Ms. Chotalia Led A Corporate Evaluation and Corporate Clean-Up of CHRT
Ms. Chotalia Led A Corporate Evaluation and Corporate Clean-Up of CHRT Through a Senior Public Servant, Executive Director, together with management and staff, Ms. Chotalia delivered on her New Access to Justice Vision of implementing Restorative Justice Process in a Highly Regulated Policy Driven Environment. All federal departments struggle with issues of procurement of human resources and services; use of temporary help in transition; ATIP and travel policies, official language requirements; and mandatory reporting to central agencies on corporate schedules. This struggle is particularly egregious for micro-agencies like CHRT.
Ms. Chotalia Remedied Historical Corporate Challenges
Chotalia Inherited AThrough her Executive Director, Ms. Chotalia recognized and addressed the lack of corporate capacity at the tribunal in the areas of IT, finance, HR, procurement, employee resources. CHRT is a micro-Agency with the same responsibilities as large departments. Therefore, from 2009, she promoted her corporate vision of shared services as a cost effective means to serve Canadians. This vision accorded with the vision of the Clerk of the Privy Council: to use innovation to achieve excellence within budgetary constraints.
In addition, through delegating her CEO function to her executive director, with the help of Treasury Board, the Public Service Commission, and other central agencies, she managed historical challenges and implemented administrative systems within the 2011 budget:
- Before her arrival, 40% of CHRT staff sought to leave CHRT in 2008.
- She settled litigation against CHRT staff for conspiracy emanating from 2005 in the spring of 2011.
- Canadian International Trade Tribunal had found CHRT to have breached procurement rules in 2004,
"Tribunal finds that there was a serious deficiency in the manner in which this procurement was handled. It is also of the
view that, as a result, the integrity and efficiency of the procurement system were materially prejudiced."
StenoTran Services Inc. v. Canada (Public Works and Government Services), 2004 CanLII 57122 (CA CITT)
- The Public Service Commission Audit released in November 2011 showed that over 70% of the staff hired prior to her appointment were not qualified:
2.6 Our review of the CHRT’s appointment processes indicated that the compliance of its appointments and appointment processes requires improvement. We found that merit was met in five of the appointments we audited. However, in eight of the appointments reviewed, 16 Audit of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal we found that merit was not demonstrated and, in four appointments, merit was not met. Furthermore, we found that the guiding values were not properly addressed in all seven of the non-advertised appointment processes audited....
Merit was not demonstrated in just under half of the appointments audited
2.34 We found that merit was not met in 24% (4 out of 17) of the audited appointments. The PSC noted that all of these were made under the previous Chairperson. We found that merit was not demonstrated in 47% (8 out of 17) of the appointments we reviewed, since we were unable to conclude whether the person appointed met all essential qualifications. Seven of these appointments where merit was not demonstrated were made under the previous Chairperson. Table 1 provides details of our observations concerning merit.
- Through her Executive Director, she managed 2 IT computer hackings at CHRT offices in 2011:
In April 2011 a malicious infiltration of its information technology system paralyzed many of the Tribunal’s operations, forcing staff to work with information technology systems running far below their normal capacity.
The Tribunal saw an increase in the number of complex cases, which resulted in those cases taking more time to process in order to ensure natural justice and procedural fairness. This resulted in less resources being available to deal with other cases referred to the Tribunal.
Long-standing labour relations issues also took their toll on both productivity and finances. There were exceptional expenditures associated with rapid staff turnover, including the contracting of professional services needed to deal with labour relations issues, staff vacancies and organizational restructuring.
Meanwhile, the settlement of a long-standing litigation with one of its suppliers also strained the Tribunal’s finances, as did two new program initiatives—a series of consultations with First Nations communities, and the first-ever national stakeholder consultations. The former was prompted by the repeal of section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, which is expected to introduce two new categories of human rights complaints relating to the Indian Act. The second initiative sought feedback and constructive criticism on a 2010 amendment to the Tribunal’s complaint resolution model to better accommodate the growing number of unrepresented parties appearing before the Tribunal. The Tribunal’s findings from these consultations are expected to enhance both its complaint resolution process and its relations with stakeholders.
The Tribunal took extraordinary steps this year to rebuild its labour force, nurture a positive work environment and develop an action plan to move the organization forward.
2011–2012 Part III — Departmental Performance Reports Chairperson's Message
Re-Organization
- Through her Executive Director, she overcame longstanding staffing issues through re-organization and re-staffing and created a healthy and productive workforce (Executive Director, CHRT, statement to the Ottawa Citizen, January 2011.)
Through networking with Central Agencies she Risk Managed and Protected CHRT's financial, HR, procurement, corporate
profile. She sought and received the advice, guidance and support of central agencies such as The Public Service Commission to staff CHRT and provide advice on re-organization; from Public Works and Government Services to address IT capacity issues; from the Office of the Comptroller General to select an Executive Director and to manage ongoing budgetary issues; as well as from Price Waterhouse to evaluate corporate capacity issues. See 2011 CHRT Annual Report and DPR 2010-2011.
