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DATE/DATE: November 16, 2022	5:45 p.m. EDT
LOCATION/ENDROIT: Canadian Museum of History, 100 Laurier Street, OTTAWA, ON
PRINCIPALS/PRINCIPAUX:	Janice Charette, Clerk of the Privy Council Office and Secretary to the Cabinet 	
SUBJECT/SUJET: Clerk of the Privy Council Office and Secretary to the Cabinet Janice Charette delivers remarks at the APEX - 2022 Recognition of Entry into the Executive Ranks Ceremony.

Janice Charette:				Thanks very much Karl for that very warm welcome. Bonsoir à vous tous.

All:						Bonsoir.

Janice Charette:				Kind of lame. Need a little more time at the bar before you sit down. Bonsoir à vous tous.

All:						Bonsoir.

Janice Charette:				Excellent, that is better.  To begin my remarks this evening and what an appropriate setting to be doing this in, I want to acknowledge that we are gathered here tonight on the traditionally unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishnawbe people. 

There are some who have connected with us virtually so I encourage everyone to take a moment and think about those who have been the traditional guardians of these lands past and present as well as those who will do it in the future and have allowed us to make our lives here, raise our families and do our jobs. I am so happy to see so many people in person together tonight.

Yes. It really is an appropriate way to have a celebration and tonight is a celebration. This is always one of my favourite events to attend because I can remember the time back when dinosaurs roamed the earth as I said to someone earlier, when I became an executive and it inspired a lot of emotions in me. 

There was excitement. There was anxiety but also a dose of humility about being asked to take on the responsibility of being an executive in the public service of Canada. You are fortunate in taking this on that you are going to be able to count on the amazing resources and support available from your friends at APEX and the people that they are going to help you connect with.

Free ad – sign up your memberships please friends. I do want to start just by reinforcing my profound congratulations to all of you for becoming the newest members of the executive community. This ceremony is a milestone. It is a milestone in your career that I hope you will look back on fondly so do not drink too much so you will not remember it, please. Take the time to celebrate your success. Revel in it a little bit and think about the work it took to get you here.

As Karl said you are going to be receiving a certificate. That is those nice cadres – cadres for the cadres, there you go. That is good. A nice certificate to celebrate this achievement. I hope that you will display it proudly in your cubicle, office, home office, traveling office, hang it on the side of your car, wherever it is you find yourself working these days.

I do not want to minimize though that this certificate does really recognize and acknowledge your success. It also really underlines the responsibilities that come with being an executive. When you read it, quietly, you are going to see that it says the public service of Canada is placing special trust and confidence in you and your determination to serve with integrity, to uphold the values of our institution, to demonstrate leadership and professionalism.

This is a tremendous moment in your careers and you should be so proud when you hold that certificate in your hands and really understand what it signifies. You are taking on a special position of trust and confidence in our public service and upholding the values and ethics of our institution have never been more critical. It is not a small undertaking.

You have already established yourself as leaders and now you are moving into the next phase of your career as newly appointed executives. Not only will you be able to influence the people that are directly around you. You will also be able to influence the important work that your respective departments and agencies do for everyone in Canada. 

What you should do first – sit back, think about that, take stock of just how important that opportunity is. You have the chance to leave your mark on your respective organizations and on the people that you work with and ultimately the people and the objectives that your organization serves. Your ideas, your drive, your vision are going to make a difference and are going to reverberate for years to come.

No doubt it is not lost on you that you are taking on these jobs at a challenging time. Canadians from coast to coast to coast have been through a roller coaster of ups and downs over the past few years and we and the Canadian public service have felt a lot of those pressures as well. But in many ways, you know what, we are better for it. We are better for what we have been through.

Looking back it is fair to say that nobody really could have predicted how the pandemic was actually going to play out, the extraordinary challenges that we would face as a nation and as a public service and the ways that we would have to respond with virtually no notice. Here we are nearly three years later dealing with a persistent pandemic, a strained healthcare system and now a new set of global and economic challenges.

These have been extraordinary times and they have tested our leaders and called upon all of us to find ways to maintain our personal resilience to be able to go on in the face of all of this while at the same time supporting our teams. N’oubliez pas que le leadership se révèle dans notre réaction aux circonstances auxquelles nous devons faire face. 

J’ai été impressionnée par le leadership que j’ai observé à tous les échelons de la fonction publique au cours des dernières années. Votre attitude positive toujours et votre résilience en tant que dirigeants servent de modèle à vos équipes et à vos collègues. I think energy and resilience is contagious. 

Nous devons tous montrer l’exemple et contribuer à créer des environnements de travail qui inspirent nos employés et qui attirent le meilleur de la fonction publique.
Vous devrez être les dirigeants pour lesquels les gens veulent travailler, avec qui ils veulent collaborer et qu’ils voient comme des modèles dans leur comportement et dans leur travail. 

