Media Advisory—The Auditor General will deliver 5 performance audit reports to the House of Commons—Thursday 19 October 2023

Ottawa, 26 September 2023—On Thursday 19 October 2023, the Auditor General of Canada, Karen Hogan, will deliver 5 performance audit reports to the House of Commons. Tabling is expected at approximately 10:00 am (Eastern daylight timeEDT). Descriptions of the reports are provided below.

The 2023 Reports of the Auditor General of Canada included in this release are:

Report 5—Inclusion in the Workplace for Racialized Employees. This audit focused on whether actions and the progress made in 6 federal organizations fostered an inclusive organizational culture and corrected the conditions of disadvantage in employment experienced by racialized employees. The 6 organizations we looked at were Canada Border Services Agency, Correctional Service Canada, Department of Justice Canada, Public Prosecution Service of Canada, Public Safety Canada, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Report 6—Antimicrobial Resistance. This audit focused on whether the Public Health Agency of Canada, Health Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and Agriculture and Agri‑Food Canada delivered actions to address antimicrobial resistance, to provide comprehensive surveillance, and to preserve the effectiveness of medically important antimicrobials. The audit also followed up on findings and recommendations from our 2015 report on the same topic—specifically, on the collection of antimicrobial use and resistance data, regulatory and policy changes intended to preserve the effectiveness of antimicrobials important in human medicine, and pan-Canadian efforts led by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Report 7—Modernizing Information Technology Systems. This audit focused on whether the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and Shared Services Canada, as lead organizations, supported the efficient and effective modernization of information technology for partner departments and agencies. We examined the progress made to modernize the partner departments’ and agencies’ applications and infrastructure. We also looked at the lead organizations’ plans and procedures in place to support, fund, and oversee the modernization initiatives of the partner departments and agencies.

A separate audit, report 8, focused on the Benefits Delivery Modernization programme—a major modernization initiative—at Employment and Social Development Canada.

Report 8—The Benefits Delivery Modernization Programme. This audit focused on how effectively Employment and Social Development Canada has managed the implementation of the Benefits Delivery Modernization programme to date to ensure the uninterrupted, timely, and accurate delivery of benefits from Old Age Security, the Canada Pension Plan, and Employment Insurance to Canadians.

Report 9—Processing Applications for Permanent Residence. This audit focused on whether Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada processed applications for permanent residence promptly and efficiently to support Canada’s economic, family reunification, and humanitarian goals. The audit looked at how efficiently the department processed applications in 8 permanent residence programs, including how the department managed its inventory of applications and what strategies it used to address processing delays, including those resulting from the COVID‑19 pandemic. The audit also examined the department’s processing capacity and workload distribution across its offices and programs as well as its ongoing transition to online processing.

Performance audit reports of the Auditor General of Canada are made available on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada website immediately following tabling.

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