Parks Canada's 2019–20 Departmental Results Report

Table of contents

• Minister’s message
• President & Chief Executive Officer’s message
• Results at a glance and operating context
• Results: what we achieved
• Core responsibility
• Internal services
• Analysis of trends in spending and human resources
• Actual expenditures
• Actual human resources
• Expenditures by vote
• Government of Canada spending and activities
• Financial statements and financial statements highlights
• Additional information
• Organizational profile
• Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do
• Reporting framework
• Supporting information on the program inventory
• Supplementary information tables
• Federal tax expenditures
• Organizational contact information
• Appendix: definitions

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Minister’s message

As the Minister responsible for Parks Canada, I am pleased to present the 2019–20 Departmental Results Report, which outlines the Agency’s many achievements in the delivery of its mandate.

As the 2019–20 reporting period was coming to a close, the world faced the immense challenge of the global COVID-19 pandemic. As Canada responded, the tremendous health and wellness benefits that come from being outdoors and in nature were widely recognized. These unprecedented times have demonstrated more than ever the importance of Parks Canada’s role in protecting Canada's natural and cultural heritage and sharing the stories of these treasured places with Canadians.

In addition to providing a wealth of incredible experiences, the network of protected areas in Canada plays an important role in helping to mitigate the impacts of climate change by protecting and restoring healthy, resilient ecosystems, and contributing to the recovery of species at risk.

The Government of Canada is committed to conservation and to expanding the system of protected areas, which contributes to Canada’s target to protect 25% of land and inland waters and 25% of marine and coastal areas by 2025, working toward 30% by 2030.

During this reporting period, Parks Canada directly contributed to these goals by advancing work to create new national parks and national marine conservation areas. Highlights from this reporting period include the following achievements:

• Establishment of Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve, an area of great cultural importance to Indigenous peoples who have lived along the shores of Great Slave Lake for hundreds of generations;
• Signing of an Inuit Impact and Benefit Agreement for Tallurutiup Imanga National Marine Conservation Area and interim protection of Tuvaijuittuq Marine Protected Area;
• Signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Government of British Columbia and the syilx/Okanagan Nation for the establishment of a proposed national park reserve in the South Okanagan-Similkameen;
• Signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Cree Nation Government to launch a feasibility assessment for a National Marine Conservation Area in Eastern James Bay;
• Launching a joint feasibility study with the province of Quebec to evaluate the potential for a Marine Protected Area in the Îles de la Madeleine; and,
• Launching a joint feasibility assessment with the PEI Mi’kmaq First Nations for a national marine conservation area in Pitaweikek (the Hog Island Sandhills).

In addition to these important achievements, Canada continued work to implement a multi jurisdictional action plan to ensure protection of Wood Buffalo National Park World Heritage Site. The plan, developed in consultation with 11 Indigenous organizations and with provincial and territorial partners, lays out more than 140 actions to ensure the World Heritage Site remains a treasured place with Outstanding Universal Value for generations to come. In 2019, the World Heritage Committee commended the actions that have been taken to strengthen the protection and management of the site, including the Government of Canada’s significant investment of $27.5 million through Budget 2018 to support the development and early implementation of the Action Plan.

The Government is committed to reconciliation and renewed relationships with Indigenous peoples, based on a recognition of rights, respect, collaboration and partnership. Indigenous peoples are partners in conserving natural and cultural heritage. I am particularly proud of collaboration between Parks Canada and Indigenous communities and organizations in various on-the-ground conservation activities, such as species recovery and habitat restoration, as well as the following activities:

• Signing a memorandum of understanding with the Inuit Heritage Trust to share ownership of artifacts that continue to be discovered from the wrecks of the historic Franklin expedition – HMS Erebus and HMS Terror;
• Entering into an agreement with the Timiskaming First Nation to co-manage and share ownership of the Obadjiwan-Fort Témiscamingue National Historic Site, agreeing to better reflect 6,500 years of Indigenous land use and occupation in Obadjiwan and the surrounding area of Lake Temiskaming; and,
• Joining with the Blackfoot Confederacy and the Province of Alberta in celebrating the inscription of Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi, a sacred place for Blackfoot peoples and the greatest concentration of rock art on the Great Plains of North America, as the newest UNESCO World Heritage Site in Canada.

I am honoured to be the Minister responsible for Parks Canada and look forward to many more accomplishments in the coming years. I encourage all Canadians to fully experience their magnificent national parks, national historic sites and national marine conservation areas and learn more about our environment and rich histories.

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President & Chief Executive Officer’s message

I am pleased to submit the 2019–20 Departmental Results Report, which demonstrates Parks Canada's many accomplishments during this period.

In the delivery of its mandate, Parks Canada is proud to collaborate with Indigenous partners, local and regional residents and stakeholders, visitors past and present, and with interested people and parties from across the country. Together, we protect Canada's natural and cultural heritage and strengthen the connection that Canadians have to these special places.

We acknowledge that the lands and waters on which we all live, work and care for are the ancestral territories and homelands of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis. We continue to honour Indigenous connections by working with Indigenous peoples to continue or renew practices on the lands and waters that Indigenous peoples have been stewarding since time immemorial. The work we do aims to honour Indigenous relationships, connections and histories with these places.

Investments of $15 million annually in Parks Canada’s Conservation and Restoration (CoRe) program are helping to strengthen our work with Indigenous peoples. Across the country, these conservation projects are weaving together Indigenous and scientific knowledge systems to conserve biodiversity, contribute to the recovery of species at risk, and build ecosystem resilience in response to climate change. Some projects include:

• Bring Back the Boreal in collaboration with the Mi’kmaq of Nova Scotia to restore forest health in Cape Breton Highlands National Park;
• Tiny Tundra together with Inuit and the community of Resolute Bay to improve critical caribou habitat in Qausuittuq National Park;
• Chiix̱uu Tll iinasdll – Nurturing Seafood to Grow to restore the kelp forests of Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, and Haida Heritage Site in collaboration with the Council of the Haida Nation and other partners; and,
• This year Parks Canada celebrated the transfer of Toronto and Region Conservation Authority lands to Rouge National Urban Park. With this milestone, Parks Canada now directly manages almost 95% of lands identified for the Rouge, which officially makes officially makes it North America’s largest urban park.

We have also taken steps to protect and commemorate the rich heritage we share in Canada. We were proud to unveil a new Framework for History and Commemoration: National Historic Sites System Plan (2019), developed in consultation with numerous organizations and individuals within the heritage community, including Indigenous cultural experts, and Canadians across the country. The Framework represents a new way of sharing the stories of Canada – one where all perspectives are represented, including the difficult periods of our past and ensuring the history and voices of Indigenous peoples are incorporated at heritage places administered by Parks Canada.

