2021-22 Departmental Results Report

Honourable David Lametti, P.C., M.P

Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

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ISSN: 2561-1240

From the Chief Commissioner

Another year has come and gone, and the pandemic has continued to influence every aspect of Canadian life. By now, this historic crisis has been widely regarded not just as a health and economic crisis, but a human rights crisis — with Canada being no exception.

While many people in our country have had the privilege of adapting quickly to this new normal, we have seen over the course of another year how the pandemic continues to put people living in vulnerable circumstances at an even greater disadvantage. Many women, children, people with disabilities, older people, Indigenous peoples, Black individuals and other racialized peoples, single parents, members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community, and people in our correctional institutions continue to bear the brunt of this pandemic.

As Canada's national human rights institution, the Commission has worked to ensure that every voice is heard, and that the human rights of Canada's diverse population are at the forefront of our country's way forward. From joining calls for action in the wake of the discoveries of unmarked graves at former residential school grounds, to speaking out on the rights of prisoners, the rights of people with disabilities, and the pressing reality of systemic racism in Canada, we have lent our voice to those whose rights are most at risk in Canada.

A key priority has been our ongoing work to effect meaningful anti-racist change both within and outside of our organization. This work stems from a Commission-wide effort we began in recent years to examine every facet of our organization and the services we provide to the public through an anti-racism lens. In September 2021, we released our updated Anti-Racism Action Plan, informed significantly by input from staff, stakeholders, unions and expert consultants. We also highlighted key updates on our ongoing anti-racism work in our 2021 Annual Report to Parliament, as well as in our 2021 Open Letter to the Clerk of the Privy Council Office outlining our implementation of the Clerk's Call to Action on Anti‑Racism, Equity and Inclusion.

Along with these efforts, we have continued to enhance equity and inclusion through our expanded mandates entrusted to us by Parliament. In 2021-22, our new regulatory work under the Pay Equity Act and the Accessible Canada Act was fully integrated together with our employment equity work under a single umbrella — the Proactive Complaints Branch. This will ensure that our work under these three mandates will be sustainable and well coordinated.

Complementary to this work is our other new role as the designated body responsible for monitoring Canada's implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Our work in this area had been underway for some time, but is now a formal and permanent branch of our work. Our strong network of stakeholders comprising people with disabilities and groups that represent them has informed the suite of resources we launched this past year, including a web platform, an Action Plan and infographics.

One other additional new role — providing administrative services to the Federal Housing Advocate — is also now in full operation. In February 2022, we welcomed the appointment of Marie-Josée Houle as Canada's first Federal Housing Advocate. The team had been preparing for well over a year for the appointment, and was able to get to work immediately to support the Advocate in her new and vital role. This work has included implementing an online submission tool through which the Advocate can receive submissions on systemic housing issues from affected groups across Canada.

Now on the cusp of the 45th anniversary of the Canadian Human Rights Act, it has never been more important for us to ensure that our complaints process keeps pace with the changing times, and remains attuned to the diverse needs of the people we serve. Over the past year, we have carried out some of the most modernizing improvements to our complaints process in Commission history. At its core, our new modernized complaint process allows complainants and respondents to move their case through the process faster, which allows the Commission's limited number of analysts and human rights officers to focus their attention on those who need our assistance at every stage of the process.

As pandemic life now finally starts to shift to a new endemic reality, the Commission will continue to make the rights of those in the most vulnerable circumstances the priority of all our work. From our policy guidance and human rights research, to our outreach with stakeholders, to our expert advice before Parliament and at the international table, we will continue pushing so that new and emerging human rights issues, along with long-standing ones, have a place on the national agenda.

On a final, more personal note, this is my last Departmental Results Report of my current seven-year term as Chief Commissioner. These past seven years have been the most rewarding of my career and the honour of a lifetime. The people I have met and the lives I have encountered have endowed me with hope for the next generation of human rights defenders in Canada. I speak especially of the small but dedicated band of hearts at the Commission. Time and again, they come together under ongoing pressures of strained resources and expanding mandates. They will rely upon the continued trust and support of Parliament to carry out their important work.

