CANADA AGRICULTURAL REVIEW TRIBUNAL 4 I am very pleased to submit this first Annual Report, which covers the transition period associated with my appointment as Chairperson of the Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal (Tribunal) for a five-year term. To start with, I would like to thank the Honourable Lawrence MacAuley, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, for his confidence in me. I am very grateful for this extraordinary opportunity, and it is with humility and great pride that I began my work with the Tribunal on July 17, 2017. I am committed to fulfilling the priorities set out in my mandate letter from the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. I also believe that it’s possible to work closely with my partners at the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and those at the Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada (ATSSC), while safeguarding the Tribunal’s independence. When I arrived at the Tribunal, my first observation was how important the organization’s success is to the staff. In addition, the Tribunal now has three members, for the first time in its history, following the appointment of two new part-time members over the last fiscal year. With their respective experiences, Ms. Geneviève Parent and Ms. Marthanne Robson will bring new perspectives that will help advance the Tribunal’s mandate, while ensuring faster processing of requests for review. I strongly feel I am well supported, and I express my most sincere appreciation to the entire team. Central to my priorities is the opportunity to redefine the Tribunal’s mission in order to improve access to justice, especially for self-represented litigants. Also, throughout my term, I intend to put forward an innovation-driven vision, especially through the use of new technologies in order to establish a dynamic, modern tribunal. This will ultimately result in a modernization of the Tribunal’s operations and enhance its image within the administrative tribunal community. Message from the Chairperson To do this, and as a first step, I have identified three priorities to implement in the current fiscal year in order to initiate the Tribunal’s modernization process over the next four years. I believe that implementing these priorities will enable the Tribunal to absorb the significant growth in the workload of all Tribunal staff and members. In support of these priorities, I have already initiated a set of new processes to improve the Tribunal’s operation and efficiency to support the anticipated growth. A cornerstone of these new processes is the introduction of mandatory case management conferences in all cases that require a