With 171 national historic sites, 47 national parks, one national urban park, and 5 national marine conservation areas, the vast network of protected areas administered by Parks Canada is a gateway to nature, history, and 450 000 km^² of memories from coast to coast to coast. Parks Canada provides nearly 25 million visitors a year with high-quality and meaningful experiences.

Encouraging families and youth to connect with nature and learn about Canada’s history, Parks Canada offers free admission across its system of national heritage places to new Canadian citizens for one year and to all youth 17 and under. By encouraging young people to discover and connect with incredible nature and fascinating history in Canada, we can inspire the next generation of stewards for these national treasures.

On the international stage, Parks Canada was proud to contribute to increasing Canada’s international engagement and assistance by sending fire personnel to assist Australia in battling their devastating wildfires. As the only federal organization with operational wildfire resources to contribute to a Canadian response for support, Parks Canada sent 13 wildland fire management specialists to Australia for 31 to 38-day deployments.

Closer to home, like all levels of government, Canadians across the country and people around the world, Parks Canada was faced with the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic during the last month of this reporting period. It was a period of rapid change and rapid action by the Parks Canada team to rise to the challenge of limiting the spread of COVID-19 and helping to flatten the curve. Together, we accomplished things that have never been done before. Beyond carrying on with the critical tasks performed by our organization each and every day, Parks Canada also made significant donations of PPE to support frontline workers and had several employees accept short term assignments to assist with the Government of Canada’s COVID-19 response. Parks Canada anticipates that the pandemic may have impacts on the achievement of its planned results for 2020–21 and will take the pandemic and other drivers into account as it reviews performance targets for 2021–22.

As the President & CEO of Parks Canada, I am extremely proud of the work of our team members every day.

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Results at a glance and operating context

• Established one new national marine conservation area - Tallurutiup Imanga - and one new national park reserve - Thaidene Nene - and reached significant milestones in other establishment efforts.
  
  
• Furthered positive relationships with Indigenous peoples in and around protected heritage areas:
  • Signed an agreement to establish a trust to co-own and co-manage the Obadjiwan Fort Témiscamingue National Historic Site with Temiskaming First Nation;
  • Created new cooperative management structures for the newly established Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve and Tallurutiup Imanga National Marine Conservation Area;
  • Commemorated the International Year of Indigenous Languages with projects focused on increasing the presence and use of Indigenous languages in protected heritage areas;
  • Worked with the Indigenous Heritage Circle to organize and hold regional engagement sessions with experts and practitioners in the field of Indigenous cultural heritage to inform the review of the Agency’s cultural heritage policies; and,
  • Increased the number of Parks Canada places where Indigenous peoples use lands and waters according to their traditional and modern practices by four over 2018–19 and continued to make progress on agreements that will increase this number in the future.
  
  
• Commemorated the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada with a national symposium in June 2019, using the celebration of the organisation's past as an opportunity to look to the future of commemoration, including the newly released Framework for History and Commemoration.
  
  
• Expanded the Learn-to Camp program, reaching over 110,000 people (an increase of 30,000 over 2018–19) through 44 overnight events and more than 650 outreach events, including in key urban hubs.
  
  
• Continued to deliver on the most significant infrastructure program in the Agency's 109 year history, delivering key improvements to heritage and contemporary infrastructure across the system in a way that supports conservation while promoting visitor experience and making our infrastructure safer and more appealing to visitors.

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Operating context

Parks Canada has operations across Canada. With responsibility for the management and administration of 47 national parks, Rouge National Urban Park, five national marine conservation areas and 171 national historic sites, including nine historic canals, Parks Canada employees and resources are active in hundreds of communities and remote locations from coast to coast to coast.

National parks, national historic sites and national marine conservation areas represent the very best of Canada, including the history, culture and living legacy of Indigenous peoples. The Government of Canada is committed to achieving reconciliation with Indigenous peoples through a renewed, nation-to-nation, Inuit-Crown and government to government relationship based on recognition of rights, respect, cooperation and partnership. Parks Canada demonstrates leadership both nationally and internationally in its relations with Indigenous partners, working with hundreds of Indigenous communities across the country in the management of Parks Canada’s heritage places. There are currently over 30 formal collaborative arrangements between Parks Canada and Indigenous partners. Of those places, 20 have cooperative management structures where Indigenous peoples influence decision-making. The Agency is committed to reconciliation and will continue to engage and consult with Indigenous partners to ensure a greater number of places have arrangements where Indigenous partners have a decision-making role in the management of heritage places.

The support and collaboration of Indigenous governments, organizations and communities, as well as provincial and territorial governments, are essential to Parks Canada’s ability to establish or expand national parks and national marine conservation areas. The requirement to balance protection and ecologically sustainable use of national marine conservation areas involves a much broader stakeholder perspective to consider. Bringing all of these elements together and moving forward in a harmonious and positive way requires time and respectful discourse.

Climate change and other environmental forces challenge the integrity of ecosystems and the condition of Parks Canada’s cultural resources and contemporary infrastructure. Shoreline erosion at national historic sites, the arrival of invasive species at national parks, impacts on biodiversity and the shrinking populations of species unable to adapt to variations in the ecosystems are a few examples of the effects of climate change. The increasing severity and frequency of disturbances such as storms, floods and avalanches also impact Parks Canada infrastructure, such as highways and bridges.

Parks Canada must protect its natural and cultural heritage places while encouraging visitation to ensure that these special places remain relevant in the hearts and minds of Canadians. As a world leader in conservation and in preserving the ecological integrity and cultural resources of its places for future generations, Parks Canada works to better manage visitation at locations that experience higher visitation rates, while continuing to ensure high quality visitor experiences. To lessen impact, Parks Canada encourages visitors to seek out lesser-known parks and historic sites, enjoy little known hidden gems and explore shoulder season experiences in spring and fall.

Tourism is an important economic generator for Canada. Parks Canada is the guardian of some of Canada’s most iconic natural and cultural treasures and contributes to the country’s world-class tourism offer. With Indigenous partners, the Agency offers authentic Indigenous tourism experiences which enable visitors to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the cultural connection Indigenous peoples have to these places.

Since 2012, visitation to Parks Canada places has rebounded following a decade of decline. Leading up to and during this period of growth, the Agency made a significant investment to attract larger and more diverse audiences. With free admission offered during the Canada 150 celebrations, visitation reached a record high in 2017–18 with 27.2 million visitors. As a result, visitation continues to increase compared to its baseline level of 24.7 million visitors in 2016–17 and Parks Canada welcomed nearly 25 million in 2019–20. Since 2017, marketing and outreach initiatives have been leveraged through a variety of communication channels, including a hidden gems campaign, to influence visitation patterns, to promote less-frequented destinations and to help better distribute visitation across the Parks Canada network.