In me, they will always have a loyal and vocal champion.

With gratitude,

Marie-Claude Landry

Results at a glance

The Commission serves as a national voice for equality and for the promotion and protection of human rights in Canada. In 2021-22, we continued to speak out on the human rights of people across Canada. Through our various public channels and platforms we contributed to the national conversation on key human rights issues, including: reconciliation and the need for action in the wake of the unmarked graves at residential school sites across Canada; the issue of hate and intolerance, in all forms; the prevalence of systemic racism in Canada; the ongoing impacts of the pandemic on vulnerable groups; the rights of people with disabilities; and the need for improved access to justice for all.

As well, we built upon our work last year as the National Monitoring Mechanism for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities , and launched a web platform with various accessible resources, including an Action Plan that identifies three priority areas for this work: poverty, housing and employment.

We prioritized our anti-racism efforts, including: releasing an updated version of our Anti-Racism Action Plan, informed by input from staff, stakeholders, unions and expert consultants; creating our first stakeholder Network for Advancing Racial Equality; and submitting our “Walking the Talk: An Open Letter on the Canadian Human Rights Commission's implementation of the Clerk's Call to Action on Anti-racism, Equity and Inclusion.”

Finally, we continued to lay the groundwork for providing administrative services to the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate, and welcomed the appointment of Canada's first Federal Housing Advocate, Marie-Josée Houle, in February 2022.

Each year, the Commission helps thousands of people address their human rights concerns or find information about their rights. In many cases, the Commission helps people resolve their issues quickly and informally, or find the appropriate process to resolve their issue. In 2021-22, we modernized our complaints process to allow complainants and respondents to move their case through the process faster, allowing human rights officers to focus their attention on those who need assistance in navigating the process.

Since modernizing our complaints process and the way we screen and assess race-based complaints, we are already seeing positive changes. For example, out of the total number of race-based final decisions, we have seen:

• a significant reduction in our dismissals (32% in 2017, down to 7% in 2021);
• a doubling of our referrals to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (9% in 2017, up to 18% in 2021);
• a higher settlement rate of race-based complaints that is now consistent with the settlement rate of other complaints (65%); and
• a steady acceptance rate that has remained higher for race-based complaints than other complaints over the last 4 years.

The Commission works to prevent discrimination through our work in administering and enforcing the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Accessible Canada Act, the Employment Equity Act and the Pay Equity Act. In 2021-22, we worked closely with Employment and Social Development Canada on the development of guidance for federally regulated employers to help them understand their key requirements under the Accessibility Canada Regulations.

We also released various online tools and publications to help pay equity stakeholders better understand and meet their new obligations. These included: the Pay Equity Legislative Guide; a series of short explainers and promising practices for employers; the “My Accessibility Portal,” the Pay Equity Compass, the Pay Equity Toolkit, and a series of illustrative infographics to help employers communicate the requirements of the Pay Equity Act to their staff.

For more information on the Commission's plans, priorities and results achieved, see the "Results: what we achieved" section of this report.

Results: what we achieved

Core responsibilities

Engagement and Advocacy

Description

Provide a national, credible voice for equality in Canada by raising public awareness of human rights issues; engaging civil society, governments, employers and the public to affect human rights change; and, monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the Government of Canada's obligations under the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Results

As Canada's national human rights institution, the Commission is a trusted source of human rights expertise. In 2021-22, the Commission continued helping to shape the human rights agenda in Canada, serving as a national voice for human rights in Canada, and promoting proactive inclusion across Canada's workplaces.

