We are doing an audit right now on the use of the strategic environmental assessment tool, and I'll be reporting that this fall. As you know, we've been looking at that tool over the last five years in each department, looking at whether the strategic environmental assessment tool has been used when programs go to ministers and when programs go to cabinet. We've been doing that four or five departments at a time over five years. This year right now that's happening. We're going to all 26 departments where they have to use it and we're looking at one slice: how they are using the strategic environmental assessment tool when they go to cabinet. We will be able to report to you on progress in the use of that tool in the fall.
In terms of the sustainable development goals, as I said, this is an initiative that auditors general around the world are working on. We expect 80 audits to be done, hopefully by this July—within the next year anyhow—and hopefully many more will be doing that over the course of a year and a half, because a whole bunch of countries are being trained now on how to do this audit. The audit is looking at whether governments are prepared to implement the 17 sustainable development goals.
All of use around the world are looking at a variety of things. Is there a high level of engagement? Canada got a check-off for that. The Prime Minister made a speech at the UN and said clearly that the SDGs apply to Canada. We were then looking for a plan, an overall all-of-government plan. We did not find that. We did not find the engagement strategy with communities and with other levels of government, and frankly even with the other government departments. We found five government departments were involved. What about the rest? There are five departments that are the lead. It's not as if they're doing nothing. They are doing some activities, but in their zones as opposed to looking globally at whether we're ready to implement.
On the area of data, we had three criteria. Do they have a measurement system, a monitoring system, and a reporting system? Statistics Canada has found indicators for about 70 of the global indicators, so it has found data, but Canada has yet to set its own national targets. That's something that Canada has to do.
Therefore, if you look at the seven criteria that all the auditors general from around the world are looking at to see if their governments are ready to implement, Canada ticks the box on about two of them. There is still lots for Canada to do.
In the last budget, the government announced a sustainable development goal unit and some money, but we did not audit that. Next time we go in, hopefully we'll see that.
The last thing I want to say on the sustainable development goals is that our office is looking at these quite seriously. The Auditor General will be looking at all the sustainable development goals and all the work that we do in audit and in identifying which areas are high risk—so our office has been SDG'ed, if you will. We'll be looking for audits that link to the SDGs, not just from the commissioner but from the Auditor General as well.