Highlights from the 2017–18 Departmental Results Reports

November 26, 2018

https://librarianship.ca/blog/im-drr-2017-18/

“Canadian Heritage

Results at a glance

• Following the consultations on “Canadian Content in a Digital World”, and the Creative Canada announcement of September 28, 2017, the Department produced a detailed policy framework that sets a path for growing and strengthening Canada’s culture and creative industries in the digital world of the future.
• In March 2018, the Department co-hosted a successful working meeting of international experts, civil society, platforms, and governments in collaboration with the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and the Global Digital Policy Incubator at Stanford University.
• The University of Ottawa was selected as the independent third party administrator for the Court Challenges Program.
• Young Canada Works in Heritage Organizations received supplemental funding under Budget 2017. This new investment helped the Young Canada Works Program create a total of more than 2,100 employment opportunities for youth in 2017–18.
• Young Canada Works in Heritage Organizations provided funding to 30 Indigenous employers, and created 63 Indigenous job opportunities for youth. The Aboriginal Heritage Component of the Museums Assistance Program provided $1,337,201 to fund 23 projects that support the preservation, presentation, and management of Canada’s Indigenous cultural heritage.
• In 2017-18, the Department finalized and began to implement “A Plan for Experimentation at Canadian Heritage”, featuring planned experimentation projects for every funding program.

Results: what we achieved

Cultural Industries

The Cultural Industries Program recorded the following achievements:

• Approved additional funding to the Canada Book Fund that enabled Canadian publishers, directly or through collective initiatives, to break into new markets and to further develop their share of existing markets. These funds also allowed Canadian writers to increase their visibility, make professional contacts in international markets and reach new readers. For example, the funding helped a group of 45 Canadian French language publishing firms to increase their international sales and gain access to markets like Algeria, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia. This approach will eventually consolidate the presence of Canadian books in the international market and stimulate exports, thereby supporting the Canada Book Fund’s mandate, which is to expand the global consumer reach of Canadian-authored books.
• In collaboration with Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada, set in motion the Parliamentary review of the Copyright Act, and engaged stakeholders on a comprehensive reform of the Copyright Board of Canada;

Following the consultations on “Canadian Content in a Digital World,” the Department examined the Government of Canada’s current cultural policy toolkit and developed the Creative Canada Policy Framework announced by the Minister on September 28, 2017. Creative Canada is built on three pillars:

• Invest in our creators and cultural entrepreneurs: all of the professionals who contribute to the creation and production of work, from artists to writers, producers and directors and their stories.
• Promote discovery and distribution of Canadian content at home and abroad.
• Strengthen public broadcasting and support local news.

Heritage

The Heritage Program recorded the following achievements:

• In 2017–18, the Museums Assistance Program, gave priority to museums’ projects celebrating significant moments that have contributed to the history of our country. Two projects specifically related to Canada 150 were supported this year, in addition to 12 projects commemorating major events in Canadian history;
• In the lead-up to the Canada 150 celebrations, the Department’s Canadian Conservation Institute undertook:
  • The treatment or analysis of various objects which were at the heart of exhibitions marking the sesquicentennial year, including the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Hockey Jersey, from the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec, and the Victory Loan Campaign Honour Flag from the Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives (PAMA) in Brampton, Ontario;
  • The treatment of the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, from the Pointe-à-Callière Montréal Archaeology and History Complex, which was exhibited as part of Montréal’s 375th anniversary events; and,
  • Support for Public Services and Procurement Canada in the rehabilitation of the Centre Block within the Parliamentary Precinct, by identifying and documenting original materials in heritage interior spaces in preparation for the move of heritage assets, and to the conservation treatments of significant collections (ex. furniture, upholstery, frescoes, carvings) to maintain and protect the heritage elements which have come to symbolize Canada’s parliamentary democracy.
• Young Canada Works in Heritage Organizations provided funding to 30 Indigenous employers, and created 63 Indigenous-focused job opportunities for youth;
• Drawing on the lessons learned through two ambitious pilot projects, the Department’s Canadian Heritage Information Network began a multi-year project to modernize Artefacts Canada, Canada’s national inventory of museum objects. The modernization is based on a linked open data model, providing Canadians with the opportunity to discover new themes and relationships linking Canada’s treasures and the creators behind them. In the interim, the Canadian Heritage Information Network introduced a new contribution process to facilitate updates and the uploading of data and image files by partner museums; and,
• The Canada Travelling Exhibitions Indemnification Program continued to implement the recommendations of its 2016-17 evaluation, including:
  • Improving the efficiency of the decision making process resulting in more timely decisions for applicants; and,
  • Developing and posting a self-assessment questionnaire to help potential applicants determine if their project is a good candidate for the Program prior to submitting their application.

Internal Services

Internal Services recorded the following achievements:

• Canadian Heritage continued to establish a new business model for delivering grants and contributions that significantly reduces the administrative burden on Canadians and improves the speed at which they receive funding decisions. Testing select grants and contributions programs demonstrated savings in processing time of over 50%, as well as overall satisfaction among clients and departmental employees. The Department began implementing its role as a pathfinder for the Government of Canada in procuring protected cloud technology to provide applicants with a portal to transact on line.
• The Department built upon the established governance committee and dedicated team to support the Canada 150 information technology requirements for events, and developed new applications and systems to support key priorities with respect performance measurement, logo requests, and collaboration space.
• In consultation with the private sector, Canadian Heritage established a digital strategy and roadmap to adapt to new technologies and increase its agility in the provision of services to Canadians.
• Canadian Heritage initiated the development and implementation of a departmental data strategy as a foundational pillar of the departmental digital strategy. Investment and deployment of a powerful visualization tool publicly available to Canadians in order to visualize Grants and Contributions disbursements throughout Canada.
• As the Department drives to the goals of Open Government, it standardized dataset reporting to ensure that information on all grants and contributions is disclosed and available, resulting in Canadian Heritage being one of the leaders in the number of datafields that are published among government departments. Other initiatives included leveraging a digital engagement platform driven by artificial intelligence. These Open Government initiatives increase information available online to Canadians, especially about research and cultural and heritage collections.
• Over the last year, Canadian Heritage went from the awareness phase to action by instituting mandatory training for all employees, “The Working Mind”, demystifying mental health in the work place and introducing employees to the mental health continuum.

For the third year in a row, the Department benefited from the mental health awareness campaign called Not Myself Today. This campaign is paying off, according to the latest internal survey results, with 63% of respondents saying the campaign has sparked conversations about mental health in their work unit, compared to 51% in 2016-17 and 88% of respondents say that Canadian Heritage values mental health issues compared to 51% since the beginning of the campaign in 2015.”