Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much for inviting me to appear before this committee.
Global Affairs Canada would also like to thank the Auditor General for the work of his office, and acknowledges the findings and recommendations of this report.
Let me start by providing some contextual data that will shed some light on how Global Affairs Canada supports its federal departmental partners like Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, and the Canada Border Services Agency, abroad.
Global Affairs Canada manages a network of 176 missions in 110 countries. Global Affairs is the employer of over 5,000 locally engaged staff, who are hired to support the department's operation and programs as well as those delivered by our partners in these missions.
Considering the differences in the environments where these missions operate and the risks they represent, Global Affairs Canada is committed to ensuring that all employees, including locally engaged staff, are properly trained and well-informed of their responsibilities in complying with the code of values and ethics. This is critical in preventing the risk of corruption or any other unacceptable behaviour by our workforce.
I can assure you, Mr. Chair, that my department takes this very seriously.
This concerns the reputation of our country and our institutions. Canadians are expecting us to work together in a coordinated and effective way. My colleagues at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, at the Canada Border Services Agency and I are committed to doing so.
While the focus of this audit was on the respective roles of IRCC and CBSA, the audit also examined certain responsibilities on the part of Global Affairs Canada for locally engaged staff in missions abroad.
The staff support IRCC's visa program. While they report to an IRCC program manager, they must take a mandatory values and ethics course provided by Global Affairs Canada. This course is part of a broad range of training provided to employees operating abroad.
The Auditor General indicated that Global Affairs could do a better job of ensuring that all employees take this important course by monitoring completion rates. As such, one of the five recommendations in the report was addressed by Global Affairs Canada.
I must note that the Auditor General, in his appearance before the same committee, confirmed that no evidence of corruption was found during the audit. That reassures us. However, we must maintain our vigilance to make sure that we are able not only to detect potential corruption risks but especially to prevent them. This entails, among other things, an increased awareness of the risks to which our missions are exposed every day.
Going forward, Global Affairs is committed to continue working with IRCC to ensure that all locally engaged staff complete the mandatory course on values and ethics. More specifically, Global Affairs will be taking further measures, including sending broadcast messages via email to all employees as well as mission training coordinators to remind them of this required training; along with an additional clause in the letter of offer of employment for locally engaged staff indicating that they must comply not only with the code of values and ethics but also take the associated course; and producing monthly training reports to monitor mandatory training and follow-up with employees who have not completed their training as well as their managers.
We are confident that the implementation of these measures, as well as the coordinated and sustained efforts of our respective organizations, will allow us to adequately respond to the challenge.
In addition to these examples of initiatives undertaken, senior management at Global Affairs Canada promotes and enforces an environment of zero tolerance for any behaviour by any employee that runs counter to the code of values and ethics.
In 2016 Global Affairs conducted a fraud risk assessment to identify the main fraud risks and mitigation strategies. This included a clear tone at the top that promoted high ethical behaviour for all employees including locally engaged staff. All employees are encouraged to disclose any questionable behaviours that are investigated and, when warranted, appropriate actions taken to send a strong and unequivocal message.
Mr. Chair, let me be pragmatic. Global Affairs Canada and its partners do business in places where the risk of corruption is among the highest in the world, as measured by the corruption perceptions index published by Transparency International. Despite our sustained efforts and vigilance, zero risk doesn't exist.
Therefore, we must continue our work on prevention while increasing our detection efforts, in close cooperation with all our partners. Clear and consistent communication between our organizations and increased awareness among all employees, including managers, will help effectively reduce the risks we all face.
Thank you.