There are seven townsite communities in national parks, all located in western Canada. These townsites represent unique opportunities to demonstrate the overriding values of ecological integrity, environmental citizenship and sustainable development. They provide visitors with opportunities to learn and develop personal connections to natural and cultural heritage from the comfort of a community, and provide a launching pad for deeper ventures into national parks. They support ecological integrity by consolidating use and development to relatively small areas. National park townsite communities manage development in accordance with community plans and legislation; respecting their cultural and historical aspects and the ecological integrity of the surrounding park. In Banff and Jasper, commercial development limits are also used to manage growth along with eligible residency and fixed boundaries.

Canada’s population is evolving. It is expected to become more culturally diverse over the next two decades as Canada continues to rely increasingly on immigration to support population growth and to offset natural declines.

With demographic changes and the rise of digital communications, the ways in which we tell stories and absorb information are being transformed. In the coming years, Parks Canada’s service offer will continue to be influenced by an increasingly diverse population with varying needs and interests. As well, new national accessibility legislation, which aims to promote equality and participation for people of varying abilities, will also influence Parks Canada’s programs and services.

As the federal lead for cultural heritage places conservation, Parks Canada administers federal heritage designation and built heritage conservation programs on behalf of the Government of Canada. Federal custodian departments, Crown corporations, provinces and territories, Indigenous peoples, and the broader heritage community play a major role in preserving Canada’s heritage places. The protection of cultural heritage places by the federal government is a complex endeavour that requires a coherent and robust system for the identification and conservation of Canada’s nationally significant heritage places.

Both the November 2018 Auditor General’s report and the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development’s December 2017 report highlighted the need to better protect federal heritage properties and to strengthen heritage conservation and protection across Canada. The recommendations include the integration of Indigenous perspectives, better policy and legislative measures, and financial incentives. Parks Canada is working towards addressing the findings from these reports.

Parks Canada manages a complex portfolio of assets valued at approximately $25.8 billion. Highways maintained by Parks Canada serve as critical socio-economic corridors enabling the flow of people and commercial goods. Along with heritage canals, highways additionally serve as vital links connecting Canadian communities. Ensuring the long-term sustainability of Parks Canada’s asset portfolio is essential to the delivery of the Agency’s mandate and to ensure that Parks Canada can meet its custodial responsibilities on behalf of the Government of Canada. Further to this, the November 2018 report by the Auditor General cited the need for Parks Canada to do more to conserve the physical condition and heritage value of federal heritage properties. The lack of sufficient ongoing funding to maintain its built heritage assets puts the Agency at risk of not being able to deliver its mandate and of losing significant and irreplaceable examples of Canada’s cultural and built heritage.

Parks Canada’s commitment to address government priorities for ensuring the accessibility and inclusiveness of its places for visitors, and for supporting the resiliency of its asset portfolio against the effects of climate change, places additional strain on existing resources and the Agency’s capacity to deliver and evolve Parks Canada’s programs and services. Efforts to make a long-term business case for on-going funding remain a central priority for the Agency.

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Results: what we achieved

Core responsibility

Protecting and presenting Canada’s natural and cultural heritage

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Parks Canada protects Canada’s natural heritage through the establishment of national parks and national marine conservation areas in regions representative of Canada’s terrestrial and marine ecosystems.

In 2019–20, Parks Canada signed an agreement with the Government of the Northwest Territories, the Łutsël K’é Dene First Nation, the Northwest Territory Metis Nation, Deninu K’e First Nation and the Yellowknives Dene First Nations to establish Canada’s 47th national park, Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve and Indigenous Protected Area, at the East Arm of Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories. The national park reserve covers approximately 14,000 km², and is part of a complex of protected areas that spans 26,376 km² at the transition from the boreal forest of the Taiga Shield to above tree-line in the southern Arctic tundra. With this addition to the national park system, 31 of 39 natural regions were represented as of March 2020.

The process for establishing new national parks is a complex one that involves the cooperation and support of both provincial and Indigenous communities. While the target representation hasn’t yet been met, demonstrable progress has been achieved and strong foundational relationships have been built to support establishment of new protected areas in the future which, once established, would bring the percentage of terrestrial regions represented to 84.6%.

On August 1, 2019, the Government of Canada and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association signed an agreement to establish the 108,000 square kilometre Tallurutiup Imanga NMCA in Lancaster Sound, Nunavut. Tallurutiup Imanga is an area rich in biodiversity and used by Inuit since time immemorial. The NMCA is a significant contribution towards Canada’s target of protecting 10 percent of its marine and coastal areas by 2020. With this addition to the national marine conservation area system, as of March 2020 6 of 29 marine regions have been represented. Demonstrable progress has been made toward establishing new national marine conservation areas in six additional regions. The establishment of 3 additional NMCAs would bring the percentage of marine regions represented to the target of 31%.

Through collaboration with Indigenous peoples and provincial and territorial governments, the Agency continues to work towards these targets. In launching and advancing negotiations, feasibility assessments, and public consultations, the Agency made demonstrable progress toward the establishment of national parks and national marine conservation areas.

An ecosystem has ecological integrity when:

• it has the living and non-living pieces expected in its natural region; and,
• its processes (the engines that make an ecosystem work; e.g. fire, flooding, predation) occur with the frequency and intensity expected in its natural region.

By the end of 2019–20, ecological integrity was maintained or improved in 86% of national park ecosystems – six percent shy of the Agency’s target of 92% and a four percent gain on 2018–19 results. Parks Canada is on track to meet this target by 2023. Parks Canada continues to prioritize investments in restoration projects based on the results of science based ecological integrity monitoring.

Parks Canada uses a site-based, multi-species approach to implement species conservation and recovery. Parks Canada’s Conservation and Restoration Program (CoRe) funds projects that restore ecological integrity, recover species at risk, and enhance the health of marine and Great Lakes environments. This year, Parks Canada implemented over 60 species at risk recovery projects prescribed in site-based action plans and invested $27.0M over 55 Conservation and Restoration (CoRe) projects for ecological integrity and species at risk in national parks, national historic sites and national marine conservation areas. In order to incorporate Indigenous knowledge and improve project efficacy, CoRe project selection criteria were refined during this year's cycle.

In Budget 2018, $1.3 billion in funding was announced for nature conservation, known as A Nature Legacy for Canada. Through this unprecedented investment, Parks Canada received $221 million over 5 years to support the implementation of Canada’s Nature Legacy, which will change the way conservation is implemented in Canada by improving the integration of national parks with the broader landscape and the use of science and knowledge to inform conservation decision-making. This funding will also contribute to the conservation of species at risk by using multi-species and ecosystem-based strategies. In 2019–20, progress was made towards modernizing conservation programs, including enhancing our approach to climate-smart conservation, enhancing our ability to work with partners on landscape scale conservation initiatives, and enhancing the way that science and Indigenous Knowledge systems work together to conserve Canada’s natural heritage for the benefit of current and future generations.

