Courts Administration Service: Open Government Implementation Plan

4.1 Raison d’être

The Courts Administration Service (CAS) was established in 2003 with the coming into force of the Courts Administration Service Act. The role of CAS is to provide effective and efficient registry, judicial and corporate services to four superior courts of record – the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court, the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada and the Tax Court of Canada. The Act enhances judicial independence by placing administrative services at arm’s length from the Government of Canada and enhances accountability for the use of public money.

4.2 Mandate

Pursuant to section 2 of the Act, CAS is mandated to:

• facilitate coordination and co-operation among the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court, the Court Martial Appeal Court and the Tax Court of Canada for the purpose of ensuring the effective and efficient provision of administrative services to those courts;
• enhance judicial independence by placing administrative services at arm’s length from the Government of Canada and by affirming the roles of chief justices and judges in the management of the courts; and
• enhance accountability for the use of public money in support of court administration while safeguarding the independence of the judiciary.

4.3 Responsibilities and Regional Distribution

CAS led by a Chief Administrator and two Deputy Chief Administrators, provides the following services to the four superior courts:

Judicial Services

Provide legal services and judicial administrative support to assist members of the courts in the discharge of their judicial functions. These services are provided by legal counsels, judicial administrators, law clerks, jurilinguists, judicial assistants, library personnel and court attendants, under the direction of the four Chief Justices.

Registry Services

Are delivered under the jurisdiction of the four courts. The registries process legal documents, provide information to litigants on court procedures, maintain court records, participate in court hearings, support and assist in the enforcement of court orders, and work closely with the Offices of the four Chief Justices to ensure that matters are heard and decisions are rendered in a timely manner. Registry Services are offered in every province and territory through a network of permanent offices and agreements with provincial and territorial partners.

Corporate Services

Provide key administrative services which assist the four courts and their respective registries in carrying out their activities. The services offered are: Finance, Contracting, Materiel Management, Human Resources, Information Management and Information Technology (IM/IT), Security, Facilities and Administrative Services, Investment and Project Management.

4.4 CAS’s Information Resources

The information maintained and managed by CAS is not subject to the Access to Information Act. It includes court information, judicial information and administrative information.

All court decisions or reasons of judgment are publicly released and published on the Courts’ websites. Determination of who should have access to additional information is controlled by the four superior courts. Releasing court information involves a consideration of not only access and transparency issues but also a consideration of the broader interests of effective justice administration, freedom of expression, the need to protect vulnerable persons and sensitive personal information.

Judicial information is produced, received or used by staff working directly for or on behalf of judges such as executive officers, judicial officer, law clerks, law students, judicial clerks or assistants. Judicial information is maintained in accordance with the Blueprint for the Security of Judicial Information (fourth edition, 2013) and under the control of the courts. It will not be covered in the CAS Open Government Implementation Plan.

Administrative information are created or acquired as a result of providing internal services to the judicial and registry services programs or by administering other corporate obligations of the organization.

4.5 Technological Environment

CAS does not partner with Shared Services Canada. All IT services and technology are developed and managed by CAS Information and Technology Services Division (ITSD).

CAS is currently focusing on modernizing its exiting Courts and Registry Management System (CRMS). This initiative is driven by the need to support the transition to electronic courts; the incompatibility of existing legacy court case management systems with evolving technology; and the growing demand for access to modern technology in conducting business with the courts. The new system will be implemented while maintaining to the extent possible critical legacy systems essential to ensure the ongoing operations of the courts and mitigating technological risks.

Emphasis will also be placed on improving IT infrastructure stability and the overall system reliability and security, as well as investing in key IT support systems. CAS will continue to implement its five-year IT Infrastructure Management Plan to address risks associated with rust-out and deficiencies, introduce court technology and establish a solid foundation for the implementation of a modern CRMS. Substantial investments will be required to manage these risks.

In addition, CAS continues to work towards ensuring the proper alignment of information management with modern principles, practices and standards. CAS will acquire a document management system that will act as a central repository to create, store and manage CAS information resources of business value. It will support informed decision-making; facilitate accountability, transparency and collaboration; enable a reduced reliance on paper; and ensure easier access to information resources of business value.

4.6 Challenges and Opportunities

Challenges

Managing priorities and resources

CAS is in the midst of modernizing its current IT technology and will be investing in a new Document Management System. These priorities require human and financial resources. CAS will have to secure more funds to support the implementation of the OGIP activities.

