Portfolio Affairs and Communications Branch Overview
Branch Background
The Portfolio Affairs and Communications Branch (PACB) coordinates the Department's international engagement; provides policy advice on border-related matters; provides strategic communications advice and services; provides advice on consultation, stakeholder relations, and citizen engagement; leads strategic policy and planning integration within the Department and across the Portfolio; coordinates Portfolio, Cabinet, Appointments, Regulatory and Parliamentary business; and leads the Government of Canada's response to radicalization to violence.
PACB is composed of three Directorates: International and Border Policy; Communications; and Strategic Direction and Integration Directorate. The Branch also houses the Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence (Canada Centre).
As of March 2025, the Branch had 241 full-time equivalents. The Branch had an operating budget of $35.9 M ($29 M in Salary and $8.7 M in O&M) in 2024-25.
Key Files and Responsibilities
International Affairs and Border Policy Directorate (IBPD)
IBPD consists of the International Affairs Division, the Border Policy Division, and a PS Counsellor in Washington, D.C. who supports Ministerial engagement and departmental policy and programming in the U.S.
The International Affairs Division (IAD) coordinates international engagement with representatives of the G7 and Five eyes partners, and maintains strong working relationships with Canada's network of embassies and high commissions. The Division works across the Public Safety Portfolio to provide integrated policy advice on priority countries, sharing information on international development in the public safety/national security sphere. Working with Canadian embassies abroad, IAD is also responsible for planning and supporting Ministerial and DM-level engagements outside Canada. The Division leads on engagement with U.S. counterparts to strengthen Canada-U.S. cooperation and supports international engagement to advance Canada's security interests and participation in multilateral fora, such as the G7 Interior and Security Ministers' Meeting, which is of particular importance during Canada's 2025 G7 Presidency. IAD ensures the interests of the Department are represented across a broad range of complex and horizontal geopolitical files, currently focusing on global "hot spots" such as Gaza/Israel, Ukraine, and Haiti.
Along with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and International Development, the Minister of Public Safety is responsible for the Canadian Police Arrangement (CPA) and the approval of most of CPA deployments to police peacekeeping missions abroad. Recently, after years of negotiations led by IAD and the RCMP, the Correctional Service of Canada, joined the CPA as the first-ever civilian partner agency. Deployments of correctional experts to CPA missions may begin in the near future.
The Border Policy Division (BPD) provides policy advice on immigration security and border-related files, in close collaboration with CBSA, the RCMP and CSIS, and is leading interdepartmental coordination of Canada's Border Plan. BPD has policy responsibility for CBSA governance and direction, including the creation and implementation of the public complaints and review body for the CBSA (PCRC Act). The Division consults and collaborates with key PS Portfolio partners, as well as other government departments (OGDs), to provide a public safety lens on border-related files and immigration issues (i.e., irregular migration, the Annual Immigration Levels Plan, etc.). BPD supports the Preclearance Program in Canada that provides approximately 400 U.S. Officers with the capacity to operate in Canada and processes over 16 million U.S.-bound passengers a year. BPD is currently designing a new regulatory-based vetting program for preclearance operations with the U.S.
Communications Directorate
The Communications Directorate is responsible for strategic and operational communications services to the Minister, the Deputy Minister and all Branches of the Department. The Directorate coordinates the Government of Canada's communication responses for broad public safety and security issues.
The Public Affairs Division (PAD) is the key point of contact with the Minister's office. The Ministerial Liaison team coordinates approvals for all public communication products, and provides logistical planning for ministerial events. PAD also manages media requests, public inquiries, issues management and all departmental social media accounts. The Division develops speeches for Ministerial events and Parliamentary appearances, and ensures the translation of public communications products. It also has a mandated role under the Federal Emergency Response Plan (FERP) to ensure whole-of-government communications planning and coordination in the event of a national emergency, including planning and readiness emergency exercises. It is also the permanent co-chair of the Government Emergency Communicator's Network. PAD is responsible for providing media monitoring services to the Portfolio, as well as to the Communications Security Establishment.
The Strategic Communications Division provides communications advice to Branches, the DM and the Minister's office, develops and implements communications plans to support the department's objectives and strengthens communication networks with provincial/territorial, international, and non-governmental partners.
The Corporate Communications and Marketing (CCM) Division manages the Department's web sites, creative services, and overseeing print and web publishing. In 2024-25, CCM opened a studio to support photography and video production to support the Government of Canada's digital first policy. CCM also leads internal communications and employee engagement for the Department, and manages national marketing and advertising campaigns.
