Structure of the Canadian federal government

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The following list outlines the structure of the federal government of Canada (the collective set of federal institutions such as the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, including both military and civil service organizations).

The civil service includes roughly 75 different departments and other organizations with over 200,000 employees. Special Operating Agencies (which are departmental organizations), and non-departmental organizations such as Crown corporations, administrative tribunals, and oversight organizations are all also part of the civil service, however, are structured to operate in areas seen as requiring a higher level of independence from the broader civil service and the direct political control of ministers. Civil servants are agents of the Crown and responsible to Parliament through their relevant minister.[1]

This list is organized according to functional grouping and is further subdivided by category such as offices, departments, agencies, and Crown corporations.

The Crown[edit]

Regal and vice-regal offices[edit]

The Queen's Privy Council[edit]

Executive power[edit]

Public Service[edit]

Central agencies[edit]

Logo Agency Established Minister responsible Deputy head Associated entities
Privy Council Office 1867 Justin Trudeau

Prime Minister


Chrystia Freeland

Deputy Prime Minister


Bill Blair

President of the Privy Council


Dominic Leblanc
Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs


Mark Holland

Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Janice Charette

Interim Clerk of the Privy Council

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat 1867 Mona Fortier

President of the Treasury Board


Peter Wallace

Secretary of the Treasury Board

Ministerial departments[edit]

Logo Department Established Minister responsible Deputy head Associated entities
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada logo.svg
Agriculture and Agri-food 1868 Marie-Claude Bibeau

Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food

Chris Forbes

Deputy Minister

Agencies[edit]

Special Operating Agency[edit]

Crown corporations[edit]

Review Body[edit]

CanadianHeritage Logo.png
Canadian Heritage 1993 Pablo Rodriguez Minister of Canadian Heritage Isabelle Mondou

Deputy Minister

Agencies[edit]

Special Operating Agencies[edit]

Crown corporations[edit]

Regulator[edit]

Review Body[edit]

  • Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board
Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs.svg
Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs 2019


1880 (historic)

Marc Miller

Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations


Dan Vandal

Minister of Northern Affairs

Daniel Quan-Watson

Deputy Minister

Agencies[edit]

  • Polar Knowledge Canada
  • Cree-Naskapi Commission
  • First Nations Financial Management Board
  • First Nations Tax Commission
  • Nunavut Wildlife Management Board

Crown corporations[edit]

  • Corporation for the Mitigation of Mackenzie Gas Project Impacts
HRSDC Logo.png
Employment and Social Development 2003 Karina Gould

Minister of Families, Children, and Social Development


Carla Qualtrough

Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion


Kamal Khera

Minister of Seniors


Seamus O'Regan

Minister of Labour

Graham Flack

Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Development


Sandra Hassan

Deputy Minister of Labour
Associate Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Development

Agencies[edit]

Programs[edit]

Joint Program[edit]

Crown Corporation[edit]

Review Bodies[edit]

Environment and Climate Change Canada logo.svg
Environment and Climate Change 1971 Steven Guibeault

Minister of Environment and Climate Change

Christine Hogan

Deputy Minister

Agencies[edit]

Review body[edit]

  • Environmental Protection Tribunal of Canada
Finance 1867 Chrystia Freeland

Minister of Finance


Michael Sabia

Deputy Minister

Central bank[edit]

Intelligence agency[edit]

Crown corporations[edit]

Non-profit organization[edit]

Regulators[edit]

Review body[edit]

DFO Logo.svg
Fisheries and Oceans 1868 Joyce Murray

Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

Timothy Sargent

Deputy Minister

Special Operating Agency[edit]

Crown Corporation[edit]

  • Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation
Global Affairs 1909 Mélanie Joly

Minister of Foreign Affairs


Harjit Sajjan

Minister of International Development


Mary Ng

Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion, and International Trade

Marta Morgan

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs


John Hannaford

Deputy Minister of International Trade


Leslie MacLean

Deputy Minister of International Development

Agencies[edit]

Crown corporations[edit]

Review body[edit]

  • Office of the Extractive Sector Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor
Health Canada logo.gif
Health 1993


1919 (historic)

Jean-Yves Duclos

Minister of Health

Stephen Lucas

Deputy Minister

Agencies[edit]

Funding Agency[edit]

Regulator[edit]

Review Body[edit]

Citizenship and Immigration Canada Logo.png
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship 1994 Sean Fraser

Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship

Catrina Tapley

Deputy Minister

Agencies[edit]

  • Citizenship Commission

Programs[edit]

Review Body[edit]

Department of Indigenous Services Canada Logo.png
Indigenous Services 2019 Patty Hadju

