Canada. Dept. of Justice. Policy Sector : The Policy Sector of the Department of Justice is based in Ottawa and includes the following organizational units: Criminal Law Policy and Community Justice; Family, Children and Youth Section; Policy Integration and Coordination Section; Programs Branch; Public Law Policy Section; Senior Assistant Deputy Minister's Office. The Policy Sector plans, develops and implements government justice policies dealing with both substantive and procedural criminal law; family, international, administrative, information and privacy, and human rights law; judicial affairs, crime prevention, sentencing, and conviction review.
Special projects within the Sector include the Child Support Team, the Youth Justice Policy Group, the Policy Centre for Victim Issues and the National Crime Prevention Centre. In addition, the Sector provides policy, planning and coordination capability within the Department. This includes the management of the Department's substantive policy agenda and the management of key relationships with the Department's policy partners in the federal government, the provinces and territories, and non-governmental organizations.
The Sector is responsible for research and development, public legal education and information, and for coordinating the Department's consultation process. The Sector contributes to the development and maintenance of a fair and accessible justice system through the design, development and implementation of cost-shared (Criminal Legal Aid, Youth Justice, Native Courtworker) and grants and contribution programs. The Sector also provides a program evaluation capacity for the Department.
The primary role of the policy sections of the Department is to support the government in developing and implementing its policy objectives. Each department has a policy section, whose mandate is to examine the public's needs and determine if those needs call for the development of a new policy, law or program. This may affect a program or policy that the department is responsible for, amending or replacing current policy or the creation of a new law. Essentially, policy developers consult, negotiate, and manage relationships with policy and program partners in the federal, provincial, and territorial governments, non-governmental organizations and stakeholders, and international organizations. They conduct research and analysis on the changes called for by the various stakeholders and interest groups, and they assess the potential impacts of such changes to ensure that Canada develops, implements and maintains sound, effective and sustainable policies, laws (including legislative and regulatory amendments) and programs. Policy developers are responsible for identifying new and emerging issues developing expertise to address them, and often for providing litigation support based on their specialized expertise.