Here are some key highlights of our Engagement and Advocacy work in 2021-22:

• We continued to speak out on the human rights of people across Canada. Through our various public channels and platforms we contributed to the national conversation on key human rights issues, including: reconciliation and the need for action in the wake of the unmarked graves at residential school sites across Canada; the issue of hate and intolerance, in all forms; the prevalence of systemic racism in Canada; the ongoing impacts of the pandemic on vulnerable groups; the rights of people with disabilities; and the need for improved access to justice for all.
• We promoted the collaborative Follow-up Report to the Canadian Human Rights Commission on the Human Rights of the Innu of Labrador, and also provided a written submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples in support of its study of Bill C-15, An Act Respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
• We engaged with the international community by providing various submissions, including to the UN Committee against Torture, and the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent.
• We engaged with members of the Employment Equity Act Review Task Force and provided a written submission outlining key recommendations of how to bring this legislation into the modern era.
• We helped promote proactive inclusion across federally regulated workplaces, including: publishing Levelling the Field: developing a special program under the Canadian Human Rights Act or the Employment Equity Act; launching the Accessibility, Pay Equity and Housing sections of the Commission's website including new online resources for all three mandates.
• We built upon our work last year as the National Monitoring Mechanism for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities , and launched a web platform with various accessible resources, including an Action Plan that identifies three priority areas for this work: poverty, housing and employment.
• We prioritized our anti-racism efforts, including: releasing an updated version of our Anti-Racism Action Plan, informed by input from staff, stakeholders, unions and expert consultants; creating our first stakeholder Network for Advancing Racial Equality; and submitting our “Walking the Talk: An Open Letter on the Canadian Human Rights Commission's implementation of the Clerk's Call to Action on Anti-racism, Equity and Inclusion.”
• We continued to lay the groundwork for providing administrative services to the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate, and welcomed the appointment of Canada's first Federal Housing Advocate, Marie-Josée Houle, in February 2022.

Gender-based analysis plus

In all our advocacy work in 2021-22, the Commission continued to take into account how multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination affect the lived experiences of people in Canada. This includes our submissions to various United Nations human rights committees, in which we reported and amplified specific issues facing women; Indigenous, Black and other racialized communities; trans and gender diverse individuals and children and youth.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals

We also continued to explore the use of the Sustainable Development Goals in monitoring progress and determining gaps in Canada's implementation of its international human rights obligations. Through our reporting to the United Nations, the Commission has affirmed our support for the Sustainable Development Goals and their implementation in Canada.

Experimentation

The Commission has continued to maximize our use of available technology to meet with and engage stakeholders on various human rights issues, including the use of virtual events to bring audiences from across Canada together over the past year. It has allowed us to reach larger audiences than would have been possible in-person.

Key risks

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose some risks to our engagement work, in reaching our public and stakeholder audiences directly. In addressing this ongoing risk we have continued to leverage our use of available technology to build and maintain stakeholder relations to the greatest extent possible.

Another risk was the potential confusion among our audiences between the separate and distinct role of the new Federal Housing Advocate and the Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission. To clarify the specific and distinct role and responsibilities of the Federal Housing Advocate, the Office of the Advocate has engaged with numerous civil society stakeholders as well as with various levels of government to ensure that key stakeholders understand the new role and responsibilities of the Advocate.

Results achieved

The following table shows, for Engagement and Advocacy, the results achieved, the performance indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2021-22, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

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

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

The following table shows, for Engagement and Advocacy, budgetary spending for 2021-22, as well as actual spending for that year.

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

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following table shows, in full-time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill this core responsibility for 2021-22.

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

Complaints

Description

Provide people in Canada with a mechanism to file and resolve complaints under the Canadian Human Rights Act, Pay Equity Act, and Accessible Canada Act and to represent the public interest in achieving equality in Canada.

Results

In 2021-22, the Commission continued to modernize our complaints process to deliver a simpler, more effective and sustainable Canadian Human Rights Act complaints process that better meets the needs of the people we serve.