Minister of Indigenous Services

Christiane Fox

Deputy Minister

Special Operating Agency[edit]

  • Indian Oil and Gas

Review Body[edit]

  • Specific Claims Tribunal
Industrie Canada.svg
Innovation, Science and Economic Development 1993 François-Philippe Champagne

Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry


Paul Thomson

Deputy Minister

Agencies[edit]

Funding agencies[edit]

Regional Economic Development Agencies[edit]

  • Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
  • Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions
  • Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario
  • Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
  • Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency
  • Pacific Economic Development Canada
  • Prairies Economic Development Canada

Enforcement agency[edit]

Special Operating Agencies[edit]

Crown corporations[edit]

Non-profit organizations[edit]

Regulator[edit]

Review Body[edit]

Infrastructure 2002 Dominic Leblanc

Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities


Gudie Hutchings

Minister of Rural Economic Development

Kelly Gillis

Deputy Minister

Crown corporations[edit]

Justice Canada.svg
Justice 1868 David Lametti

Minister of Justice
Attorney General

François Daigle

Deputy Minister
Deputy Attorney General

Agencies[edit]

Review body[edit]

  • Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime
Department of National Defence (Canada).svg
National Defence 1923 Anita Anand

Minister of National Defence


Lawrence MacAulay

Associate Minister of National Defence

Jody Thomas

Deputy Minister


General Wayne Eyre

Acting Chief of Defence Staff

Agency[edit]

Intelligence agency[edit]

Special Operating Agencies[edit]

Program[edit]

Review bodies[edit]

  • Military Police Complaints Commission
  • Military Grievances External Review Committee
  • Independent Review Panel for Defence Acquisition
  • Office of the National Defence and Canadian Forces Ombudsman
NRCAN Logo.png
Natural Resources 1994 Jonathan Wilkinson

Minister of Natural Resources

Jean-François Tremblay

Deputy Minister

Agencies[edit]

Crown corporation[edit]

Petroleum Boards[edit]

  • Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board
  • Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board

Regulators[edit]

Public Safety Canada logo.svg
Public Safety 2003 Marco Mendicino

Minister of Public Safety


Bill Blair

President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister for Emergency Preparedness

Rob Stewart

Deputy Minister

Agency[edit]

Enforcement agencies[edit]

Intelligence agency[edit]

Review bodies[edit]

Public Services and Procurement Canada.svg
Public Services and Procurement 1996 Filomena Tassi

Minister of Public Services and Procurement
Receiver General

Bill Matthews

Deputy Minister

Deputy Receiver-General

Agency[edit]

Special Operating Agency[edit]

  • Translation Bureau

Crown corporations[edit]

Review Body[edit]

  • Office of the Procurement Ombudsman
Transports Canada.svg
Transport 1935 Omar Alghabra

Minister of Transport

Michael Keenan

Deputy Minister

Crown corporations[edit]

Funds[edit]

  • Fund for Railway Accidents Involving Designated Goods
  • Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund

Review bodies[edit]

Veterans Affairs Canada logo.png
Veterans Affairs 1944 Lawrence MacAulay

Minister of Veterans Affairs

Peter Ledwell

Deputy Minister

Agencies[edit]

Review bodies[edit]

WAGE Canada Logo.png
Women and Gender Equality 2018


1976 (historic)

Marci Ien

Minister for Women, Gender Equality and Youth

Gina Wilson

Deputy Minister

None

Separate agency with direct ministerial oversight[edit]

Logo Agency Established Minister responsible Deputy head Associated entity
Canada Revenue Agency 2003


1867 (historic)

Diane Lebouthillier

Minister of National Revenue

Bob Hamilton

Commissioner of Revenue

Review body[edit]

  • Office of the Taxpayers Ombudsperson

Independent agencies and offices[edit]

Independent review bodies[edit]

Armed Forces[edit]

Parliament[edit]

Senate of Canada[edit]

Procedural officers[edit]

Standing committees[edit]

House of Commons of Canada[edit]

Procedural officers[edit]

Standing committees[edit]

Joint Standing Committees[edit]

Officers of Parliament[edit]

Agencies[edit]

Review bodies[edit]

Courts[edit]

See also[edit]

Canadian Provincial equivalents[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ The Canadian Armed Forces is a separate and distinct entity from that of the Department of National Defence. The Department is a civilian organization, and is part of the Public Service of Canada, while the Canadian Forces are a military organization and are not part of the Public Service. However, the minister of national defence is responsible for its direction as part of the Defence portfolio.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Public Service". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
  2. ^ https://www.fpslreb-crtespf.gc.ca/about/mandate_e.asp