Committee
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Add search criteria
Results: 1 - 15 of 23
View Francis Drouin Profile
Lib. (ON)
You have discussed the issue with Minister Duclos. On the one hand, the number of requests is increasing. On the other hand, you said it was difficult to recruit staff and that this was a problem.
You also mentioned that the systems were archaic and that the implementation of a new computer system was planned.
In your opinion, once the new online system is in place, will this reduce response time and allow the institutions to meet the deadlines, or is this something that remains to be seen?
Caroline Maynard
View Caroline Maynard Profile
Caroline Maynard
2021-02-17 18:14
Even if today's system is improved, it will never be able to meet the demand. The government needs to show leadership by doing voluntary disclosure, because that is where the problem lies. I'm not talking about proactive disclosure; that's a different thing. People should have access to information that is in the public interest, especially when it comes to important issues such as COVID-19, health or the environment. If this information were available without having to request it, it would reduce the number of access to information requests. It would be a step forward.
Of course, better systems will certainly help to improve the situation, but there will never be enough human resources to meet the demand.
View Majid Jowhari Profile
Lib. (ON)
In your opening remarks, you talked about the fact that the launch of the online ATIP application has been delayed. Can you explain, in your opinion, what the underlying reasons for its delay are?
Caroline Maynard
View Caroline Maynard Profile
Caroline Maynard
2021-02-17 19:36
I'm told that because it's going to be used for privacy requests and also access requests, there's an issue with the authentication of the requester. There are still some technical issues with making sure that the person who's asking for the information is the right person, because, especially if you ask for personal information, they need to provide you with the information about you, not about your neighbour. They're trying to fix that. I'm just surprised and disappointed that it is taking this long and that they're still trying to fix it. It's taken them years to put together that online portal.
View Majid Jowhari Profile
Lib. (ON)
Are you saying that this online portal is being developed in house?
Caroline Maynard
View Caroline Maynard Profile
Caroline Maynard
2021-02-17 19:37
No, I think it's been done through a contract. They hired a company that was able to provide them with the specifications they requested but there's some issue. I think Treasury Board would be better placed to respond to you about exactly what the issue is, because they're the ones putting it together, but recently we were told that there's going to be another delay before it's implemented.
Caroline Maynard
View Caroline Maynard Profile
Caroline Maynard
2021-02-17 19:38
It should be next year sometime.
View Patrick Weiler Profile
Lib. (BC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you again, Minister, for coming to join our committee for the third time in a couple of months.
Minister, my province of beautiful British Columbia is now in phase two of our restart plan, under which many businesses have already been open for several weeks. We're hopefully going to be moving into phase three, under which a large number of other businesses are going to be opening up. Right now there is a significant need for PPE to support those businesses to safely reopen. There's going to continue to be that going forward.
You mentioned earlier that there was an announcement today about the establishment of a supply hub. How can interested small businesses use this tool to get access to critical PPE?
View Anita Anand Profile
Lib. (ON)
I just want to indicate, in response to the last question, that the vast majority of the supplies we are ordering are coming in—gowns, surgical masks and face shields. It's important to keep that in context, because the Government of Canada's procurement effort has been largely very successful. Deliveries are going out to the provinces and territories every day, including 2.7 million N95 masks, which have been delivered to the provinces and territories.
Now, to your question about the supply hub, I will say that we have a range of resources on our web page for purchasers of PPE. Suppliers are also able to place information through us on that website. We've introduced, for example, links to the rapid response platform and the platforms of the Government of Manitoba and the Government of Ontario, which have information about individual items of PPE that businesses might need.
We are continuing to update that website, and I encourage you to take a look at it because it is an innovation. It connects businesses across the country with a one-stop shop of resources for the acquisition of PPE.
View Matthew Green Profile
NDP (ON)
Will your government take responsibility for some, perhaps, of the misleading directions that members of your caucus have provided to Canadians online?
View Ahmed Hussen Profile
Lib. (ON)
I'm proud of our response. We've been there for Canadians and we'll continue to be there.
View Joyce Murray Profile
Lib. (BC)
Thanks so much, Mr. Chair. It's good to see everyone virtually.