Here are some key highlights from the Complaints side of our work in 2021-22:

• We carried on in our pursuit of service excellence, meeting our service standards in 50% or more of complaints for most of its processes.
• We modernized our complaints process to allow complainants and respondents to move their case through the process faster, allowing human rights officers to focus their attention on those who need assistance in navigating the process.
• We focussed our efforts on advancing access to justice for complainants alleging racism, including providing training to complaints staff to ensure that human rights officers know how to properly assess allegations of racism.
• We levelled the playing field by collecting information earlier in the process from participants to ensure that both parties know the other's side of the story before entering into mediation or an assessment of the allegations.
• We participated in 88% of human rights complaints referred to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
• We continued to prioritize complaints where the alleged discrimination is persistent or severe. We referred priority cases 38% faster to the Tribunal than in the previous year.

Since modernizing our complaints process and the way we screen and assess race-based complaints, we are already seeing positive changes. For example, out of the total number of race-based final decisions, we have seen:

• a significant reduction in our dismissals (32% in 2017, down to 7% in 2021);
• a doubling of our referrals to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (9% in 2017, up to 18% in 2021);
• a higher settlement rate of race-based complaints that is now consistent with the settlement rate of other complaints (65%); and
• a steady acceptance rate that has remained higher for race-based complaints than other complaints over the last 4 years.

The Commission also started to develop new pay equity and accessibility complaints processes to support our work under these additional mandates. As a first step, we are ensuring that a cohesive process would be implemented for dealing with these initial inquiries using our current Canadian Human Rights Act complaints process, as an interim measure.

Experimentation

This past year, the Commission continued testing a number of new and innovative strategies and tools to ensure that users of the Commission's complaints process experience the simplest, most effective and sustainable access to human rights justice.

Some of the innovations include:

• completing a second phase of a pilot project to gather and analyze disaggregated race-based data from past complaints, ultimately to make this data collection a permanent pillar of the Commission's online complaints process for all new incoming complainants by 2023, which will assist in providing better services for racialized complainants;
• implementing training and guidance for human rights officers in support of enhancing their ability to assess allegations of racism using a trauma-informed approach; and
• applying an internal accountability and governance framework, consistent with the Values and Ethics Code for the public service, to help dismantle potential access to justice barriers for Indigenous, Black and other racialized complainants.

Key risks

While the current innovations are showing preliminary benefits in terms of complaint processing times, there remains the risk that in the absence of sufficient staffing levels, the Commission may not be able to sustain our recent successes in meeting the diverse needs of people in Canada. In addition, our strain on resources has had considerable impact on our capacity to develop and implement modern digital services in a timely way for all our mandates.

To mitigate these risks, the Commission will continue to monitor trends in current complaints processing and adjust where necessary. In addition, we will continue to pilot new approaches to processing complaints.

Results achieved

The following table shows, for Complaints, the results achieved, the performance indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2021-22, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

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

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

The following table shows, for Complaints, budgetary spending for 2021-22, as well as actual spending for that year.

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

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following table shows, in full-time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill this core responsibility for 2021-22.

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

Proactive Compliance

Description

Ensure federally regulated organizations comply with the requirements set out in the Employment Equity Act, Pay Equity Act, and the Accessible Canada Act and hold those who do not comply accountable.

Results

In 2021-22, the Commission brought together employment equity, accessibility and pay equity under a single umbrella — the Proactive Compliance Branch. We began integrating the two new mandates together with our employment equity mandate to ensure that all three proactive compliance mandates will be sustainable and well coordinated.

Here are some key highlights of our Proactive Compliance work in 2021-22:

