Agriculture in Canada is a shared jurisdiction and the department works with the provinces and territories in the development and delivery of policies and programs.

The minister of agriculture and agri-food (currently Lawrence MacAulay) is responsible for the department to Parliament.

This law gave the chief veterinary inspector, Dr. Duncan McEachran, who was also the dean of medicine at McGill University, authority to prevent the introduction of animal diseases into Canada.

[2] In addition to agriculture, the minister and the department had many other wide-ranging national responsibilities including immigration, public health, censuses and statistics, patents, copyrights, and trademarks.

The department also supports industry by focusing on science and technology advances and helping producers mitigate risks.