Thank you for the invitation. We want to thank the Auditor General for the work of his office on this important subject. We acknowledge the findings. We accept the recommendations. We look forward to discussing the steps taken to strengthen fraud risk management in my department.
First, I think it might help the committee if I provide some brief contextual information on the Global Affairs Canada operations and network. We manage an overseas network of 178 missions in 110 countries, plus five regional offices in Canada in addition to our national capital headquarters. We're an employer to over 6,000 Canada-based staff and to some 5,000 locally engaged staff who support the Government of Canada's operations and programs around the world for Global Affairs; Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada; and many other partner departments and agencies abroad.
This means that the context for fraud risk management at Global Affairs Canada is vast and complex, with many inherent risks in our different operating environments. We take seriously the responsibility that we carry to protect the assets and interests of Canada everywhere we operate, including at home, of course.
As deputy minister, I have placed significant priority on this task and on creating a zero-tolerance culture for fraud and wrongdoing, and I have communicated this directly to our senior management and to our heads of mission abroad. The findings of the Auditor General were timely and relevant, not least on the heels of the fraud investigations conducted at our mission in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and for the losses reported by my department in the Public Accounts of Canada one year ago.
In some cases, the OAG findings have reinforced measures that were already being taken to strengthen our fraud risk regime, including the creation of a new fraud risk management policy framework in 2016 and the subsequent development of an evergreen action plan to implement its key elements. Other recommendations from the Auditor General have helped us to identify some additional gaps, including improving tracking of training measures and strengthening our database for risk management in this area.
Overall, the GAC approach is based on three core pillars: prevention, monitoring, and response to fraud risk. I can provide a few examples of some of the measures we have advanced in support of these objectives, but first I want to reinforce for the public accounts committee that sound fraud risk management is a long-term and ongoing function at Global Affairs, as it must be, given the diverse and ever-changing nature of our operating environment. It requires continuous vigilance of and adaptation to evolving risks, along with changes in our own operating systems and protocols to identify and minimize those risks.
On prevention, we have strengthened training on fraud risk management, particularly for heads of mission and our management and consular officers before they depart on post. We have also reinforced our mandatory values and ethics training modules for the whole department, and we'll soon be launching a new e-learning module on fraud awareness for all Global Affairs Canada employees.
Additionally, the department has undertaken a series of regional training workshops for management officers already in the field, with a focus on financial management and fraud risk. In the area of procurement, we have implemented a new monitoring tool for analyzing data integrity and potential fraudulent activities. We've also delivered focused training to purchasing and supply officers in operations at headquarters as well as specialized training for contracting officers abroad.
Our systems for monitoring fraud risk are supported by our financial management, internal audit, and mission inspection functions. In particular, we're continuing to undertake management practices audits at select overseas missions under the direction of our chief audit executive, and are using those findings to address any anomalies or vulnerabilities at missions, as well as to reinforce our systemwide management practices.
With the increased regionalization of our financial operations in our mission network, that is, the assignment of some financial management functions to certain larger embassies for all regional missions, we're also looking to finance specialists in Ottawa and in the special offices known as common services delivery points to support sound financial and fraud risk management practices across the network. This is already producing returns as they are able to identify anomalies that require follow-up action.
Finally, the department is committed to acting swiftly in response to signals of potential fraudulent activity and other wrongdoing, whether that comes through audit or inspection findings, via direct disclosure by employees under the Public Servants Disclosure Prevention Act, or through our regular monitoring of financial activity. In the case of our mission in Haiti, a number of employees were dismissed and actions were taken to recover some of the losses.
The Inspection, Integrity and Values and Ethics Bureau at Global Affairs acts as the office of primary interest on fraud risk, under my direction, and works in close collaboration with the key assistant deputy ministers for corporate, security, legal and geographic functions, and with our chief audit executive to assess and investigate such incidents.
In his report, the Auditor General acknowledges that no organization is immune to the risk of fraud. This requires from us constant vigilance and adjustment of our control mechanisms to increase our chances to prevent, detect and act swiftly when this risk materializes.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.