Thank you, Stephen.
Good morning, Mr. Chair and honourable members.
The Canadian Museum of Nature is a $36-million business. As a not-for-profit crown corporation, the museum relies on government funding, commercial revenues, and donor and sponsorship support to cover operating costs and the required capital investment for our two buildings.
Government support for operating funding has been frozen for the last four years. Commercial revenue and donor/sponsor contributions have filled the gap created by rising costs, such that government funding has decreased from over 90% of operating funding to 75% today. We achieved this through dramatic increases in museum attendance, driven by an aggressive redefinition of our value and of our business processes.
The museum welcomed and worked closely with the special examination team. For an enterprise of our size, the special examination represents a substantive investment in operational oversight that no business of our size outside of government purview could ever afford, so we see it as an extraordinary benefit that we aim to maximize.
While the special examination report was overwhelmingly positive, it did indeed note the need for improvement in the areas of governance, IT security policy, and project management.
The Auditor General recommended that the museum have a more formal project management practice when replacing systems related to operations. The museum agrees. We reviewed our existing project management approach to ensure that our practices are both cost-effective and appropriate relative to the nature, complexity, risk, and cost of a project. I'm pleased to report that we also introduced an updated approach to documentation of project initiation at the executive management level.
The OAG also recommended a process be established to ensure the board of trustees enhances its monitoring of the corporation's compliance with policy, acts, and regulations. The corporation agrees. I'm pleased to report that at our February audit and finance committee meetings we now provide annual documentation assuring compliance. In addition, the operations update for board and management now more clearly references actions related to risks.
With respect to board governance, a new process for board selection was launched by the government in November 2016, which demands less of the museum than what was recommended by the special examination report. I'm pleased to report that the corporation has been in close communication with Canadian Heritage, and we look forward to an imminent conclusion of the appointment process.
Last, the OAG report recommended that our IT security policy requirements be met, including the testing of our business continuity plan and our IT disaster recovery plan. The corporation agrees. Last year we made significant investments upgrading our IT systems, which were key to adhering to our IT policy.
As planned, we completed the testing of both plans just this week. This has been verified by a third party, demonstrating we have effectively completed these important components of our IT strategy.
In addition, we continue to undertake museum-wide training on security awareness, specifically focusing on phishing and ransomware.
Thank you for the opportunity to present to you today. We welcome any questions.