This year, the Agency consulted with Canadians and key stakeholders on the development of policy and regulations for National Marine Conservation Areas (NMCA). This was an important step towards an updated policy framework that will promote and support Indigenous involvement in NMCAs, maximize conservation outcomes, and build community support and participation. Parks Canada is continuing to consult with Indigenous organizations on the proposed policy changes.

Parks Canada continued to co-lead #NatureForAll with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), expanding this global network to more than 375 partner organizations and co creating toolkits and other products to help individuals and organizations everywhere scale up their efforts to connect people with nature. This year saw a particular focus on youth engagement and empowerment to help set the stage for youth to play a leadership role in advancing the nature conservation agenda in Canada and internationally.

Parks Canada recognizes the historic and ongoing responsibilities of Indigenous peoples in the stewardship of natural and cultural heritage of their traditional territories. To this end, the Agency has been working to advance cooperative management with Indigenous peoples at heritage places it administers. As of March 31, 2020, the number of natural heritage places with cooperative management structures where Indigenous peoples participated in decision-making was increased by one for a total of 20, following the establishment of Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve in August 2019.

Throughout 2019–20, Parks Canada and Indigenous partners continued to worked together to negotiate agreements, such as in Atlantic Canada and as part of national park and marine conservation area establishment discussions, which will create new or enhance existing cooperative management structures at Parks Canada places. The results of these ongoing negotiations are anticipated for the 2020–21 reporting year and beyond.

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Parks Canada supports the designation and commemoration of cultural heritage through formal recognition programs at the national level, including designations of people, places and events of national historic significance, heritage railway stations, heritage lighthouses, Prime Minister’s Gravesites, Canadian World Heritage Sites, Federal Heritage Buildings and Canadian Heritage Rivers. The participation of Canadians in the identification of places, persons and events of national historic significance and in their commemoration is a key element of these programs.

Parks Canada continues to exceed this target. In 2019–20, one new world heritage site was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2019 as Canada’s 20th World Heritage site. This World Heritage nomination was developed over a number of years in close partnership with the Government of Alberta and Blackfoot Confederacy. Three new heritage lighthouses were added to the Canada's list of heritage lighthouses, bringing the total number of designated heritage lighthouses in Canada to 100. The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC) also recognized seven additional sites, five events and eight persons of national historic significance.

The new Framework for History and Commemoration was released in June 2019, after extensive consultations and establishes a comprehensive approach to sharing Canada’s history through diverse, wide-ranging and sometimes complex perspectives. The Framework will support the work of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board by continuing to encourage diverse types of nominations that align with the new strategic priorities, including History of Indigenous peoples, Environmental History, Diversity, and Canada and the World. The Framework also outlines the HSMBC’s approach for the careful review of existing national historic designations and plaque texts in keeping with the Truth and Reconciliation commitments.

Parks Canada increased the percentage of cultural resources in Parks Canada's care that are safeguarded by 5% in 2019–20, through the relocation of 10% of the national collection, previously located in an unstaffed facility with no environmental, security or monitoring programs in place, to a facility where greater safeguards exist and there is full access by professional and technical staff. Work toward this objective is also ongoing through several key transformative projects and realized significant milestones in 2019–20 and good progress is being made toward reaching the target in 2022.

This year, the Agency continued work on the project to consolidate the collection of historical and archaeological objects – one of the largest in North America – to a new purpose built collection facility in Gatineau, Quebec, which will contribute significantly to safeguarding the collection and the achievement of this indicator in the future. Subject to the construction schedule, it is anticipated that the collection will be moved by 2023–24.

In addition to the work on the collections consolidation project this year, the Agency completed preventive conservation risk assessments for 10 national historic sites, including Castle Hill, Ryan’s Premises, Laurier House, York Factory, Trent Severn, Lower Fort Garry, Riel House, Fisgard Lighthouse, Fort Langley and Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Sites of Canada, as well as for Wapusk National Park and for the national collection of historical and archaeological objects located in Winnipeg collections facility.

Parks Canada also met additional milestones on a significant software project, the Cultural Resource Management Information System, which will manage information about the cultural heritage resources in the Agency's care. In 2019–20, the installation of the software on Shared Services Canada's servers was completed after carrying out extensive testing. More testing will be required prior to moving into a production environment but the Agency has begun migration of data and will continue work on this project into 2021–22.

In 2019–20, 37 cultural heritage assets were improved from very poor or poor to fair or good, bringing the results to date to 45% (196) of the overall target of 60% (260 of 433 assets).

As reported in the 2018–19 Departmental Results Report, through the course of this and the previous reporting period, and through lessons learned in the delivery of the federal infrastructure program, Parks Canada adapted the program of work to reflect:

• The need to redirect funding to address higher priority risks associated with assets not included in the original baseline;
• Fewer projects advancing in order to offset cost increases incurred by other more critical projects; and,
• The need to identify a more accurate target, based on what the Agency considered to be achievable by the end of March 2020 with current funding.

As a result, projects originally scheduled for completion prior to March 31, 2020 experienced delays resulting in completion dates being extended into future years. These outstanding projects are on track to improve the condition of their associated assets in subsequent years. Once these projects are all completed, Parks Canada anticipates exceeding the 60% target.

Examples of work completed include:

• Rehabilitation of the Palace Grand Theatre, Dawson Historical Complex NHS to address structural foundation problems.
• Stabilization of the Governor’s House, Palisades and Blacksmith Shop, Port-Royal NHS.
• Masonry rehabilitation at Poonamalie Lock #32, Rideau Canal NHS.
• Rehabilitation of Glen Ross Swing Bridge and Lock 7, Trent-Severn Waterway NHS.

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Visiting a Parks Canada place is one of the most effective ways of connecting Canadians to their culture and heritage and ensuring support for Parks Canada’s mandate. In 2019–20, Parks Canada met its visitation target to maintain or increase visitation to Parks Canada places, with 24.9 million visitors. Overall, outside of the significant increase related to free admission in 2017 for Canada 150, visitation to Parks Canada’s network of protected heritage areas remains overall fairly static.

Compared to the 2016–17 baseline level, overall visitation to national parks has increased by 4% from 15.4 million visitors to 16.1 million visitors while visitation to national historic sites decreased by 6% from 9.3 million visitors to 8.7 million visitors.