The Citizen Engagement and Stakeholder Relations Group provides expert advice, guidance and resources to the Department on best practices for engaging stakeholders. The team also ensures that Departmental engagement activities are compliant with OGD policies regarding the reporting of consultation and public opinion research activities.
Strategic Direction and Integration Directorate (SDID)
SDID provides strategic policy and business planning integration leadership and coordination for the Department and Portfolio. SDID manages the Public Safety Portfolio's Cabinet, Parliamentary, and Regulatory agendas and supports senior management decisions on priorities, transformation and resource allocation.
The Strategic Policy and Cabinet Affairs Division (SPCAD) provides strategic and coordinated advice to support the implementation of the Government priorities. It coordinates the Portfolio's Federal Budget process and off-cycle requests, leads on the development of ministerial, DM and ADM transition materials, and provides strategic input on horizontal policy issues. The Division provides a lead function to coordinate on the Arctic, working with departmental, Portfolio and OGD partners to support DM and ADM Arctic Committee meetings and develop horizontal initiatives (i.e., Arctic and Northern Policy Framework). It also manages and advises on the Portfolio Cabinet agenda, coordinating the development of Portfolio-led Cabinet proposals and OGD-led proposals requiring Portfolio input. The Division also coordinates materials to fill Ministerial and Governor in Council appointments vacancies, as well as regulatory and Order in Council proposals. SPCAD houses the Public Safety GBA Plus Centre of Expertise, which supports the application of intersectional analysis throughout departmental decision-making. Finally, SPCAD is the departmental foresight and medium term policy planning lead, coordinating working groups and sharing information to enhance forward thinking policy development across the Department.
The Strategic Management and Governance Division (SMGD) supports the ongoing setting and monitoring of departmental priorities and strategic objectives, primarily by developing and maintaining foundational corporate planning tools (i.e., Executive Dashboards, Departmental Plan, Departmental Results Report, Departmental Results Framework, Enterprise Risk Profile, Departmental Service Inventory, Environmental Scans and Program Information Profiles). It oversees and coordinates the annual departmental reporting and Portfolio input to Canada's National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy and the TBS Risk and Compliance assessments. SMGD is also Public Safety's Governance Secretariat, Innovation Hub and is leading efforts towards the use of business intelligence tools in support of departmental decision making and Integrated Business Planning.
The Parliamentary Affairs Division (PAD) coordinates the preparation of Question Period and the tabling of Parliamentary returns, annual reports, and other documents before both Houses, on behalf of the Minister and Parliamentary Secretary. PAD develops parliamentary strategies for policy proposals, and manages the Portfolio's legislative agenda. Lastly, it coordinates all parliamentary committee ministerial and senior official appearances for the PS Portfolio, and provides advice on parliamentary procedure and practices.
Access to Information and Privacy and Executive Services delivers Access to Information and Privacy programs for the Department as well as Ministerial Correspondence and Secretariat Services for the Public Safety Portfolio.
The Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence (Canada Centre)
Created in 2017 as the government's centre of excellence for the prevention of violent extremism, the Canada Centre leads the National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence (CRV). The Canada Centre's in-house experts are central to its capacity-building role across the country in the nascent field of CRV, providing science-based advice to other levels of government and non-governmental organizations. The Canada Centre chairs a federal-provincial-territorial working group and actively contributes to various federal government initiatives, including policy work on online harms and social cohesion. The Canada Centre annually organizes an international conference on CRV; the 2024 edition of "Megaweek" attracted 450 participants from 16 countries to Montréal. The Canada Centre, with the Programs Branch, co-manages the Community Resilience Fund (CRF) grants and contributions program, which has supported 81 projects totaling $85.4 million for research and frontline CRV projects across the country with academics, law enforcement, and civil society. That includes funding frontline psycho-social clinics in several cities that counsel people referred as being at risk of extremist violence.
As a centre of excellence internationally, the Canada Centre leads Canada's engagement on the prevention of violent extremism online and offline within the Five Eyes and the Group of Seven (G7). The Canada Centre also coordinates Canada's work with the Christchurch Call to Action, and represents Canada as one of eight governments on the Independent Advisory Committee to the industry-led Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism; both of those organizations address the exploitation of tech platforms by terrorist and violent extremist groups.
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