• We continued to develop the accessibility program, in anticipation of the appointment of the Accessibility Commissioner, to ensure Accessibility Unit readiness to launch compliance oversight activities and manage future accessibility complaints. This included many elements, such as a risk-based inspection strategy, compliance assessment tools, operational procedures and policies and training.
• We initiated the development of Compliance Self-Assessment Tools and the My Accessibility Portal to ensure that regulated entities have resources to help them understand and comply with the initial requirements of the Accessible Canada Regulations.
• We continued to chair the Council of Federal Accessibility Agencies and its working groups (i.e. the No Wrong Door Working Group and the Proactive Compliance Working Group) to foster collaboration among the agencies responsible for implementing and enforcing the Accessible Canada Act.
• We worked closely with Employment and Social Development Canada on the development of guidance for federally regulated employers and service providers to help them understand their key requirements under the Accessibility Canada Regulations.
• We released various online tools and publications to help pay equity stakeholders better understand and meet their new obligations. These included: the Pay Equity Legislative Guide; a series of short explainers and promising practices for employers; Interpretation, Policies and Guidelines for employers; the Pay Equity Compass, the Pay Equity Toolkit, and a series of illustrative infographics to help employers communicate the requirements of the Pay Equity Act to their staff. We also provided technical briefings to employers.
• We continued the development of the Pay Equity compliance program by creating mechanisms, processes and information bundles for authorization and multiple plan requests.
• We completed the employment equity horizontal audit on the employment of persons with disabilities in the communication sector;
• We continued our work on a comprehensive horizontal audit looking at the representation of racialized groups in management roles in the public service.
• We piloted a new blitz audit approach among smaller private sector employers to help them better understand and comply with their obligations under the Employment Equity Act, without having to go through a full audit.
• We participated in all reviews and consultation processes on regulations led by Employment and Social Development Canada and the Labour Program;
• We engaged with members of the Employment Equity Act Review Task Force and provided a written submission outlining key recommendations on how to modernize the Employment Equity Act.
• We initiated the developed of a Branch Oversight Directive, the objective of which is to create cohesion and alignment among all three the Proactive Compliance Branch compliance and enforcement programs.

Gender-based analysis plus

During our engagements over the past year, we continued to work with partners to broaden our community of organizations that focus on GBA+ so that as we consult with our stakeholders, we can garner a wider range of opinions to inform our work. Of particular concern was how we would address pay equity for the most vulnerable women (such as Indigenous women, racialized women, and women with disabilities.) As part of our engagement strategy, the Commission is connecting with diverse women to better understand how intersectional factors affect their economic outcomes.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals

The new pay equity mandate of the Commission, in its entirety, aims directly at advancing the following UN Sustainable Development Goals and targets:

• Goal 1: No Poverty;
• Goal 5: Gender Equality;
• Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth; and
• Target 8.5: By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value.

In addition, our work and activities under all three of our proactive mandates respond to Target 10.3: “Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome […]”.

Experimentation

The Commission developed several new tools to facilitate the implementation of its responsibilities related to pay equity, accessibility and employment equity, including a prototype for an online dispute resolution platform for pay equity, and an employment equity “blitz” audit model that targets private sector employers with less than 300 employees.

Key risks

A risk was identified that the various agencies accountable for the implementation of the Accessible Canada Act would face challenges in realizing that their responsibilities under the Act. This risk did not materialize. To ensure a strong cooperation between the multiple bodies responsible for ensuring compliance with the Accessible Canada Act, the Commission continued to nurture effective working relationships with partners, including close collaboration with the Council of Federal Accessibility Agencies.

In addition, the Commission was able to maximize its reach and impact by using electronic engagement tools, engaging with consultative working groups, participating in other organizations' engagement efforts, and reaching out to existing consultative bodies.

Results achieved

The following table shows, for Proactive Compliance, the results achieved, the performance indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2021-22, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

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

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

The following table shows, for Proactive Compliance, budgetary spending for 2021-22, as well as actual spending for that year.

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

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following table shows, in full-time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill this core responsibility for 2021-22.

