Annual Report to Parliament on the Administration of the Access to Information Act 2017-18

Chapter 1 – Report on the Access to Information Act

About Public Safety Canada

The Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness (PSEP) plays a key role in discharging the Government's fundamental responsibility for the safety and security of its citizens. The Minister of PSEP is responsible for the Department. Legislation governing the Department sets out three essential roles: (i) support the Minister's responsibility for all matters related to public safety and emergency management not assigned to another federal organization; (ii) exercise leadership at the national level for national security and emergency preparedness; and (iii) support the Minister's responsibility for the coordination of Public Safety's Portfolio entities.

The Department provides strategic policy advice and support to the Minister of PSEP on a range of issues including: national security, border strategies, countering crime, and emergency management. The Department also delivers a number of grant and contribution programs related to emergency management, national security and community safety.

Public Safety Canada is organized into five branches: Emergency Management and Programs, Community Safety and Countering Crime, Portfolio Affairs and Communications, National and Cyber Security, Corporate Management; it also has a Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive and is supported by the Legal Services Unit. The Department has regional presence in all provinces, as well as in the North, in order to deliver a coordinated federal response to emergencies; facilitate the effective delivery of emergency management, Indigenous policing and crime prevention programs; and improve partnerships with other levels of government and key regional stakeholders.

About the Public Safety Portfolio

The Public Safety Portfolio encompasses nine organizations which directly contribute to the safety and security of Canadians. While Portfolio agencies deliver public security operations according to their mandates, Public Safety Canada, in its portfolio coordination role, brings strategic focus to the overall safety and security agenda. Each organization in the portfolio administers its own access to information and privacy programs, under authorities delegated to them by the Minister.

Public Safety Portfolio

• Public Safety Canada (PS)
• Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)
• Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS)
• Correctional Service of Canada (CSC)
• Parole Board of Canada (PBC)
• Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
• RCMP External Review Committee (ERC)
• Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP (CRCC)
• Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI)

About the Access to Information Act

The Access to Information Act (the Act) was implemented on July 1, 1983. The goal of the Act was to help further the democratic process by promoting transparency and accountability of government to the Canadian citizenry. The Act creates an enforceable right of access to records under the control of a government in accordance with the principles that government information should be available to the public, that necessary exceptions to the right of access should be limited and specific and that decisions with regard to disclosure of government information should be reviewed independently of government.

Section 72 of the Act requires that the head of every government institution submit an annual report to Parliament on the administration of the Act during the financial year. This report outlines how Public Safety Canada administered the Act throughout the fiscal year.

The Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Office

The ATIP Office is part of Public Safety Canada's ATIP and Executive Services Division within the Department's Portfolio Affairs and Communications Branch. The Director of ATIP and Executive Services, supported by one Administrative Assistant, is responsible for ATIP as well as Ministerial Correspondence and Secretariat Services. The ATIP Office consists of 12 full-time positions with two streams of ATIP-related work: (1) the ATIP Operations Unit consisting of one ATIP Manager, two Team Leaders, five Analysts, one Junior Analyst, and one Administrative Officer; and, (2) the Privacy Policy and Training Unit (PPTU) consisting of one Team Leader and one Advisor.

The ATIP Office is responsible for the coordination and implementation of policies, guidelines and procedures to ensure departmental compliance with the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act. The team is also responsible for responding to requests made under the Acts, as well as providing the following services to the Department:

• Processing consultations received from other institutions;
• Providing advice and guidance to employees and senior officials on ATIP related matters;
• Producing the Annual Reports to Parliament;
• Delivering ATIP awareness sessions to departmental employees;
• Coordinating regular updates to Info Source manuals;
• Reviewing departmental documents, such as audits and evaluations, prior to proactively disclosing these on the departmental website;
• Developing departmental procedures for processing ATIP requests;
• Maintaining the Department's ATIP reading room; and
• Participating in forums for the ATIP community, such as the Treasury Board Secretariat's ATIP Community meetings and working groups.

Delegation of Authority

During the reporting period, the ATIP Office operated under the delegation order signed by the Minister on January 8, 2016, delegating his powers and responsibilities under the Access to Information Act.

Training

The ATIP Office provided 12 training or information sessions on the Access to Information Act and Privacy Act regardingretrieving and reviewing records in response to an Access to Information (ATI) request, Privacy Impact Assessments, and the new Statement of Completeness. 225 people were trained at these sessions.

New or Revised Policies, Guidelines or Procedures

Public Safety has been closely monitoring the introduction of An Act to Amend the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act (Bill C-58). PS is preparing new policies and procedures to comply with the proposed changes put forth in Bill C-58.

Challenges/Complexities

Public Safety's ATIP office has experienced several significant challenges.

• Due to Public Safety Canada's policy coordination role, consultations and cross-referencing must take place to properly review responsive records. Extensions are often required on requests.
• Consultations with other government departments are resulting in lengthy extensions based on their estimates to respond.
• The complexity of the requests received remains a challenge.
• The ATIP Office continues to notice an increase in overly broad requests.
• Public Safety maintained a 99.5% on time rate while reviewing approximately 80,500 pages. The files that have been carried over into next fiscal year include approximately 235,000 pages; approximately three times the total pages processed this fiscal year. It is anticipated the review of these records will remain a significant challenge to the operations of the ATIP Office, given the complexity and volume of the records.
• The sharing of highly classified information with other ATIP offices has presented itself to be a challenge as not all offices have networks that can securely handle these records. These materials must then be hand delivered, creating inefficiency in both time and resources.
• Staff turnover also presented a challenge, with turnover in 7 of the total 14 positions (including the Director and their Administrative Assistant) during the fiscal year.

