In 2017–18, CAS achieved the following major results as part of the organization’s mission to provide timely and accurate judicial, registry, and corporate services to the federal courts and their clients.
For several years, CAS and the Courts have had to manage resource and capacity constraints in the face of an increasing workload both in terms of number and complexity of cases brought forward. In order to address this ongoing pressure, in 2017–18 CAS sought additional resources to ensure the organization`s long term financial and operational sustainability to fulfill its mandated requirements. The Government invested additional resources to better support the Courts with CAS receiving additional in-year funding of $4 million for 2017–18 announced in the Fall Economic Statement to respond to immediate resource pressures. In addition, Budget 2018 allocated to CAS funding in the amount of $41.9 million over five years beginning in 2018–19 and $9.3 million ongoing. This funding will primarily support added front-line registry and judicial staff. In addition, funding will be allocated to core services including ensuring sufficient special purpose space, lifecycle management and repairs of court facilities across Canada; ensuring accessibility and ergonomic requirements are met; mitigating health and safety risks; providing adequate training; and implementing business tools.
To support the Courts in hearing cases across Canada, the local Québec City office was relocated in 2017–18 to a more modern facility which will support the Courts’ requirements and better serve clients. A new local TCC office was also opened in Hamilton to address a growing volume of proceedings in the area and to enhance court and registry services in Southern Ontario. While this office will exclusively serve the TCC in the immediate term, services will be expanded to the other Courts in the future.
As part of CAS’s ongoing efforts to provide members of the Courts, litigants and legal counsel access to e-services and e-courts, the first e-courtroom was opened in Toronto. The e-courtroom is equipped with a variety of information technology infrastructure—including videoconferencing, digital screens, computer workstations, network and Internet connectivity, and digital audio recording systems—that provides valuable and modern electronic support for court proceedings. The experience gained from this initial launch will serve as a model for the future roll-out of additional e-courtrooms across Canada.
Over the course of 2017–18 CAS implemented several initiatives to leverage technology to improve the reach and effectiveness of internal communications and better engage employees. Central to CAS’s efforts in this area was the development and launch of a new Intranet site for the organization with an improved user-friendly interface, enhanced search functionality and a carousel tool to highlight weekly events of interest across the organization. Further enhancements took place throughout the fiscal year including the web-delivery of the CAS newsletter to members of the Courts and employees. In addition, a new Strategic Communications Plan was developed in consultation with employees. This plan establishes a progressive approach for future internal communications activities, identifying and putting into practice new tools and client service standards.
Ensuring the physical security of members of the Courts, court users and employees continued to be a priority for CAS. In 2017–18 the organization solidified its proactive security posture for members of the Courts, court users and CAS employees by continuing to enhance the physical security of facilities across Canada, including the roll-out of screening equipment; establishing a new Security Operations Centre to better coordinate services and response capabilities; and harmonizing security service standards across Canada through the Court Security Officers program and risk-based security management. CAS’s security services screened some 28,000 individuals and more than 38,000 personal belongings during the past fiscal year.