A study that was made public by Neil Yeates, the former deputy minister of immigration, exposed several inefficiencies within Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
Yeates lists the IRCC’s decision-making committee structure as one of the challenges in maintaining efficient departmental operations among the topics covered.
Yeates claims that because IRCC committees frequently have more members than the suggested 8 to 12 people, strategic discussion might be difficult and meetings may take a long period.
In addition, he said, “a number of steps need to be taken to reform the governance system, implement stronger management systems (especially planning and reporting), and realign the organizational structure (including a major shift to a business line-based structure).”
Modifying the committee and decision-making procedure may enhance IRCC’s effectiveness and enable the agency to better serve the department’s expanding clientele.
A diagram explaining the committee organization as of June 2023 is included in the paper.
Committees for operational governance
The three components of the IRCC decision-making committees are separated. Decisions that affect the department’s daily operations are handled by the operational governance side.
Four distinct committees operate under this provision, and their meeting schedules vary.
The IRCC’s digital transformation and other transformation projects are reviewed during the biweekly meetings of the Digital Transformation Program Board. The committee acts under the Corporate Governance Division and reports to the Transformation Committee.
The senior management-level Issues Management Committee convenes every two weeks to deliberate and make decisions on matters pertaining to operational priorities, policies, and programs.
In order to debate financial and managerial excellence and responsibility, the corporate and finance committee also meets every two weeks. It offers strategic counsel based on risk to aid in decision-making. In terms of corporate governance, both committees answer to the Executive Committee.
The department also has a weekly “look ahead” committee that serves as a forum for information exchange.
Committees on Corporate Governance
The Corporate Governance segment of committees consists of three committees.
The change Committee strives to offer department-wide leadership in order to assist IRCC in realizing its goals, objectives, and outcomes related to change. The Digital Transformation Program Board provides some information about it.
The Executive Committee is the group that makes decisions for the whole department and meets once a week. It is also in charge of establishing priorities and offering high-level strategic guidance. Additionally, when necessary, it serves as a pre-brief committee for ministerial briefings.
The Minister-Deputy Minister body is the last body in terms of corporate governance. This committee serves as a venue for decision-making on urgent problems and trending themes and delivers priority updates based on the IRCC’s mission obligations.
Committees for Deputy Ministers and Deputy Minister Associates
Under the Deputy Minister and Deputy Minister Associate division of committees, there are four distinct committees.
The purpose of the Departmental Audit Committee is to offer unbiased opinions and suggestions about the IRCC’s risk management, program inventory, and departmental outcomes framework. Systems for departmental audits and accountability are included in this.
To improve program outcomes, the Performance Measurement and Evaluation Committee assesses and examines the effectiveness of IRCC’s activities.
The National Security Committee endeavors to enhance departmental cognizance on security concerns that may affect the IRCC and establish priorities for topics of national security.
Lastly, to assist in managing legal issues (and associated costs) that may arise from operations, policies, procedures, and ongoing litigation, the Legal Issues Management Committee collaborates with the Deputy Minister and the Associate Deputy Minister of the IRCC.
Yeates’ suggestions
Yeates claims that because several committees and departments are dependent on one another, the IRCC’s committee system makes decision-making inside the agency less effective.
He suggests reorganizing the committees of the IRCC. For instance, the paper suggests creating a new operations committee and eliminating the Issues Management Committee, giving the Executive Committee authority for finance and corporate services. The Deputy Minister’s Office should serve as the new Operations Committee’s chair.
Yeates also suggests that the number of committee members have a hard maximum of twelve.
