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Focus Areas

The CER identifies areas in which it strategically focuses program activities. These Focus Areas extend beyond the outcomes of any one program. They require cross organizational focus and leadership to drive a systematic shift in the way the CER works. In addition to a major focus on implementing Bill C-69 and transitioning to the CER in 2019-20, the CER also identified the three following Focus Areas:

Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples

The Canada Energy Regulator is fundamentally transforming the way it works to advance Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, basing its approach upon the recognition of rights, respect, cooperation and partnership.

One of the key initiatives for the CER last year was its work with several Indigenous organizations to develop an Indigenous Advisory Committee (IAC), which will be established in 2020-21. The IAC will play a critical role in providing strategic advice to the CER’s Board of Directors, on the regulatory work of the CER and on developing the framework for an enduring relationship between Indigenous peoples and the organization. Members of the IAC will also provide counsel on how Indigenous peoples will be engaged in the regulatory oversight of energy infrastructure projects.

Another key part of this focus area is the CER’s work with two Indigenous Advisory Monitoring Committees (IAMCs). Last year, the organization co-designed improvements to its regulatory oversight and monitoring programs, working with Indigenous leaders involved in the Enbridge Line 3 and Trans Mountain IAMCs.

Benefiting from the advice and input from those IAMCs, the CER began to experiment with different approaches to increase the participation of Indigenous peoples in the organization’s regulatory work. The CER expanded its Indigenous monitoring program so that more CER-regulated projects would benefit from Indigenous knowledge during their construction and operation. Additionally, the organization adjusted its processes for informing Indigenous communities about emergency response activities relating to incidents on pipelines.

To assist the organization in working more effectively with Indigenous peoples, the CER invested heavily in building the skills and cultural competencies of its employees in 2019-20. The CER delivered training to staff to equip them to better understand Indigenous issues and concerns and to identify ways to co-design regulatory approaches with Indigenous peoples. Over the year, more than half of the organization participated in cultural competency or Indigenous awareness training.

There is more to come in this focus area, and every aspect of the organization is engaged in incorporating meaningful ways to involve and benefit from the advice of Indigenous peoples in its work. As a result of the CER’s commitment to this area, it aims to have Indigenous peoples both shape, and experience, a difference in their relationship with the Canada Energy Regulator.

People and Workforce Excellence

The Canada Energy Regulator’s greatest attribute is its people. 2019–20 was a year of significant change for the organization and the need to support its people was essential to the success of the transition to the new CER.

Embracing its place within the broader federal public service, the CER adopted the Privy Council Office’s Beyond 2020 framework to help guide the people aspects of the organization’s transition.

Beyond 2020 focuses on the mindsets and behaviours of public servants and reminds federal organizations that, “In a time increasingly characterized by data, digital, new workplace designs, flatter work cultures, and multiple generations working together, it is critical to examine and adopt the mindsets and behaviours that will meet the changing expectations of Canadians. The desired outcome is a Public Service that is more agile, more inclusive, and better equipped.”

The CER introduced the People and Workforce Focus Area in 2019-20 to enhance how its people engage and work with each other as part of an agile, inclusive, and better equipped workplace. These principles were developed through a mutual understanding that corporate and culture change within an organization is a shared responsibility, accomplished through meaningful collaboration.

In the inaugural year of the three-year People and Workforce Excellence Focus Area, the CER established several key priorities including: agility in delivering results and decisions, ensuring employees are equipped for excellence and inclusivity in developing ideas.

Initiatives that the organization rolled out as part of this approach included an organization-wide review of the CER Performance Management System, a review and update of the CER’s Code of Conduct and Respectful Workplace and Violence Prevention programs, and the creation of the Catalysts – an employee led group endorsed and supported by management to strengthen inclusion and collaboration. Some of the priorities addressed by the Catalysts included establishing an understanding of how to improve employee engagement, making effective and timely decisions, building trust and doing more with fewer resources.

Data and Information Management

The CER is home to a wealth of environmental, socioeconomic and Indigenous records acquired through sixty years of operation by its predecessor regulator.

Modern innovations in big data, text mining and other data science techniques have given the CER new opportunities to combine these decades worth of information to draw insights that will enable it to gain enterprise-wise efficiencies. This helps build an energy regulatory system that inspires public trust.

By transforming this information to become more structured and searchable, scientists, academics, students, industry, municipalities, Indigenous peoples and the public will be able to access the data for their own purposes – such as preservation, scholarship and decision making. This in turn will enable these communities and the CER to use the data to gain insights on issues ranging from better ways to protect people and the environment to better understanding energy markets and trends.

In its first year, the CER created a foundation for its three year Focus Area on Data and Information Management by concentrating on several key initiatives.

• Enhancing the skills and competencies of the organization through the recruitment of twenty experts in data science, advanced analytics, interaction and visual design, data engineering and geographic and information systems. A world class workforce is needed to meet Canadians’ expectation of a modern energy regulator in the 21st century.
• Developing collaborative relationships between the CER and six outside organizations. This engagement initiative saw the development of relationships with not-for profits and universities to pilot projects and deliver on data and information management ventures.
• Experimenting with automating administrative heavy processes in order to improve competitiveness.
• Unlocking data trapped within the text of CER documents - this process will help prevent future harms, enhance regulatory transparency, facilitate future analytical projects and enhance engagement.

The CER is now building upon the success of its recent award-winning data visualizations, which are now being used by Canadians from all walks of life, including students – who can navigate those visualizations as part of school curricula on Canada’s energy future, which is sponsored by the federal government. The CER’s aim is to transform how it works with data – for its own decision making and for its commitment to Open Government.