Visitation to Parks Canada places over time

Visitation to Parks Canada places over time – Text version

	National Parks (millions)	National Historic Sites (millions)	Visitation Total (millions)
2016-17	15.4	9.3	24.7
2017-18	16.8	10.4	27.3
2018-19	15.9	9.2	25.1
2019-20	16.1	8.7	24.9

Parks Canada’s strategy of featuring Hidden Gems to discover lesser-known places in its outreach and marketing campaigns has facilitated visitation management in more popular places, helping to ensure sustainability and high quality visitor experiences. The success of this marketing initiative is shown through visitation levels at a number of very popular destinations remaining constant in 2019–20, including at the seven Rocky Mountain National Parks (Banff, Jasper, Yoho, Kootenay, Waterton Lakes, Mount Revelstoke and Glacier); visitation levels were comparable to the 2016–17 fiscal year, with a total of 9.07 million visitors (+1%). Meanwhile, visitation to all other national parks increased by 8% from 6.5 million to 7.0 million visitors (compared to 2016–17).

In recent years, to encourage greater visitation to Parks Canada's network of protected heritage areas, including National Historic Sites where visitation has declined following free admission in 2017, the Agency has invested in national advertising campaigns to raise awareness about the Agency’s conservation mandate and to promote opportunities for visitors at Parks Canada places. The 2019–20 advertising campaign, targeting families and young adults, built on the success of past campaigns and more specifically encouraged Canadians to discover their heritage places, learn about Indigenous traditional knowledge, as well as to connect with nature and help in the protection of these places.

Young adults and new Canadians continue to be important audiences for Parks Canada. Admission for youth 17 and under is free at national parks, historic sites, and marine conservation areas since it was announced in 2018. Business intelligence Parks Canada collects is related to entry and is based on admission transactions. As admission for youth aged 17 and under is free, quantitative data for these visitors is no longer reliably available. This indicator could not be reported for 2019–20 and has been removed for future years.

Parks Canada continues to offer free admission for one year to new Canadian citizens through the Institute for Canadian Citizenship’s Cultural Access Pass Program. The Cultural Access Pass was used 24,666 times in 2019–20, with 46% of those uses occurring in Banff National Park.

Building on previous years’ efforts to reach urban Canadians, in particular youth and families with young children, Parks Canada outreach teams continued to be present in several communities, partner venues and festivals in urban areas across the country. Focusing on one on-one interactions, these outreach programs connected with more than half a million Canadians in 2019, fostering a greater sense of belonging and making Parks Canada’s work more relevant to them.

At 83% of Canadians, Parks Canada exceeded its target for the percentage of Canadians that support the protection, based on the average result from two survey waves in June 2019 and March 2020. Support levels in 2019–20 have shown a slight decline since 2018–19, the year after free admission and celebrations for Canada’s 150th, though higher than before 2017 (80% in 2016–17) showing that the general trend is actually increasing.

Parks Canada continues to design its external relations and visitor experience activities to raise awareness and connection to culture and nature in order to ensure that more Canadians can experience our National Parks and National Historic Sites and that our places dwell in their hearts and minds. Diversified experiences, including new and innovative camping options like the Agency's new Oasis, an accommodation option that resembles a water droplet, and renewed interpretive and outreach programming are encouraging exploration and learning, with a focus on fostering meaningful connections with nature and history. Indigenous experiences and family-friendly activities are just a few examples of many programs and activities that contribute to welcoming more Canadians.

Parks Canada recognizes the important and ongoing roles and responsibilities of Indigenous peoples as stewards of the heritage places it administers and is committed to facilitating their use of these lands and waters for traditional and modern cultural practices.

As of March 31, 2020, the number of places where Indigenous peoples use lands and waters according to their traditional and modern cultural practices increased to 34 following the establishment of two new protected heritage places and revisions in methodology to include longstanding agreements in Northern Ontario, bringing the Agency to within its target range for this indicator. Parks Canada and Indigenous partners continue to make progress towards finalizing agreements that will facilitate Indigenous peoples' use of land and waters at several protected heritage places across Canada.

In 2019–20, 164 contemporary assets were improved from very poor or poor to fair or good, bringing the results to date to 53% (1,702) of the overall target of 60% (1,930 of 3,216 assets).

As reported in the 2018–19 Departmental Results Report, through the course of this and the previous reporting period, and through lessons learned in the delivery of the federal infrastructure program, Parks Canada adapted the program of work to reflect:

• The need to redirect funding to address higher priority risks associated with assets not included in the original baseline;
• Fewer projects advancing in order to offset cost increases incurred by other more critical projects; and
• The need to identify a more accurate target, based on what the Agency considered to be achievable by the end of March 2020 with current funding.

As a result, projects originally scheduled for completion prior to March 31, 2020 experienced delays resulting in completion dates being extended into future years. These projects are on track to improve the condition of their associated assets will be reported on in subsequent years. Once these projects are all completed, Parks Canada anticipates exceeding the 60% target.

Examples of work completed include:

• Rehabilitation of trail networks including Marsh Boardwalk, Point Pelee National Park; Singing Sands trail, Bruce Peninsula National Park; Sweet Grass trail, Wood Buffalo National Park.
• Rehabilitation of the Visitor Reception Centre, Red Bay NHS.
• Rehabilitation of the Visitor Reception Centre, Administration Building and public washroom facilities, Pukaskwa National Park.
• Rehabilitation of the administration and archaeology buildings, power, quay wall and grounds, Fortress of Louisbourg NHS.
• Rehabilitation of roadways including Panoramic Route, La Mauricie National Park; Radar Hill Road, Pacific Rim National Park Reserve; and Route 22, Fortress of Louisbourg NHS.
• Rehabilitation of radio communication systems including those at Fortress of Louisbourg NHS and Wood Buffalo National Park.

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Gender-based analysis plus (GBA+)

Parks Canada prides itself on fully respecting diversity and gender equality while serving nearly 25 million people each year through a large team working across the country. Parks Canada is therefore committed to the sustainable application of GBA+, as an evidence based decision-making tool, into the development, implementation, and evaluation of policies, programs, practices and initiatives to ensure that it is welcoming and inclusive for all.

Parks Canada is still in the implementation phase of GBA+ and is not currently collecting results data in a way that allows the Agency to do this analysis.

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Experimentation

As a direct service provider to Canadians at national heritage places across the country and with activities that span a wide variety of disciplines ranging from forest management to the care of cultural and archaeological objects to ensuring the smooth running of parking lots and campgrounds, among innumerable others, the nature of Parks Canada’s operations mean that informal experimentation in regular business is a necessity. Continuing to build upon the unprecedented innovation that occurred to respond to free admission to national heritage places during Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017, and looking to shift the innovative culture of the Agency’s operations to its corporate functions, Parks Canada has undertaken a number of pilot projects to find ways to address persistent problems and improve outcomes for Canadians both in its operations and in its supporting internal services and is working on building a culture of experimentation and innovation Agency-wide. Some of these pilot projects include:

Collections consolidation: Cornwall Pilot Project

Parks Canada currently manages and operates six collection storage facilities located in four cities – Winnipeg, Ottawa, Quebec City, and Dartmouth - with the Cornwall facility having been closed in the first quarter of 2020. Work is underway to move the objects from these four facilities to a new, purpose-built, collections facility in Gatineau, Quebec by 2023–24. There are approximately 31 million objects under Parks Canada’s care representing over 11,000 years of human history.

