories and the other on the 150th anniversary of the creation of Manitoba. LAC will create opportunities for sharing and consultations to advance activities involving access to and dissemination of Indigenous heritage, in keeping with Indigenous traditions. The Indigenous Advisory Circle will meet three times, while LAC will meet regularly with the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Métis National Council and the Assembly of First Nations. LAC will also participate in a workshop and meeting of the directors of the National Claims Research Association.

With the We Are Here: Sharing Stories initiative, LAC will continue to digitize Indigenous heritage in its collection and transcribe research tools. It will support the creation of an e-book, a podcast and additional tools. Regarding the Listen, Hear Our Voices initiative, LAC will provide funding to digitize and preserve recordings in Indigenous languages. Seven archivists based in traditional territories will be available to provide services tailored to the participating Indigenous communities. In addition, these archivists will develop a guide to Indigenous-language recordings in Canadian memory institutions.

Lastly, LAC will continue to support local organizations to increase access to and the visibility of Canada’s documentary heritage through its Documentary Heritage Communities Program. LAC will help to fund a variety of projects carried out by libraries, archives and other memory institutions across the country.

Experimentation

Resources for testing new solutions will be allocated to the extent that LAC focuses its efforts on transforming its services and optimizing its digital capability.

Key risk(s)

Virtual access to LAC’s collection may not meet the expectations of current users and may not help it to attract more users. Developing LAC’s digital infrastructure, digitizing the collection, making it available and developing user-friendly digital tools are essential to facilitate access to the collection. To mitigate this risk, LAC will update its user-centric service delivery strategy. In addition, it will develop an integrated management approach for its virtual tools and services.

LAC may not have sufficient capability to meet its legal obligations regarding access to the archival records of federal institutions and to personal information. LAC’s responsibilities in this area go well beyond those of other departments, since LAC is the custodian of billions of pages of documents that it holds on behalf of 176 GC organizations. LAC will continue to participate in GC efforts to identify government-wide solutions to the challenges presented by the current delivery model. However, in view of the increasing volume and complexity of access requests subject to the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act, LAC will need to find solutions so that it can acquire the necessary digital tools and provide the required services in accordance with service standards. The development of a more efficient digital service delivery model will partially mitigate the effects of this risk.

Financial, human resources and performance information for LAC’s program inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.

Financial, human resources and performance information for LAC’s program inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.

Financial, human resources and performance information for LAC’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.

Internal Services: planned results

Description

Internal Services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of Programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal Services refers to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct services that support Program delivery in the organization, regardless of the Internal Services delivery model in a department or in an organization. These services are:

• Management and Oversight Services
• Communications Services
• Legal Services
• Human Resources and Security Management Services
• Financial Management Services
• Information Management Services
• Information Technology Services
• Real Property Management Services
• Materiel Management Services
• Acquisition Management Services

Planning highlights

In line with the federal government’s Beyond2020 vision, LAC will mobilize its employees’ expertise, knowledge and passion to rethink the way it works internally and with Canadians, to become better equipped, innovative and more inclusive.

To better provide for its staff and assist in modernizing the delivery of digital services and programs to Canadians, LAC will work to use and manage digital infrastructure and information as efficiently and effectively as possible. This will include cloud computing and the implementation of its data strategy, to better meet data security, privacy and open information requirements. The latter also includes a user-centred approach to provide value-added products and services, and to enhance knowledge and skills in data management and analysis. In addition, LAC’s Enterprise Architecture Review Board will continue to study and harmonize systems and initiatives, to improve infrastructure agility and explore opportunities for innovation.

LAC will also continue to implement its three-year strategic plan for people management and the associated initiatives. For example, it will work to improve the efficiency and agility of its recruitment processes. In addition, it will review the action plan that supports its Workplace Wellness Strategy and incorporate the requirements of the revised Canada Labour Code (Bill C-65) on harassment and violence. LAC will continue to implement its diversity and employment equity action plan and its action plan for official languages. It will continue to promote inclusive, respectful, collaborative and effective practices and behaviours through talks and open discussion forums.