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

Internal services

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 service categories that support program delivery in the organization, regardless of the internal services delivery model in a department. The 10 service categories are:

• acquisition management services
• communication services
• financial management services
• human resources management services
• information management services
• information technology services
• legal services
• material management services
• management and oversight services
• real property management services

Results

In 2021-22, with the establishment of three new mandates within Commission operations, internal services continued to be in high demand. Of the many accomplishments, highlights include:

• The Commission installed an IT firewall to ensure more secure remote operations for Commission staff. Since its installation, performance has increased, and IT service requests from employees have been reduced by almost 50% compared to the same period last year.
• To meet the needs of various mandates and programs that are now a part of the Commission, the IT Division drafted a three-year IT strategy outlining a clear road map of IT projects for the next three years.
• To ensure that the Commission, as a federally regulated employer, is also in accordance with requirements outlined in the Accessible Canada Act, we shared our internal Accessibility Framework with employees in the fall of 2021. We also published our Accessibility Commitment on our public website, outlining our ongoing commitment to developing our first Accessibility Action Plan for the Commission.
• The Commission approved an updated Business Impact Analysis and Business Continuity Plan.
• The Commission continued taking steps to implement what will eventually be a fully functional Hybrid workplace.

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

The following table shows, for internal services, budgetary spending for 2021-22, as well as spending for that year.

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following table shows, in full-time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to carry out its internal services for 2021-22.

Spending and human resources

Spending

Spending 2019-20 to 2024-25

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

The increase starting in 2019-20 and continuing until 2022-23 is mainly due to an increase in funding for three new programs: Accessible Canada Act, Pay Equity Act and the National Housing Strategy Act. Starting in 2023-24 funding decreases again in line with decreases in the National Housing Strategy Act funding.

Budgetary performance summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)

The “Budgetary performance summary for core responsibilities and internal services” table presents the budgetary financial resources allocated for the Commission's core responsibilities and for internal services.

The actual spending of $36 million in 2021-22 increased by $5 million compared to actual spending of $31 million in 2020-21. The increase is attributable to spending related to additional authorities received for 2021-22 and the continued growth in Commission staff to support of the Pay Equity Act, the Accessible Canada Act and the National Housing Strategy Act. The increase is also attributable to the significant work performed to modernize the Commission's case management system.

The increase in planned spending for 2022-23 is primarily attributable to additional funding received in support of the Accessible Canada Act; and the decrease in 2023-24 is in line with a decrease in funding for the Federal Housing Advocate.

2021-22 Budgetary actual gross spending summary (dollars)

The following table reconciles gross planned spending with net spending for 2021-22.

The Commission provides internal support services to certain other small government departments and agencies such as finance, human resources, acquisition and information technology services. These internal support services agreements are recorded as revenues as per section 29.2 of the Financial Administration Act.

Human resources

The “Human resources summary for core responsibilities and internal services” table presents the full-time equivalents (FTEs) allocated to each of the Commission's core responsibilities and to internal services.

Human resources summary for core responsibilities and internal services

The number of FTEs at the Commission remained consistent until fiscal year 2020-21 when an increase in staffing occurred and is anticipated to continue to occur until 2022-23. This is the result of funding received for the implementation of three new programs: Accessible Canada Act, Pay Equity Act, and the National Housing Strategy. The number of FTEs is anticipated to decrease in 2023-24 as a result of the reduction in funding for the National Housing Strategy.

Expenditures by vote

For information on the Commission's, organizational voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada 2021.

Government of Canada spending and activities

Information on the alignment of the Commission's spending with the Government of Canada’s spending and activities is available in the GC InfoBase.

Financial statements and financial statements highlights

Financial statements

The Commission's financial statements (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2022, are available on the departmental website.

Financial statement highlights

Condensed Statement of Operations (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2022 (dollars)

The Commission's total expenses of $41.6 million in 2021-22 consisted of program expenses for the Commission as well as expenses for providing internal support services to other small government departments and agencies. The Commission's revenues of $1.8 million in 2021-22 resulted from re-spendable revenues for providing these internal support services related to finance, human resources, acquisition, administration and information technology services.

The increase of $3.7 million in the net cost of operations before government funding and transfers in 2021-22 compared to 2020-21 is mainly attributable to an increase of $3.9 million in total expenses. This increase was the result of: increased funding received and continued growth under the Pay Equity Act, the Accessible Canada Act, and the National Housing Strategy Act; work performed in the creation of the new case management system; and the volume and service changes for the Commission's Call Centre. Most simply, this increase can be largely explained through an increase in salaries and employee benefits expenses to deliver these developing mandates and professional services required to develop our case management system.