Key Issues Raised as a Result of Complaints/Investigations/Audits

Public Safety Canada received notice of 9 new complaints to the Office of the Information Commissioner. There was one complaint related to exemptions, one related to excluded information, four related to denial of access, one related to delay (deemed refusal), one related to the duty to assist, and one related to time extensions.

Public Safety Canada received 11 complaint findings this year. Of these, there were two discontinued, two well founded, five considered resolved, and two were not well founded.

There have been no patterns or trends identified by Public Safety Canada as a result of complaints or investigations by the Office of the Information Commissioner.

Monitoring Performance

Five recurring reports are prepared for the information of Senior Management: The Weekly ATIP Report; the Quarterly Branch Performance Report; the Completed Request Report; the Upcoming Access to Information (ATI) Release Report; and the New Request Report.

The Weekly ATIP Report identifies the new formal ATI requests received by the department each week and the deadlines assigned for retrieval/recommendations from branches. It also provides news on issues of interest such as new policies, receipt and resolution of complaints, etc. The Weekly ATIP Report is presented at the weekly Executive Committee Meeting.

The Quarterly Branch Performance Report provides Branches with their on-time response to ATI taskings, and is included as news in the Weekly ATIP Report. Quarterly Branch Performance Reports are rolled-up at the end of the year to provide an overall average of each Branch's on-time response.

The Completed Request Report provides a list of all closed files for a two week period. The Upcoming ATI Release Report provides a list of ATI requests that will be completed in the upcoming week. The New Request Report provides a list of new requests received during the reporting week. These reports are made available for the information of the Minister's Office and the Communications Directorate via a secure departmental portal.

In its commitment to transparency and accountability, Public Safety Canada posts summaries of completed ATI requests on the Open Government website. In addition, ATIP performance is monitored at the ADM level through their Performance Management Agreements to ensure ATIP is a priority within the department.

Appeals to the Court

There was one appeal to the Federal Court that was included in the 2008-2009 Annual Report to Parliament. The matter is ongoing.

Chapter II – Access to Information Act Statistical Report

Summary

Public Safety Canada received 421 requests this fiscal year under the Access to Information Act, an increase of approximately one per cent over the previous year. Public Safety Canada completed 99.5 per cent of the requests on time, the twelfth consecutive year of over 90 per cent on time completion. The average number of days to process a request was 66 days, with 49 per cent of all requests completed within 30 days.

Overall Workload Trends

Appendix B provides a summarized statistical report on Access to Information Act requests processed by Public Safety Canada between April 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018. The following section provides an overview and interpretation of this information. The figures below include formal Access to Information and Privacy requests and consultations received from other institutions.

Overall, the number of requests received has decreased by 4.6% over the 2016-17 fiscal year, and increased by 7.0% over the 2015-16 fiscal year. 

*Note: In 2014-2015, the reporting structure at Public Safety changed resulting in informal requests no longer counting as part of this table.

Requests Received under the Access to Information Act

Public Safety Canada received 421 new Access to Information Act requests through the fiscal year, representing an increase of approximately one per cent over the number of requests received the previous year (417). There were 89 requests carried forward from the previous fiscal year, resulting in a total of 510 requests to process. Of these requests, 417 were completed during the reporting year, while the remaining 93 requests were carried forward to the next reporting year.

Source of Requests

The media was the primary source of requests received by Public Safety Canada. Of the 421 requests received, the media comprised 53 per cent (224) of requesters. Members of the public accounted for 13 per cent of requests (54); four per cent were received from academia (18); and, six per cent were received from organizations (27). Eight per cent of requests were submitted from businesses (36) and another 15 per cent from those who declined to identify (62).

Extensions

Section 9 of the Access to Information Act allows institutions to extend the legal deadline for processing a request if a search for responsive records cannot be completed within 30 days of receipt of the request due to interference with operations, or if the institution must consult with other institutions or third parties.

Public Safety Canada plays a role in coordinating activities involving federal institutions within the Public Safety portfolio as well as with other organizations at all levels of government on matters relating to the safety of Canadians. Extensions are therefore often necessary in order to undertake the required consultations. Extensions taken for these types of consultations resulted in 39 files being extended for 30 days or less, 54 extended for 31 to 60 days, 79 extended for 61 to 120 days, 17 extended for 121 to 180 days, eight extended for 181 to 365 days, and zero extended for 365 days or more.

Extensions taken because of interference with operations resulted in 23 files being extended for 30 days or less, 12 extended for 31 to 60 days, ten extended for 61 to 120 days, three extended for 121 to 180 days, three extended for 181 to 365 days, and one extended for 365 days or more.

Information on completion times

This fiscal year, 49 per cent of requests under the Access to Information Act were completed within 30 days which represents a slight decrease from last fiscal year's 53 per cent. The average number of days taken to process a request was 66 days which is slightly more than last fiscal year's average of 53 days.

Consultations completed

Public Safety Canada received 256 new consultation requests under the Access to Information Act. There were 16 requests carried forward from the previous fiscal year, resulting in a total of 272 requests to process. Of these requests, 260 were completed during the reporting year, while the remaining 12 requests were carried forward to the next reporting year.

Appendix A – Delegation of Authority for the Access to Information Act

Appendix B – Statistical Report for 2017-2018 on the Access to Information Act

Part 1: Requests Under the Access to Information Act

Part 2: Requests Closed During the Reporting Period

2.5 Complexity

2.6 Deemed refusals

Part 3: Extensions

Part 4: Fees

Part 5: Consultations Received From Other Institutions and Organizations

Part 6: Completion Time of Consultations on Cabinet Confidences

Part 7: Complaints and Investigations

Part 8: Court Action

Part 9: Resources Related to the Access to Information Act

Date modified:

2018-10-02