I'm pleased to appear before this committee from my home in the traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples. I'm joined today by Paul Glover, president of Shared Services Canada; Raj Thuppal, SSC, senior assistant deputy minister for networks, security and digital services; Marc Brouillard, acting chief information officer of Canada; and Scott Jones, head of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security.
Mr. Chair and colleagues, as Minister of Digital Government, I'm leading the Government of Canada's digital transformation. My mandate is to provide public servants with the tools they need and to deliver the digital services Canadians expect. This transformation is critical for the government to keep pace digitally, and as the pandemic has shown, it's more important than ever that we have secure, reliable and easy-to-use digital services to make sure that no Canadian is left behind.
It has been about 10 weeks since our government took the unprecedented step of asking federal employees to work from home, and to support this, the digital teams right across government stepped up their efforts to ensure the public service could continue working safely and effectively, because our government's first priority is to continue serving Canadians.
I have been so impressed by the work of Shared Services Canada, the office of the chief information officer and the Canadian Digital Service have been doing to ramp up our digital capacities almost overnight. SSC has been working to maintain IT support for efficient and secure delivery of critical services as citizen needs escalate, and this in addition to supporting an unprecedented increase in public servants teleworking from their homes. I can't express enough the magnitude of this work and I thank all of the public servants who've been doing it.
SSC expanded networks, boosted services and provided equipment and tools so employees were able to continue to deliver critical services while working from home. They also enabled WiFi-calling so that employees could call and receive calls where there was poor cell service, and they increased departments' Internet capacity, in some cases up to 300%. They nearly doubled government's secure remote access capacity so that we can currently have up to 270,000 simultaneous remote connections. SSC also tripled the ability of the CRA to manage the flood of Canadians applying for the Canada emergency response benefit and the emergency student benefit.
The Canadian Digital Service has also been helping with digital responses right across government. They created a digital tool kit, helping departments recruit tech staff and access a library of open source code solutions—and how to use them—and helping citizens navigate the multiple benefits that are available and sign up for secure notifications about COVID-19 from Health Canada and other ministries.
The office of the CIO has been working across government to provide guidance on COVID-19 IT challenges, making sure that private sector offers of help are assessed and connected quickly with departments as well. To keep information safe, this office has helped all federal employees make telework more secure and provided best practices for using digital tools safely.
Disruption attracts cybersecurity challengers and we're very aware that increased and new uses of digital tools carry the risk of malicious cyber-activities. Cybersecurity is and will continue to be a high priority for our government as we safeguard Canadians from cyber-threats. Let me assure this committee that we are constantly monitoring, detecting and actively neutralizing cyber-threats, and that we coordinate events effectively through the Government of Canada cybersecurity event management plan.
Shared Services Canada has increased the overall security of the government through services such as perimeter defence, vulnerability management, supply chain integrity and an integrated cyber and IT security program to protect the infrastructure supporting departments and agencies.
To combat COVID-19 misinformation and fraud, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security coordinated with industry partners to help remove thousands of fraudulent websites and email addresses that could have been used for malicious activity.
In conclusion, every crisis can be an opportunity to change for the better, and this pandemic is no different. In short order we have seen a move towards collaboration across all orders of government and industry. We've adopted digital solutions to unprecedented challenges at unprecedented speed, and we're doing it safely. I thank all our public servants for their Herculean efforts in this digital response.
Thank you. We'll be happy to now take your questions.
View Julie Vignola Profile
BQ (QC)
In your speech, you referred to fraudulent websites that were copying Government of Canada sites. How many of these websites have been detected? Were they all shut down?
View Joyce Murray Profile
Lib. (BC)
I will ask the official from the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, Scott Jones, to elaborate on that.
I would say that the monitoring and the very effective Government of Canada perimeter within which all of our secure government activities are placed and take place have resulted in a remarkable absence of real cyber-incidents over the past time period during COVID when so much activity is happening.
Scott, do you have something to add?
Results: 1 - 15 of 23 | Page: 1 of 2

1
2
>
>|
Export As: XML CSV RSS

For more data options, please see Open Data