A Pilot Project was launched to plan and execute the move of the collections from the un-staffed Cornwall facility to a collections facility in Ottawa to gather experience, engage with Indigenous communities, validate estimate costs, and establish protocols to be used for future facility moves.

This Cornwall Pilot Project resulted in the move of over 17,000 historical objects and 2,400 boxes of archaeological objects and related documentation by the first quarter of 2020. It will also improve the environmental storage conditions for this part of the larger collection and ensure that it is safeguarded and accessible. This pilot project contributed to an overall increase of 5% in the percentage of cultural resources in the Agency’s care being safeguarded (please see results under the departmental result Canada’s cultural heritage is protected for future generations, above, for more information).

Parking reservations

As a management strategy for congestion, Parks Canada experimented with parking reservations with a pilot project at one national park (Bruce Peninsula NP) in 2017. The pilot project was designed to determine if visitors were interested in this service as a means of improving the experience at an iconic destination in the park and reducing congestion by reducing multiple attempts by visitors attempting to access the parking lot. Based on the success of the pilot, online parking reservations were fully implemented at the most popular location in Bruce Peninsula for the 2018 season through Parks Canada’s Reservation System. The program was monitored throughout 2018 and troubleshooting occurred actively.

Further refinements, including changes to the reservation and check in processes to increase efficiency were made ahead of the 2019 season at the park. In the first year on the national reservation system in 2018 Bruce Peninsula had approximately 40,000 reservations. Now that the parking reservation model has been tested operationally (with digital systems and customers), Parks Canada is preparing to expand the offer to visitors at other national parks across the country with congestion-related issues.

Learn-to Camp

Parks Canada began experimenting with a new, overnight program called Learn-to Camp in 2011. The program was designed to provide an introduction to camping for those uninitiated to this activity. In Budget 2016, $5.1M was provided over five years to expand the program. In order to better reach urban audiences, a pilot program was developed and tested as daytime outreach activities, reaching 8250 participants in 2016. Over the winter, the program was adapted based on the results of the pilot and further expanded. As part of Canada 150, six urban hubs (Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, and Vancouver) employing between 6-12 students at each hub were established to provide the new Learn-to Camp program. That year, 70,000 people participated in the program. Since then, it has been further adapted and expanded and in 2019 the program reached 111,000 participants. With the Minister responsible for Parks Canada being mandated to expand the program even further, Parks Canada is actively seeking ways to maintain and grow this program into the future.

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Internal services

Results of planning highlights outlined in the 2019–20 Departmental Plan

Human resources management services

Fostering a high-performing, diverse and inclusive workforce.

In 2019-20, Parks Canada initiated the development of its Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and a review of its champions and employees networks structures with an eye to align diversity and inclusion related activities to a set of common objectives. A blog about diversity, inclusion and equity was developed as a mean to disseminate information and to foster employee engagement in the development of the strategy.

To support the implementation of a new approach to the Government of Canada's Youth Employment Program, Parks Canada participated in a Treasury Board Secretariat-led youth employment opportunity pilot program to hire seven youth in involuntary NEET situations. Also the Agency established a partnership with LiveWorkPlay which is a not-for-profit organization providing direct support and services to help welcoming and including people with intellectual disabilities, autistic persons and individuals with a dual diagnosis. The partnership led to the hiring of one employee and the delivery of two workshops on inclusion in the workplace.

In an effort to introduce a more systemic approach to talent management, Parks Canada conducted a national pilot project in one of its business lines.

Optimizing a safe, healthy and respectful workplace.

In light of the upcoming implementation of Bill C-65, which amends the Canada Labour Code to strengthen the existing framework for the prevention of harassment and violence, including sexual harassment and sexual violence, in the work place, Parks Canada undertook a review and update of its harassment prevention framework. Following the recommendations outlined in the Safe Workspaces Report and taking into account the Agency's Public Service Employee Survey results in collaboration with the Bargaining Agent, the updated policy will focus on addressing the recommendations and meeting the new legislative requirements.

To foster a healthy workplace, a three-year strategy on well-being in the workplace has been developed which included the Mental Health Association of Canada's The Working Mind training tailored for managers and employees. In 2019-20, a total of 440 employees have taken the training. As well, an Ambassadors’ Network for well-being in the workplace has been created, empowering 29 "ambassador" employees across Parks Canada to disseminate information on available national-level tools, resources and training.

Parks Canada made improvements to its Employees and Family Assistance Program (EFAP) by increasing the consulting hours available to employees by four hours and extending the access period for retirees and family of a deceased to 12 months after the employment has ended. The Agency is also using increasingly creative means to increase EFAP visibility and awareness among employees.

Providing tools that support and adapt to changing operational needs.

In an effort to reduce the number of pay issues and improve timeliness of resolution, the Agency continues to work in collaboration with Public Services and Procurement Canada. Sharing information generated from various systems and tools has resulted in a drastic reduction in delays in pay processing and allowed Parks Canada to make necessary adjustments to internal business processes and systems that impact pay to help avoid pay issues arising in the first place.

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Information management and information technology services

Collaborate openly and digitally with partners and Canadians.

In 2019-20, Parks Canada rolled out several new collaboration tools to support productivity within the Agency and with partners, which became of particular importance during the COVID-19 pandemic which began at the very end of the reporting year. BBM Enterprise replaced Skype as the definitive internal instant messaging solution, allowing employees to use the messaging system to collaborate offline without putting a burden on the Virtual Private Network (VPN) service. As well, by the end of the fiscal year, a temporary instance of the Microsoft 365 suite of tools and Google Meet were adopted and became the primary means for virtual collaboration among team members and with partners. Confluence - an online tool allowing real-time and access restricted collaboration on documents and in team workspaces - was rolled out to more business units, including targeted on-boarding at Rouge National Urban Park and Jasper Field Unit, and was supported by the establishment of a new Collaboration Community of Practice to encourage and facilitate its enthusiastic adoption across the Agency. As well, to enable a more structured and productive intake, improve file management and streamline workflows, including approvals, and produce more efficient and effective customer service outcomes for internal clients, Jira Service Desk was implemented for the Human Resource Directorate and for Corporate Security.

Enabling Parks Canada with a mobile workforce.