LAC will begin to develop a plan concerning the actions it will take to implement the Accessible Canada Act, which aims to make Canada barrier-free by 2040 for the benefit of all, particularly people with disabilities, by recognizing, removing and preventing barriers.

Promoting results-based management and workplace wellness, two pilot projects support the GCworkplace initiative. To make the workplace more modern, collaborative, efficient and environmentally friendly, while complying with health, safety and accessibility standards, LAC will continue its pilot project to redesign part of its employees’ workspace to meet their work-related needs. In addition, in 2020–21, it will participate in the GCcoworking pilot project, an innovative solution that offers employees the opportunity to work occasionally in well-equipped, accessible and secure workspaces across the National Capital Region. This approach, which provides flexibility and mobility, will also reduce travel time and greenhouse gas emissions.

Lastly, through its project governance framework, LAC will encourage the use of recognized best practices in project management to support the attainment of expected project scope, budget and schedule outcomes. This will also support LAC’s digital optimization and service transformation.

Spending and human resources

This section provides an overview of the department’s planned spending and human resources for the next three consecutive fiscal years, and compares planned spending for the upcoming year with the current and previous years’ actual spending.

Planned spending

Organizational spending 2017–18 to 2022–23

The following graph presents planned (voted and statutory) spending over time.

 

 

 

Figure 1 - Text version

Table 9: Library and Archives Canada (LAC) spending trend (dollars)

	2017—18	2018—19	2019—20	2020—21	2021—22	2022—23
Statutory	10,882,986	10,933,874	11,898,137	11,521,626	11,166,170	11,118,522
Voted	116,533,763	113,696,290	132,958,097	125,090,477	132,720,375	132,325,842
Total	127,416,749	124,630,164	144,856,234	136,612,103	143,886,545	143,444,364

In general, the budget variations take into account salary adjustments under the provisions of the new collective agreements. Further budget variations are expected for the following initiatives:

• Preservation of Indigenous languages and cultures, announced in Budget 2017 (2017–18 to 2020–21)
• Acquisition, processing, preservation and accessibility of the private records of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper (2017–18 to 2021–22)
• Partnership between LAC, Ottawa Public Library and the City of Ottawa for the definition and implementation phases of the joint facility project, and ongoing operating costs (2018–19 and subsequent years)
• Project to construct a new building to preserve analog documents in Gatineau, Quebec, for which nearly $35 million was initially planned for substantial completion in 2019–20; however, with this amount now projected for 2022–23, a realignment of the funding will take place to match the new spending plan for 2022–23
• Support for the Government of Canada’s response to the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) Purge Class Action Settlement (2018–19 and 2019–20)

Planned human resources

The following table shows actual, forecast and planned full-time equivalents (FTEs) for each core responsibility in LAC’s departmental results framework and to Internal Services for the years relevant to the current planning year.

Estimates by vote

Information on LAC’s organizational appropriations is available in the 2020–21 Main Estimates.

Future-Oriented Condensed Statement of Operations

The condensed future oriented statement of operations provides an overview of the LAC’s operations for 2019–20 to 2020–21.

The amounts for forecast and planned results in this statement of operations were prepared on an accrual basis. The amounts for forecast and planned spending presented in other sections of the Departmental Plan were prepared on an expenditure basis. Amounts may therefore differ.

A more detailed future oriented statement of operations and associated notes, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations to the requested authorities, are available on LAC’s website.

Expenses

The variance of more than $13.8 million is mainly due to the following elements. A decrease in funding is expected in 2020–21 for the following initiatives:

• Support of class action settlements ($4.8 million)
• Preservation of Indigenous languages and cultures ($2.3 million)
• Transfer from the Department of Canadian Heritage to contribute to the preservation of Indigenous culture and language recordings ($1.2 million)
• Acquisition, processing, preservation and accessibility of the private records of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper ($0.4 million)

The remaining variances are mainly due to the transfer of funds from fiscal year 2018–19 to fiscal year 2019–20 (carry forward of operating activities [$3.3 million]) as well as a variance in the funding profile for the long-term management of special-purpose buildings ($0.9 million).

