The Department of Human Resources Development, also referred to as Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), was a

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

of the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

with the responsibility over a wide portfolio of social services. HRDC was based at a government office facility at

Place du Portage 250px, The Place du Portage complex facing the Ottawa River. 250px, The Place du Portage model on display in the main lobby 2014 Place du Portage is a large office complex in the Hull sector of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, situated along Bouleva ...

IV in

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region and is part of Canada's N ...

(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 the Canadia ...

History

HRDC was created in 1993 by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier 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. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Kim Campbell Avril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell (born March 10, 1947) is a Canadian politician, diplomat, lawyer, and writer who served as the 19th prime minister of Canada from June 25 to November 4, 1993. Campbell is the first and so far only female p ...

'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 benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a comp ...

program to the issuance of Social Insurance Numbers and job training and counselling. Although HRCC 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'' (french: Gazette du Canada) 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 publ ...

.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 The minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship (french: Ministre de l'immigration, des réfugiés et de la citoyenneté) is a minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet. The minister is responsible for Immigration, Refugees and Citi ...

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

Citizenship and Immigration Canada Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC; french: Immigration, Réfugiés et Citoyenneté Canada)Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program since 2015; the legal title is Departm ...

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

Library of Parliament The Library of Parliament (french: Bibliothèque du Parlement) 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 ...

. 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 (2022)

HRDC was dissolved in a December 2022 government reorganization which saw two departments, the Department of Social Development and the

Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC; french: Emploi et Développement social Canada; french: EDSC, label=none)''Employment and Social Development Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Dep ...

created in its place. The two departments were re-amalgamated on February 6, 2006, though now named

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC; french: Emploi et Développement social Canada; french: EDSC, label=none)''Employment and Social Development Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Dep ...

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 or ...

in the

Canadian Cabinet The Cabinet of Canada (french: Cabinet du Canada) is a body of ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms the government of Canada. Chaired by the prime minister, the Ca ...

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 The minister of employment, workforce development and disability inclusion () is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for Employment and Social Development Canada, the Government of Canada department that oversees p ...

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 Cabinet of Canada (french: Cabinet du Canada) is a body of Minister of the Crown, ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms the government of Canada. Chaired by the ...

, in operation from 1977 to 1996, and was first held by

Bud Cullen Jack Sydney George "Bud" Cullen, (April 20, 1927 – July 5, 2005) was a Canadian Federal Court judge and politician. Early years Born in Creighton Mine, Ontario, Cullen was given the nickname of Bud by his mother when he was a young boy. ...

, who continued from his preceding role as the

Minister of Manpower and Immigration The minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship (french: Ministre de l'immigration, des réfugiés et de la citoyenneté) is a minister of the Crown in the Cabinet of Canada, Canadian Cabinet. The minister is Responsible government, resp ...

. 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, multiuser 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, and ot ...

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 (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed u ...

when it was claimed that approximately $1 billion (CAD) in employment grants could not be accounted for.

Peter Donolo Peter Donolo (born October 1959) is a Canadian communications and political strategist. From 1993 to 1999, he was the Director of Communications in the office of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien - the longest tenure of any prime ministerial communic ...

later claimed that this scandal was "phony" and the true amount unaccounted for was $85,000.

References

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