Several cloud-based and mobile-enabled applications were deployed, addressing the Agency's need for off-network productivity tools while also enabling the rapid and effective adoption of a temporary virtual workplace for all team members during the COVID-19 lockdown. These include the Microsoft 365 "GC Collaboration" suite, BBM Enterprise, and Google Meet, as detailed above. In addition, a pilot of a Mobile Compliance Reporting Tool, which allows park staff to track compliance incidents through time and refer incidents to Park Wardens and helps managers find trends in visitor behaviour and track the success of initiatives taken, was launched with three teams and was found to be highly effective. In addition, a corresponding Mobile Law Enforcement Android app, to begin logging incidents and patrols from their phones rather than computers, is also being piloted, with 15 Wardens testing the solution over the summer months. Finally, the Blackberry replacement program was launched, and improvements were made to the VPN. Considering the current load on the Agency's VPN gates and an anticipated 300%+ increase of remote users as a result of the move to telework resulting from COVID-19, PCA upgraded the VPN license base and bandwidth for both Eastern and Western portals.

Connect with Canadians using Open Data.

Parks Canada continues to contribute to the Government of Canada's priority of open data. There are currently 481 Parks Canada records posted on the Open Data portal:

• Ecological Integrity Monitoring Measure datasets have been posted on the Open Data portal and are updated when new field data is available; 111 updates and nine additions to ecological monitoring data were made between April 2019 and March 2020.
• Datasets describing human-wildlife conflict incidents managed by Parks Canada are available on the Open Data portal and are updated periodically.
• Seven of Parks Canada’s Pre-approved Routine Impact Assessments have been posted on the Open Government Portal. These are approved environmental management and mitigation measures for defined classes of routine, repetitive projects or activities with well understood and predictable effects.
• Datasets presenting the condition results, by asset category, for contemporary and heritage assets reported on in this report have also been published on the Open Government Portal during this year.
• All twelve datasets supporting the Agency's Departmental Results Framework indicators.

Additional work was also carried out during this year in preparation for future Open Data contributions. Scoping and planning for an Open Science Action Plan for natural resource conservation was started and includes making more Parks Canada science information available to the public in the future by integrating open data considerations into existing processes and ensuring that scientists have the tools they need to share their information. The Agency also began work to prepare datasets from the Carbon Atlas Project for posting on the Open Government Portal.

Using technology to continuously improve.

Parks Canada employed technology to improve efficient and effective communication between employees. This year, the Agency implemented PC411, an online directory with detailed contact information for all employees, which also enabled the Agency to be able to compile quick and accurate information on each of its large number of diverse work sites across the country. This analysis of the network is ongoing, and information gathered through the PC411- project has been a tremendous asset so far.

The Agency also migrated its network to the Government of Canada Network Service (GCNet) from the legacy Converged Network Service. As part of the process, several Parks Canada places received bandwidth upgrades. In 2020-21, the Agency will continue to make improvements and leverage the migration to GCNet.

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Real property management services

Investment planning

Parks Canada’s 5-year Investment Plan, approved by Treasury Board in May 2019 outlines the management principles, processes, and practices for the Agency’s planned investments in assets and acquired services over a planning horizon spanning from 2019-20 through 2023-24. The plan includes measures being taking to prepare for a future where the long-term sustainability of the Agency’s built asset base allows it to continue to deliver high-quality programs and services to Canadians. Strong progress has been made in addressing serious asset deficiencies and in developing a plan to responsibly manage Parks Canada's assets. A cultural fixed-asset prioritization framework has also been developed to guide decision making related to investments in built cultural resources owned or administered by the Parks Canada Agency based on their strategic potential. A multi-year portfolio strategy is currently under development for the Parks Canada asset portfolio supported by investment and financial plans that would form the basis for the Agency’s transition to an accrual budgeting framework, currently planned for 2023-24.

Real property information systems

Parks Canada has made a concerted effort to validate and update information related to its inventory of heritage assets as captured in the Agency’s asset information management system (Maximo). Information captured in Maximo includes, but is not limited to, location, asset category and type, heritage value, information required for the Directory of Federal Real Property (DFRP), current replacement value, and asset condition. The condition of heritage assets is assessed and updated in Maximo periodically (typically every 3 to 5 years) and is also updated following an inspection or upon completion of major work on the asset. Additionally, updates in Maximo have enabled a more efficient linkage between heritage assets and corresponding heritage designations in the Directory of Federal Heritage Designations (DFHD).

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Analysis of trends in spending and human resources

Actual expenditures

Departmental spending trend graph

The following graph depicts the Agency’s spending trend over a six-year period. For the period from 2017-18 to 2019-20, spending represents expenditures as reported in the Public Accounts. For the period from 2020-21 to 2022-23, the planned spending reflects approved funding by Treasury Board to date to support the Agency’s Strategic Outcome. Any future impacts of COVID-19 on planned spending is currently unknown and therefore not factored in this graph.

Agency spending trend graph

Agency spending trend graph (thousands of dollars) - Text Version

Fiscal year	Total	Voted	Statutory
2017–18	1,317,033	1,165,622	151,411
2018–19	1,460,324	1,226,159	234,165
2019–20	1,480,275	1,245,406	234,869
2020–21	1,107,532	908,645	198,887
2021–22	883,101	684,785	198,316
2022-23	717,505	519,093	198,412

The significant decrease in planned spending in 2020-21 and following years is primarily due to the ending of the time-limited infrastructure funding. This funding up to 2021-22 represents a total investment of approximately $4.2 billion over the period of 2014–15 to 2021–22 to support infrastructure work in Parks Canada places and to ensure safe, high-quality experiences for visitors by improving heritage, visitor, waterway, and highway assets located within national historic sites, national parks, and national marine conservation areas. The Agency continues its effort to secure additional funding in support to its capital investment program.

The planned spending of $1,650.5 million represents the Agency's 2019–20 Main Estimates and reflects approved funding by Treasury Board to support the Agency's programs. The actual spending of $1,480.3 million reflects the Agency's expenditures as reported in the 2019–20 Public Accounts.

The increase in authorities available for use over the 2019–20 Main Estimates is primarily due to unspent funds from 2018–19 that were transferred to 2019–20 and increase in the revenues resulting from the conduct of operations.

The authorities available for use of the amount of $2.2 billion included the approved transfer of $502.6 million in capital funding from 2019–20 into 2020–21 and 2021–22 in order to align the remaining authorities with the multi-year projects' forecasts. Factoring in this transfer, the Agency had total available authorities of $1.7 billion in 2019-20.

