To effectively address corporate risks, CAS has in place an Enterprise Risk Management process. This process is applied consistently throughout the organization and engages the most senior levels of the organization— the Chief Justices Steering Committee, the Departmental Audit Committee, the Executive Committee , and the Senior Management Committee—in the identification and evaluation of the most pertinent risks, and the determination of appropriate risk response strategies to effectively manage these risks. Identified risk owners are responsible for monitoring risks and the effectiveness of mitigation strategies, and presenting quarterly reports to the Executive Committee.
There is a risk that the system applications will be unable to meet the current and evolving requirements of the Courts and CAS.
Factors driving this risk in 2017–18 were a lack of funding for a new CRMS; the growing demand for access to modern technology in conducting business with the Courts; the incompatibility of existing legacy systems with evolving technology; and the need to address the findings of the assessment of the CAS network, infrastructure and computing environment.
As part of efforts to mitigate this risk, CAS continued to upgrade existing systems, to allow for ongoing operation and when possible to increase functionality and efficiency. Investments were also made to advance work on the five-year IT Infrastructure Management Plan, to address rust out and improve IT infrastructure, system reliability and security. In addition, a multi-branch team was established to lead the development of business requirements for a new CRMS to support a future funding proposal.
A lack of funding for a new CRMS meant that CAS was unable to reduce the likelihood and impact of this risk.
There is a risk that access to justice could be compromised by insufficient funding.
Factors driving this risk in 2017–18 included reduced staff levels throughout the organization coupled with increasing workload pressures in judicial, registry and corporate services; non-discretionary work associated with the escalation in the number of multi-day hearings; a large number of self-represented litigants (SRL) across all Courts; the effects of legislative and regulatory changes and amendments to the Court Rules on workloads; the number of documents received by the Courts and the number of court decisions requiring translation; and the requirement to support Canada’s fiscal objectives.
As part of its strategies to mitigate this risk, CAS continued its efforts to seek funding to address program integrity needs. CAS obtained additional in-year funding of $4 million for 2017–18 announced in the Fall Economic Statement, to respond to immediate pressures. In addition, Budget 2018 allocated to CAS ongoing funding in the amount of $41.9 million over 5 years beginning in 2018–19 and $9.3 million ongoing which will provide long term financial and operational sustainability to fulfill its mandated requirements. Aside from these strategies, CAS also continued to reallocate funding and resources where necessary to manage costs associated with non-discretionary expenditures.
It is anticipated that if CAS is successful in obtaining funding for priority initiatives including a modern CRMS and for the translation of court decisions, this risk would further decrease in future years.
There is a risk that security of the members of Courts, court users and IT could be compromised.
In 2017–18, the evolving security requirements and threats on the international scene and the results of a number of threat analyses continued to drive this risk.
To mitigate this risk in 2017–18, CAS continued to implement its comprehensive security programs on behalf of the Courts; made important physical security enhancements to its facilities, including the roll-out of screening equipment; established a new Security Operations Centre; and harmonized security service standards across Canada through the Court Security Officers program and risk-based security management. These are all components of CAS’s security posture which focuses on a proactive rather than a reactive security stance. CAS also maintained its ongoing collaboration with the law enforcement community, central agencies and other strategic partners to develop its response capabilities to ensure business continuity and protect the safety of the Courts and their users.
The mitigation strategies adopted were successful in decreasing the likelihood and impact of this risk by the end of the fiscal year.
There is a risk of loss of hard copy and digital records.
Factors driving this risk in 2017–18 included a changing and complex business environment; the need to improve the efficiency of business processes; the need to implement a modern document management system for CAS and the Courts; the demand for new technological services and solutions; and the growing volume of paper documents.
As part of its strategies to mitigate this risk, CAS conducted a pilot project using the Government of Canada standard electronic document and records management systems to identify the necessary considerations (i.e. training, data migration, metadata standards, etc.) for the roll-out of such a system across the organization. CAS also worked with the Courts to review document retention standards for court and judicial information and optimize storage space at the Court records storage facility to allow for the storage of two more years’ worth of archival records.
The mitigation strategies adopted were successful in decreasing the likelihood and impact of this risk by the end of the fiscal year.
There is a risk that lack of succession planning may lead to insufficient knowledge transfer and in turn, negatively impact the organization’s resource capacity.
Factors driving this risk in 2017–18 included the need to ensure qualified resources were available to fill positions as they became vacant; high employee departure rates; high average rate of employee sick leave; limited resources available for training; and challenges with workload and workplace wellness.
As part of efforts to mitigate this risk, CAS completed the first phase and launched the second phase of its Succession Planning Strategy to identify positions where there may be an associated risk should a vacancy arise. CAS also made significant progress in completing the review of work descriptions and a number of initiatives aimed at promoting employee workplace wellness were implemented, including those in support of mental health, harassment prevention, values and ethics and occupational health and safety. In addition, CAS also worked with certain colleges to develop agreements to include curriculum to train future judicial assistants. Also, following the receipt of in-year funding, priority was given to completing staffing actions to quickly fill critical positons.
Due to the success of the mitigation strategies employed, this risk was reassessed as being stable at the end of the fiscal year.