Human Resources Development Canada (, HRDC) was a department of the

Government of Canada The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federation, federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes Minister of t ...

with the responsibility over a wide portfolio of social services. HRDC was based at a government office facility at Place du Portage IV in

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, directly across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region of Quebec and is also p ...

(formerly downtown

Hull, Quebec Hull is the central business district and oldest neighbourhood of the city of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the west bank of the Gatineau River and the north shore of the Ottawa River, directly opposite Ottawa. As part of Canada's ...

History

HRDC was created in 1993 by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Kim Campbell's government in an attempt to decrease the size of the federal cabinet by grouping several departments with similar responsibilities. In the case of HRDC, the former Department of Employment and Immigration formed its nucleus. HRDC's creation was probably the most enduring decision taken by Campbell's short-lived administration. The new department, however was poorly focused and had a wide range of institutional cultures from the merged bureaucracies; it also had one of the larger departmental budgets and a variety of responsibilities ranging from the

unemployment insurance Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...

program to the issuance of social insurance numbers and job training and counselling. Although HRDC was operationally functional since 1993, the ''Department of Human Resources Development Act'' was not adopted until 29 May 1996 and officially entered into force on 12 July 1996 when it received Royal Assent and was published in the

Canada Gazette The ''Canada Gazette'' () is the official government gazette of the Government of Canada. It was first published on October 2, 1841. While it originally published all acts of the Parliament of Canada, it later also published treaties, hearing an ...

.Extract
from the Canada Gazette, Part III, vol. 19, n. 1 (Appendix) published on 12 July 1996, pages 381 and following.

Department of Employment and Immigration

The Department of Employment and Immigration, in operation from 1977 to 1996, was the department that preceded HRDC and succeeded the Department of Manpower and Immigration. The department was abolished on 12 July 1996. The role previously held by the Minister of Employment and Immigration in regard to labour was taken on by the Minister of Human Resources Development, while the portfolio for immigration was transferred to the office of

Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

following the reorganization of the government and formation of the department for

Citizenship and Immigration Canada Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC; )Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program since 2015; the legal title is Department of Citizenship and Immigration (). is the depart ...

.Employment and Immigration (1977-08-15 - 1996-07-11)
" ''ParlInfo''. Ottawa:

Library of Parliament The Library of Parliament () is the main information repository and research resource for the Parliament of Canada. The main branch of the library sits at the rear of the Centre Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario. The library survived th ...

. Retrieved 2020 October 30.Order Transferring to the Department of Employment and Immigration...and Transferring to the Minister of Employment and Immigration...and Combining the Department of Employment and Immigration and the Department of Labour Under the Minister of Employment and Immigration
"
" Library of Congress.

Dissolution (2003)

HRDC was dissolved in a December 2003 government reorganization which saw two departments, the Department of Social Development and the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development created in its place. The two departments were re-amalgamated on February 6, 2006, though now named

Employment and Social Development Canada Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC; ; )''Employment and Social Development Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Employment and Social Development (). is a department of ...

Ministers

The Minister of Human Resources Development was the

Minister of the Crown Minister of the Crown is a formal constitutional term used in Commonwealth realms to describe a minister of the reigning sovereign or viceroy. The term indicates that the minister serves at His Majesty's pleasure, and advises the sovereign ...

in the

Canadian Cabinet The Canadian Ministry ( French: ''Conseil des ministres''), colloquially referred to as the Cabinet of Canada (), is a body of ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms ...

responsible for overseeing HRDC. Prior to 1996, the post was known as Minister of Employment and Immigration. In 2003, the portfolio was divided to create the posts of Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and Minister of Social Development.

Minister of Employment and Immigration

The Minister of Employment and Immigration was an office in the

Cabinet of Canada The Canadian Ministry (Canadian French, French: ''Conseil des ministres''), colloquially referred to as the Cabinet of Canada (), is a body of Minister of the Crown, ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the t ...

, in operation from 1977 to 1996, and was first held by Bud Cullen, who continued from his preceding role as the Minister of Manpower and Immigration. On 12 July 1996, the office of the Minister of Employment and Immigration was abolished and replaced with the office of Minister of Human Resources Development. The portfolio for immigration was transferred to the office of Minister of Citizenship and Immigration following the reorganization of the government and formation of the department for

Controversies

In the late 1990s, HRDC gained public headlines across Canada following numerous poorly thought procurements, notably dozens of server computers using the

Unix Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

operating system, this despite the fact that the purchase far exceeded the department's computing requirements. Other problems relating to several incompatible email systems made HRDC a scapegoat for attacks on the government by opposition parties. In 2000, HRDC's poor accounting practices were made infamous by the

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 2000 to 2003. The Canadian Alliance was the new name of the ...

when it was claimed that approximately $1 billion (CAD) in employment grants could not be accounted for. Peter Donolo later claimed that this scandal was "phony" and the true amount unaccounted for was $85,000.

References

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