She met accountabilities under the Financial Administration Act and managed a micro-agency. The Tribunal had a relatively small budget with limited human resources, but had the same accountability at the same level as a macro-department. For example, there was a limited internal community to support technical or discrete functions (e.g. IT; finance; etc.). She
promoted her vision of shared services as a cost effective means to serve Canadians.
In addition, through delegating her CEO function to her executive director, with the help of Treasury Board, the Public Service Commission, and other central agencies, she managed historical challenges and implemented administrative systems within the 2011 budget:
- Before her arrival, 40% of CHRT staff sought to leave CHRT in 2008.
- She settled litigation against CHRT staff for conspiracy emanating from 2005 in the spring of 2011.
- Canadian International Trade Tribunal had found CHRT to have breached procurement rules in 2004,
"Tribunal finds that there was a serious deficiency in the manner in which this procurement was handled. It is also of the
view that, as a result, the integrity and efficiency of the procurement system were materially prejudiced."
StenoTran Services Inc. v. Canada (Public Works and Government Services), 2004 CanLII 57122 (CA CITT)
- The Public Service Commission Audit released in November 2011 showed that over 70% of the staff hired prior to her appointment were not qualified:
2.6 Our review of the CHRT’s appointment processes indicated that the compliance of its appointments and appointment processes requires improvement. We found that merit was met in five of the appointments we audited. However, in eight of the appointments reviewed, 16 Audit of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal we found that merit was not demonstrated and, in four appointments, merit was not met. Furthermore, we found that the guiding values were not properly addressed in all seven of the non-advertised appointment processes audited....
Merit was not demonstrated in just under half of the appointments audited
2.34 We found that merit was not met in 24% (4 out of 17) of the audited appointments. The PSC noted that all of these were made under the previous Chairperson. We found that merit was not demonstrated in 47% (8 out of 17) of the appointments we reviewed, since we were unable to conclude whether the person appointed met all essential qualifications. Seven of these appointments where merit was not demonstrated were made under the previous Chairperson. Table 1 provides details of our observations concerning merit.
- Through her Executive Director, she managed 2 IT computer hackings at CHRT offices in 2011:
In April 2011 a malicious infiltration of its information technology system paralyzed many of the Tribunal’s operations, forcing staff to work with information technology systems running far below their normal capacity.
The Tribunal saw an increase in the number of complex cases, which resulted in those cases taking more time to process in order to ensure natural justice and procedural fairness. This resulted in less resources being available to deal with other cases referred to the Tribunal.
Long-standing labour relations issues also took their toll on both productivity and finances. There were exceptional expenditures associated with rapid staff turnover, including the contracting of professional services needed to deal with labour relations issues, staff vacancies and organizational restructuring.
Meanwhile, the settlement of a long-standing litigation with one of its suppliers also strained the Tribunal’s finances, as did two new program initiatives—a series of consultations with First Nations communities, and the first-ever national stakeholder consultations. The former was prompted by the repeal of section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, which is expected to introduce two new categories of human rights complaints relating to the Indian Act. The second initiative sought feedback and constructive criticism on a 2010 amendment to the Tribunal’s complaint resolution model to better accommodate the growing number of unrepresented parties appearing before the Tribunal. The Tribunal’s findings from these consultations are expected to enhance both its complaint resolution process and its relations with stakeholders.
The Tribunal took extraordinary steps this year to rebuild its labour force, nurture a positive work environment and develop an action plan to move the organization forward.
2011–2012 Part III — Departmental Performance Reports Chairperson's Message
Re-Organization
- Through her Executive Director, she overcame longstanding staffing issues through re-organization and re-staffing and created a healthy and productive workforce (Executive Director, CHRT, statement to the Ottawa Citizen, January 2011.)
Through networking with Central Agencies she Risk Managed and Protected CHRT's financial, HR, procurement, corporate
profile. She sought and received the advice, guidance and support of central agencies such as The Public Service Commission to staff CHRT and provide advice on re-organization; from Public Works and Government Services to address IT capacity issues; from the Office of the Comptroller General to select an Executive Director and to manage ongoing budgetary issues; as well as from Price Waterhouse to evaluate corporate capacity issues. See 2011 CHRT Annual Report and DPR 2010-2011.
She met accountabilities under the Financial Administration Act and managed a micro-agency. The Tribunal had a relatively small budget with limited human resources, but had the same accountability at the same level as a macro-department. For example, there was a limited internal community to support technical or discrete functions (e.g. IT; finance; etc.). She
promoted her vision of shared services as a cost effective means to serve Canadians.
Media Mediation Arbitration Cases Human Rights Contact Us
Books & Articles Awards Professional Service Public Speaking Client Testimonials
Copyright(c) 2013 Shirish Chotalia Q.C. all rights reserved Creative Constructive Solutions - Solve Your Legal Challenges - Mediate / Arbitrate