The decrease of $2.7 million between the 2021-22 actual and planned net cost of operations before government funding and transfers is a result of less than anticipated spending in non-personnel expenses across the Commission. We saw this under the Accessible Canada Act and the National Housing Strategy Act mandates as a result of delays in the appointment of the Accessibility Commissioner and the Federal Housing Advocate. Under the Pay Equity Act, this was a result of delays due to the pandemic's impact on stakeholder availability, workplace parties' capacity to participate in consultations and adaptation to new online delivery model.

Condensed Statement of Financial Position (unaudited) as of March 31, 2022 (dollars)

Total liabilities of $5.9 million consists of accounts payable and accrued liabilities and employee related liabilities. The decrease of $448,000 is attributable to a decrease in the provision of vacation and compensatory leave, which was a result of a partial mandatory cash-out of excess leave balances implemented this fiscal year. It is also attributable to a decrease in the liability for accounts payable and accrued liabilities due to timing of salary recoveries with other government departments, payments to suppliers and the last pay of the fiscal year.

The total financial assets of $3.4 million consists of amounts due from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. This represents amounts that may be disbursed without further charges to the Commission's authorities, and accounts receivable. The decrease of $282,000 is a result of timing differences in accounts payable and accrued liabilities as discussed above and various other insignificant adjustments in the accounts comprising financial assets.

The total non-financial assets of $1.9 million consists primarily of tangible capital assets. The increase of $456,000 is mainly attributable to the development of the case management system and Pay Equity modules offset by annual depreciation.

The 2021-22 planned results information is provided in the Commission's Future-Oriented Statement of Operations and Notes 2021-22.

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister[s]: The Honourable David Lametti, P.C., M.P.

Institutional head: Marie-Claude Landry, Ad. E.

Ministerial portfolio: Justice

Enabling instrument[s]: Canadian Human Rights Act, Employment Equity Act, Accessible Canada Act, Pay Equity Act, and National Housing Strategy Act

Year of incorporation / commencement: 1977

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 the Commission's website.

Operating context

Information on the operating context is available on the Commission's website.

Reporting framework

The Canadian Human Rights Commission's Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory of record for 2021-22 are shown below.

Supporting information on the program inventory

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

Supplementary information tables

We do not have supplementary information tables to provide at this time.

Federal tax expenditures

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs as well as evaluations and GBA Plus of tax expenditures.

Organizational contact information

Mailing address: Canadian Human Rights Commission
344 Slater Street, 8th Floor
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1E1
Telephone: 613-995-1151
Toll Free: 1-888-214-1090
TTY: 1-888-643-3304
Fax: 613-996-9661
Website(s): www.chrc-ccdp.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 3-year period. Departmental Plans are usually tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental priority (priorité)

A plan or project that a department 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.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)

A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. 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 quantitative measure of progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

A framework that connects the department's core responsibilities to its departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on a department's 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, for whom and in what circumstances. 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. For a particular position, the full-time equivalent figure is the ratio of number of hours the person actually works divided by the standard number of hours set out in the person's collective agreement.

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

An analytical tool used to support the development of responsive and inclusive policies, programs and other initiatives; and understand how factors such as sex, race, national and ethnic origin, Indigenous origin or identity, age, sexual orientation, socio-economic conditions, geography, culture and disability, impact experiences and outcomes, and can affect access to and experience of government programs.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2021-22 Departmental Results Report, government-wide priorities refers to those high-level themes outlining the government's agenda in the 2020 Speech from the Throne, namely: Protecting Canadians from COVID-19; Helping Canadians through the pandemic; Building back better - a resiliency agenda for the middle class; The Canada we're fighting for.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative where two or more federal organizations 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 to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

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

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 the department's programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department's core responsibilities and results.

result (résultat)

A 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.

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.