Je compte sur vous. J’espère que vous allez amener toute votre énergie, vos idées et vos espoirs afin de rendre notre fonction publique aussi merveilleuse que le pays que nous servons. Je sais qu’il y a des moments ou cela peut être difficile mais si vous adoptez un état d’esprit axé sur la croissance, sur le sens des choses qui sont possibles, qui suscite à la fois le bonheur d’apprendre et la résilience, vous serez bien placé pour réussir.

Car à vrai dire l’une des caractéristiques les plus importantes du rôle du dirigeant c’est la capacité de l’adaptation et de changement. Je suis très fière de l’adhésion dans l’ensemble du gouvernement et si bien relever les défis. Vous avez tous fait un travail extraordinaire en répondant aux besoins opérationnels et stratégiques du pays et de nos concitoyens.

Merci. Merci d’avoir accepté d’être aux commandes, d’avoir fait preuve d’adaptabilité et d’être des exemples positifs de dirigeants dont nous avons besoin et nous voulons imiter dans toute la fonction publique. Notre travail de fonctionnaire consiste également à tracer une voie pour renforcer le gouvernement et ses institutions pour l’avenir. Cela inclut le travail de la réconciliation avec les peuples autochtones.

Nous savons qu’il reste beaucoup à faire. Le public et les employés s’attendent de plus en plus à ce que l’on attaque aux injustices sociales telle que le racisme et la discrimination systémique dans nos rangs et globalement dans la société canadienne. La tâche peut sembler intimidante mais je pense qu’il y a actuellement une foule de possibilités qui contribueront à façonner notre manière de travailler à l’avenir pour mieux servir la population canadienne.

You have already shown that you have the right stuff, the skills and the abilities to lead at a time of great change. That great line of the only constant is change is proven over and over again. But change is something that I think is worth leaning into. It can provide amazing opportunities to improve how we do the important work we do, to modernize and simply to be at the forefront of everything your organization is trying to accomplish.

What we want to accomplish is pretty darn ambitious. Colleagues, we share a challenge, the challenge to renew our public service starting by keeping the very best of the lessons we have learned. Over the past two plus years we have learned to move quickly, to be able to adapt with real agility, to mobilize our workforce and equip public servants with the tools they need to work effectively on site and remotely.

We cannot just snap back. We cannot just go back to the old ways, the ways of the pre-pandemic period. We have just seen so many examples that demonstrate we have the skills and capabilities to deliver when Canadians need us most. We have also identified areas that we can do better. The truth is we have already achieved real and meaningful change in our organizations.

That includes everything from delivering services more using digital means, rethinking the need to work in the National Capital region for some roles and being able to better connect right across this amazing country and shortening the path from idea to implementation for so many projects. As a result, we are capable of being even more relevant and accessible for the Canadians we are here to serve.

I want to underscore that last point, about our relevance to Canadians because that gets to the heart of who we are. Providing quality service to Canadians and quality nonpartisan advice to government, that is what earns their trust. We have to re-earn that trust every single day. We cannot lose sight of the importance of this mission. Everyone in this room has an important role to play in this.

The positive work environments that you create as leaders will determine how innovative and how creative and effective we will be as a collective in the future including by attracting new talent, being able to promote diverse skills and welcoming diverse and different perspectives. Pour attirer les futurs talents il faut notamment nous assurer d’avoir une solide vision de l’avenir quant à notre mode de travail et à notre lieu de travail.

En qualité de dirigeants vous devez vous demander comment vous pouvez aider vos équipes à créer leur nouveau modèle de travail et s’y adapter. Nous avons tous travaillé différemment au cours des quelques deux dernières années. Pour certains cela signifiait rester sur place et s’adapter à la façon dont les choses étaient faites. Pour la plupart des autres il s’agissait de passer au télétravail à temps partiel ou à temps plein.

Nous passons maintenant à de nouveaux modèles de travail et sur quoi nous devons nous concentrer c’est mettre en pratique notre modèle pleinement hybride. En tant que nouveaux cadres vous serez en première ligne de la mise en œuvre de ce nouveau modèle. Donc il est essentiel que vous mobilisiez vos équipes et communiquer avec elles pour qu’elles sachent ce que l’on attend d’elles.

I just want to underline this point. I hear from too many public servants, both in their secret emails they write to me and on the Reddit boards on which I am so popular these days, that we still have a manque à gagner, we still have a ways to go to be able to explain what our expectations are why it is so important as public servants to be able to be working together.

There is no substitute for being in a position to be face to face, to be able to work together, to be able to collaborate. Public service is a team sport. It is tough to play a team sport when you are on different courts. Il serait important aussi que vous transmettiez à vos cadres supérieurs ce que vous attendez et comment vous progressez.

