Accountability in the Ministry of the Solicitor General of Canada (From Accountability for Criminal Justice: Selected Essays, P 44-73, 1995, Philip C Stenning, ed. -- See NCJ 166936)

• NCJ Number: 166937
• Author(s): P C Stenning
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 30 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Canada Solicitor General
• Sale Source: University of Toronto Press
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Canada
• Note: Originally prepared as a discussion paper for the Solicitor General of Canada and was published in "Optimum," V 24, N 2 (Autumn 1993).

Annotation

This study examines accountability and control within Canada's Ministry of the Solicitor General in the context of some general conceptual issues associated with accountability; it also reviews some of the approaches and initiatives that the various agencies associated with the ministry, as well as the secretariat, have taken with respect to these issues in recent years.

Abstract

The study that is the basis for this essay was undertaken in 1991 as part of a more general research focus on accountability at the Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto. The study's goal was to determine the major strands of thinking about accountability within the ministry (or at least among its most senior officials), what initiatives around issues of accountability had recently been taken or were being contemplated, and the major concerns and problems in this area. To achieve this, senior officials in the secretariat and in the various agencies associated with the ministry were interviewed. Interviews made it clear that officials within the ministry think about accountability in different ways. Even when it was agreed that "accountability" refers to a liability or obligation to give an account, there was variation in the ways people think about and classify accountability. If there are to be useful discussions about accountability, there is a need for conceptual clarity. After distinguishing between accountability and public relations, this essay discusses the legal framework for accountability within the ministry, followed by a discussion of the relationship between accountability and control. A review of the ways in which information technology has enhanced accountability is followed by an examination of the tension between accountability and the need to maintain secrecy, confidentiality, and privacy in some ministry functions. Other topics addressed are accountability and legal liability, other potential dangers of openness and accountability, and the role of the minister's political staff. Ten strategies favored by various ministry agencies are outlined. Overall, the study concludes that accountability is a major preoccupation of the ministry and its associated agencies, and there is evidence that major progress in accountability has been achieved during the preceding decade. What is needed now is to build on that progress and ensure that the momentum continues in the right direction.