The significant decrease in planned spending in 2020–21 and following years is primarily due to the conclusion of the time-limited infrastructure funding. This funding represents a total investment of approximately $4.2 billion over the period of 2021–22 to support infrastructure work in Parks Canada places and to ensure safe, high-quality experiences for visitors by improving heritage, visitor, waterway, and highway assets located within national historic sites, national parks, and national marine conservation areas. The Agency continues its effort to secure additional funding in support to its capital investment program.

Actual spending was $170.3 million (or 10%) lower than planned spending primarily due to fluctuations in the nature and timing of infrastructure initiatives related to heritage, tourism, visitor, highway and waterway assets, partially offset by the fact that Parks Canada collected more revenues than planned and additional appropriations received after the planning exercise mainly related to increases to transfer payments to support initiatives such as the protection of the Southern Resident Killer Whale and the implementation of an Inuit Impact and Benefit Agreement.

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Actual human resources

The Agency's planned Full Time Equivalents (FTE) reflects approved funding by the Treasury Board to support the Agency's programs. In 2019-20, the Agency utilised 5,591 FTE, which is 127 FTE or 2% higher than planned. The variance in FTE is primarily due to additional students hired upon additional money received through the horizontal Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS) program from ESDC and additional FTEs dedicated to help mitigate Phoenix related pay issues.

The significant decrease in planned FTEs in 2020-21 and following years is primarily due to the ending of the time-limited infrastructure funding. The Agency continues its effort to secure additional funding in support to its capital investment program.

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Expenditures by vote

For information on Parks Canada’s organizational voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada 2019–20.

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Government of Canada spending and activities

Information on the alignment of Parks Canada’s spending with the Government of Canada’s spending and activities is available in GC InfoBase.

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Financial statements and financial statements highlights

Financial statements

Parks Canada’s financial statements (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2020, are available on the Parks Canada website.

Financial statement highlights

The following condensed financial statements are prepared on an accrual basis of accounting which aligns the consumption of resources with services provided rather than reporting on the use of authorities. However, the spending authorities voted by Parliament remain on an expenditure basis. Note 3a of the financial statements provides a reconciliation between the two types of accounting.

Condensed statement of operations (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2020 (dollars)

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Expenses

Actual over planned:

Expenses were $90.6 million higher than planned (planned: $878.1 million; actual $968.7 million) primarily due to additional appropriations received after the planning exercise mainly related to increases to transfer payments to support initiatives such as the protection of the Southern Resident Killer Whale and the implementation of an Inuit Impact and Benefit Agreement; higher remediation expenses due to the revaluation of contaminated sites; and higher than planned repair and maintenance expenses.

Actual year over year:

Expenses decreased by $25.8 million ($968.7 million in 2019-20; $994.5 million in 2018-19) primarily due to ratification of the collective agreement in 2018-19 and decreased infrastructure spending, offset by increases to transfer payments.

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Revenues

Actual over planned:

Revenues were $22.6 million higher than planned (planned: $150.0 million; actual $172.6 million) primarily due to higher entrance revenues.

Actual year over year:

Revenues decreased by $15.5 million ($172.6 million in 2019-20; $188.1 million in 2018-19) primarily due to the significant donation of land in in 2018-19 by the City of Toronto and the Toronto Region Conservation Authority for Rouge National Urban Park.

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The net debt is calculated as the difference between total net liabilities and total net financial assets, and it represents liabilities for which the Agency will require future appropriations. Parks Canada Agency’s net debt increased by $15.3 million, largely due to higher environmental liabilities.

The net financial position is calculated as the difference between net debt and total non-financial assets, and it consists mainly of tangible capital assets. The increase of $546.4 million is largely due to investments in tangible capital assets.

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Additional information

Organizational profile

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Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do is available on Parks Canada’s website.

For more information on Parks Canada Agency’s organizational mandate letter commitments, see the Minister’s mandate letter.

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Reporting framework

Parks Canada’s Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory of record for 2019–20 are shown below.

Graphical presentation of departmental results framework and program inventory

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Supporting information on the program inventory

Financial, human resources and performance information for Parks Canada’s Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

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Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on Parks Canada’s website:

• Departmental sustainable development strategy
• Details on transfer payment programs of $5 million or more
• Gender-based analysis plus
• Status report on transformational and major Crown projects

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Federal tax expenditures

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs. The tax measures presented in this report are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

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Organizational contact information

Parks Canada National Office

 30 Victoria Street
    Gatineau, Quebec
    Canada
    J8X 0B3

General inquiries

 888-773-8888

General inquiries (international)

 819-420-9486

Teletypewriter (TTY)

 866-787-6221

Website

 www.parkscanada.gc.ca

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Appendix: definitions

appropriation
(crédit)

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures
(dépenses budgétaires)

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

core responsibility
(responsabilité essentielle)

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan
(plan ministériel)

A report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a 3 year period. Departmental Plans are usually tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental priority
(priorité)

A plan or project that a department has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired departmental results.

departmental result
(résultat ministériel)

A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. A departmental result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

departmental result indicator
(indicateur de résultat ministériel)

A quantitative measure of progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework
(cadre ministériel des résultats)

A framework that connects the department’s core responsibilities to its departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report
(rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on a department’s actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

experimentation
(expérimentation)

The conducting of activities that seek to first explore, then test and compare the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform evidence-based decision-making, and improve outcomes for Canadians, by learning what works, for whom and in what circumstances. Experimentation is related to, but distinct from innovation (the trying of new things), because it involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, using a new website to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new website against existing outreach tools or an old website to see which one leads to more engagement, is experimentation.

full time equivalent
(équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person year charge against a departmental budget. For a particular position, the full time equivalent figure is the ratio of number of hours the person actually works divided by the standard number of hours set out in the person’s collective agreement.

gender-based analysis plus GBA+)
(analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS+])

An analytical process used to assess how diverse groups of women, men and gender-diverse people experience policies, programs and services based on multiple factors including race ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.

government-wide priorities
(priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2019–20 Departmental Results Report, those high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2019 Speech from the Throne, namely: Fighting climate change; Strengthening the Middle Class; Walking the road of reconciliation; Keeping Canadians safe and healthy; and Positioning Canada for success in an uncertain world.

horizontal initiative
(initiative horizontale)

An initiative where two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

non budgetary expenditures
(dépenses non budgétaires)

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance
(rendement)

What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator
(indicateur de rendement)

A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

performance reporting
(production de rapports sur le rendement)

The process of communicating evidence based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision making, accountability and transparency.

plan
(plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally, a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead to the expected result.

planned spending
(dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program
(programme)

Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory
(répertoire des programmes)

Identifies all the department’s programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department’s core responsibilities and results.

result
(résultat)

A consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization’s influence.

statutory expenditures
(dépenses législatives)

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

target
(cible)

A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures
(dépenses votées)

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an appropriation act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.