Nature of the Courts

For reason of judicial independence, CAS must carefully approach openness and transparency of its data and information resources. Therefore, before posting on the Open Government Portal, CAS must review and assess all information resources and data to ensure it is not conflicting with the judicial independence and it adheres with CAS’mandate and the courts’ unique business culture.

Opportunities

The implementation of the activities in this action plan might provide CAS the opportunity to evolve its programs and services and strengthen its Information Technology infrastructure and systems to facilitate the move towards a paperless environment.

6.1 Roles and Responsibilities – Chief Administrator and Information Management Senior Official

6.2 Key Stakeholders

The following internal governing bodies will support the Chief Administrator and the IMSO in complying with the Directive of Open Government.

Figure 1: Text version

CAS Senior Committees

• CAS Chief Justices Steering Committee
• Chief Administrator

Reporting directly to the CAS Chief Justices Steering Committee and working closely with the Chief Administrator:

• National Judges Committee on Security
• National Judges Committee on IM/IT
• National Judges Committee on Accommodations

Reporting directly to the Chief Administrator:

• Executive Committee
• Audit Committee

Reporting directly to the Executive Committee:

• Senior Management Committee

CAS Chief Justices Steering Committee

The CAS Chief Justices Steering Committee assists the Chief Administrator with respect to CAS’s priorities, risks, budget allocations and other significant matters affecting the conduct of the courts. It is supported by three National Judges Committees (Security, Information Management/Information Technology [IM/IT] and Accommodations) and its membership includes representatives of each of the courts and CAS.

The mandate of the CAS Chief Justices Steering Committee is to provide a forum to discuss decisions that affect the governance of CAS, and questions which pertain to CAS’s relations with federal partners, in order to preserve judicial independence in keeping with the purposes of the Courts Administration Service Act (s. 2) and the respective roles and responsibilities of the Chief Justices and Chief Administrator as provided for under the Act. The Chief Administrator chairs the Committee.

National Judges Advisory Committees

Three subject matter Judges Advisory Committees on Security, IM/IT and Accommodations facilitate judicial involvement and collaboration on decisions pertaining to their respective areas. Sitting on each committee are judicial representatives from the courts, supported by functional members from CAS. The committees submit their recommendations to the CAS Chief Justices Steering Committee for consideration and endorsement. The Chief Administrator chairs all three committees.

Executive Committee

The Committee is the organization’s most senior decision-making body. Its mandate is to support the Chief Administrator in making informed and responsible decisions pertaining to the management and administration of the organization and to the services it provides to the four courts. The Executive Committee serves as a forum for establishing the strategic direction on a wide range of issues, identifying corporate needs and considering the potential outcome of decisions on the priorities and resources of the organization and the four courts.

Senior Management Committee

The Committee plays an essential role in planning activities and also assists the decision-making process by reviewing operational and policy issues and making recommendations to the Executive Committee.

Communication Team

The team will be supporting the IMSO in promoting Open Government to the employees of CAS and in reviewing all external communications related to CAS’ Open Government activities.

Information and Technology Services Division

Under the direction of the IMSO, the division is responsible for establishing the processes and tools needed to facilitate the identification and assessment of information and data eligible for release on the Open Portal; maintaining departmental inventories of data and information resources as well as planning and coordinating stakeholder relationships; developing conversion processes for data and information resources identified for release whose native format is not accessible and reusable; and registration of data and information on the Portal.

Business Owners

They are owner of the information. They are responsible for identifying data and information resources held by their business areas and determining their eligibility and priority for release on the Open Portal.

6.3 Communication, Awareness and Engagement

Communication Plan

CAS OGIP communication plan will comprise of information and activities to promote Open Government. The main objectives of the plan are to create awareness, engagement and to support OGIP implementation efforts.

Communications activities will include but are not limited to:

• The development of an Open Government information page on CAS intranet;
• Communications to employees and stakeholders using internal communication tools and departmental bulletin; and
• The development of various presentation decks to inform employees and senior management.

Communication Approach

To ensure communications are clear and comprehensible, a phased approach will be used to first increase employee awareness and to secondly promote the need for Open Government.

• In the first phase, CAS will provide awareness by delivering general information on the Directive on Open Government and CAS’ Open Government Implementation Plan.
• In the second phase, CAS will support ongoing education and awareness to those involved in the implementation of the Open Government activities.