Thank you very much.
I am pleased to be here today. As Ms. Hogan mentioned, my role is to support her in the work she has to do for her mandate that relates to environment and sustainable development.
Each year I have the privilege of submitting an annual report for tabling with Parliament. In that annual report there will be a commentary on the petitions process, which is a process that is available for residents of Canada to ask questions about environmental matters and sustainable development and to receive a response directly from a minister. To date, between 26 and 27 departments and agencies have been subject to the petitions process. In the future, at the beginning of December, that will become almost 100 because of the amendments to the Federal Sustainable Development Act last year.
In my annual report, I also have to comment on sustainable development strategies and the progress that departments and agencies have made in support of the federal sustainable development strategies, goals and targets. In terms of the scope of that work, it was at one point 26 or 27 departments and agencies. At the beginning of December, that's going to rise to about 100.
You will also see in my annual report audit reports that look very similar to the ones that are presented by the Auditor General periodically. From time to time, we can have one or two in the annual report, but we've also been privileged in the past to be able to table a separate report taking one of the Auditor General's periodic reports for the purposes of tabling environmental and sustainable development audits.
As a final point, I would mention that, in terms of my mandate, over the 25 years of the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development we have seen many audits of environmental matters. Over the last few years, building on the work of our previous commissioner, Julie Gelfand, we have been expanding the work in the area of sustainable development. In particular, the sustainable development goals from the United Nations have provided us with an absolutely incredible lens through which to look at the activities and progress that government makes in those areas.
With that, I might leave the slides because you do have some information there about our priorities and our upcoming audits, which I suspect might be better covered during questions.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.