Vous devez épauler en même temps tous vos gestionnaires ainsi que vos cadres intermédiaires car on ne peut pas les laisser s’occuper de cela seuls. En votre qualité de cadre vous devez faire preuve du leadership dont nous avons besoin pour soutenir cette transformation sans précédent. I really do believe we have a fantastic opportunity here. We have a chance to shape the operating model for the future. 

If we do not get on with it fast, somebody is going to tell us what to do and that would be a great shame. Another key priority for you as leaders, for all of us is the work required to stamp out racism and discrimination in our public service and work to create a public service that embraces equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility.

I am confident that I do not need to convince any of you of the importance of accelerating these changes, to become a public service where each one of our colleagues and employees feels they can come to work being their whole selves, expecting openness and support from their peers and reaching levels of leadership that for too many have been out of reach and they have been unable to attain.

A public service that truly reflects and represents this great country. The call to action launched by my friend and colleague Ian Shugart in January of 2021 has resonated with public service leaders. It has inspired efforts. It has spurred change. We are seeing deeper collaboration with employee networks and with communities of practice and interests. 

We are seeing greater availability of career development opportunities. We are seeing an increase in the development and use of disaggregated data so we can shape and tailor our strategies and guide our actions. This progress is so encouraging but we are not there yet. We have got to keep going. 

Somewhere in the public service today one of our colleagues felt worn down by the efforts that they had to go through to be able to work to realize their full potential, maybe to navigate the obstacles that are faced with the realities of a system which has embedded in it systemic racism or to find the resilience to confront comments they never should have had to face. I need you to be part of this work and to help create that just and equitable public service that we all want to be part of.

I know I am standing between you and dinner so I am going to get wrapping up here. I am thrilled about the exciting challenges that I know lie ahead of all of you. Challenges are a great thing. I have total confidence that you have what it takes to meet the challenges that are ahead. You have the leadership abilities that are going to guide you along the way.

Let me leave you with a couple of tips though that I have used over time and maybe you will find something here that will be useful for you. The first thing is that leadership is really about building and maintaining constructive relationships, relationships between you and your teams, you and your colleagues, you and your superiors, your clients, your partners, your stakeholders.

What is important when it comes to relationships? It is about communication, being honest and being open about your expectations. Secondly, you are part of a community. Look around. Congratulations. You have got all these new friends. It is fantastic. You have colleagues. You have APEX. You have other resources for executives that you can turn to for advice and support.

Build your network. This is what you are here for tonight. Meet some new people, do not just hang out with the old gang. Lean on your colleagues, ask for help. Ask other seasoned leaders. Everyone in the room that is a deputy minister, associate deputy minister, up goes your hand please. Those are your targets my friends. Excellent. You do not ever have to feel or to be alone.

Third, an effective leader has to focus on the longer term horizon even when they are dealing with the emergencies and the crises and the priorities of today. Because we have got a full job jar. Canada has got a challenge with inflation and economic uncertainty. We are still dealing with an ongoing pandemic and some real struggles in our healthcare system.

The world keeps giving us handfuls of challenges to deal with including the horrific and unlawful invasion of Ukraine by Russia and long term challenges like climate change and the need to protect biodiversity. That is just the short list. Au milieu de ces défis de tous les instants nous nous efforçons d’instaurer la confiance dans les institutions du pays alors que la désinformation et la mésinformation abondent.

Ce n’est qu’un aperçu de l’environnement dans lequel nous travaillons sans relâche pour servir les Canadiens. Enfin il existe différents types de leadership lesquels fonctionnent plus ou moins bien selon vos propres forces, les situations et les besoins de vos équipes. Pour être un dirigeant efficace il faut vraiment réfléchir à votre propre style de leadership, d’être fidèle à vous-même et de vous adapter aux besoins de votre équipe à tout moment dans quelque situation qu’il soit.

Authenticity is really essential. But you have got that. I am confident you have what it takes to get things done no matter the circumstances. Just remember, we are all in this together. We are going to figure it out together. During the Speech from the Throne Governor General Mary Simon, an incredible inspiring leader, said something that resonated with me.

She said, “this decade is still young. With compassion, courage and determination we have the power to make it better than how it started. That can only happen by standing together. Never before has so much depended on your ability to deliver results for Canadians.” She said that to Parliamentarians but I think it equally resonates for us as public service leaders.

Votre arrivée dans le rang de haut fonctionnaire m’encourage vraiment car je sais que vous apportez la passion, l’innovation et des points de vue uniques. J’ai hâte de voir ce que vous allez accomplir et la culture plus positive, diverse et inclusive que vous allez contribuer à bâtir.  This is a tremendous opportunity for you to serve this amazing country and Canadians. You have got this. I cannot wait to see the amazing things you are all going to do. Congratulations.

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