Revenues

The estimated increase in revenues of $145,000 for 2020–21 is explained by the following:

• An anticipated increase in LAC services to external clients and other federal government departments
• The review of LAC’s service fees, to recognize the added value of its services and to comply with the new provisions of the Service Fees Act

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister: The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Heritage

Institutional head: Leslie Weir, Librarian and Archivist of Canada

Ministerial portfolio: Department of Canadian Heritage

Enabling instrument:Library and Archives of Canada Act, S.C. 2004, c. 11

Year of incorporation: 2004

Acronym:LAC

Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

“Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do” is available on LAC’s website.

For more information on the department’s organizational mandate letter commitments, see the “Minister’s mandate letter.”

Operating context

Information on the operating context is available on LAC’s website.

Figure 2: Reporting framework

LAC’s approved departmental results framework and program inventory for 2020–21 are as follows:

LAC’s Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory of record for 2020–21 – text version

This image depicts LAC’s Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory for 2020—21. The two Core Responsibilities are presented at the highest level above, accompanied by their Departmental Results and the indicators used to measure them. The programs and their indicator are presented at the level below.

Supporting information on the Program Inventory

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to LAC’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on LAC’s website:

• Gender-based analysis plus
• Status report on transformational and major Crown projects
• Details of transfer payment programs
• Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy

Federal tax expenditures

LAC’s Departmental Plan does not include information on tax expenditures that relate to its planned results for 2020–21.

Tax expenditures are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance, and the Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for government¬ wide tax expenditures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. This report provides detailed information on tax expenditures, including objectives, historical background and references to related federal spending programs, as well as evaluations, research papers and gender-based analysis. The tax measures presented in this report are solely the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

Organizational contact information

Mailing address
395 Wellington Street
Ottawa ON, K1A 0N4
Canada

Telephone: 613-996-5115
Telephone: 1-866-578-7777 (toll-free in Canada and the United States)
Fax: 613-995-6274
Email: bac.reference.lac@canada.ca
Website: www.bac-lac.gc.ca

Appendix: definitions

appropriation (crédit)

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

Core Responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a Core Responsibility are reflected in one or more related Departmental Results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)

A report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a three‑year period. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

Departmental Priority (priorité ministérielle)

A plan or project that a department has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Departmental priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired departmental results.

Departmental Result (résultat ministériel)

Any change that the department seeks to influence. A Departmental Result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by Program-level outcomes.

Departmental Result Indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)

A factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a Departmental Result.

Departmental Results Framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

The department’s Core Responsibilities, Departmental Results and Departmental Result Indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on the actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

experimentation (expérimentation)

The conducting of activities that seek to first explore, then test and compare, the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform evidence-based decision-making, and improve outcomes for Canadians, by learning what works and what doesn’t. Experimentation is related to, but distinct from innovation (the trying of new things), because it involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, using a new website to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new website against existing outreach tools or an old website to see which one leads to more engagement, is experimentation.

full‑time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person‑year charge against a departmental budget. Full‑time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS+])

An analytical process used to help identify the potential impacts of policies, Programs and services on diverse groups of women, men and gender-diverse people. The “plus” acknowledges that GBA goes beyond sex and gender differences. We all have multiple identity factors that intersect to make us who we are; GBA+ considers many other identity factors, such as race, ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2019–20 Departmental Plan, government-wide priorities refers to those high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2015 Speech from the Throne, namely: Growth for the Middle Class; Open and Transparent Government; A Clean Environment and a Strong Economy; Diversity is Canada’s Strength; and Security and Opportunity.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative where two or more departments are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

non‑budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)

What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)

A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, Program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement)

The process of communicating evidence‑based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision making, accountability and transparency.

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in the Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

priority (priorité)

A plan or project that an organization has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired Departmental Results.

Program (programme)

Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

Program Inventory (répertoire des programmes)

Identifies all of the department’s programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department’s Core Responsibilities and Results.

result (résultat)

An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, Program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, Program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization’s influence.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

strategic outcome(résultat stratégique)

A long-term and enduring benefit to Canadians that is linked to the organization’s mandate, vision and core functions.

target (cible)

A measurable performance or success level that an organization, Program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The Vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.