2024-2025 Annual Report to Parliament - Access to Information Act

About this publication

© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister
responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, 2025.

Catalogue No. AC2-15/1E-PDF

ISSN 2817-3732 – 2024-2025 Annual Report to Parliament – Access to Information Act

1. INTRODUCTION

The Access to Information Act enhances the accountability and transparency of federal government institutions to promote an open and democratic society, and to enable public debate on the conduct of those institutions. Part 1 of the act provides the right to access information found within federal government institutions’ records, subject to certain specific and limited exceptions. Part 2 of the act sets out requirements for the proactive publication of various types of information located within federal government institutions that are of interest to the public.

This report is prepared in accordance with section 94 of the act, which requires that the head of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) prepare, for tabling in Parliament, an annual report on the administration of the act. This report is also prepared and tabled in accordance with section 20 of the Service Fees Act.

ACOA’s mandate is to create opportunities for economic growth in Atlantic Canada by helping businesses become more competitive, innovative and productive, by working with diverse communities to develop and diversify local economies, and by championing the strengths of Atlantic Canada. Additional information is available on ACOA’s website.

2. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

The Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Directorate oversees the administration of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act. It consists of a director (ATIP coordinator), an ATIP analyst and an administrative specialist located at ACOA’s head office in Moncton, N.B. The ATIP Directorate is responsible for processing all access and privacy requests and for the development, coordination and implementation of effective policies, guidelines and procedures to manage the Agency’s compliance with the ATIP acts.

ACOA ensures compliance with the legislation through a collaboration between the ATIP Directorate and the branch and regional levels. Each sector and corporate branch has a liaison officer (generally reporting to the deputy minister or an assistant deputy minister) who coordinates the records-retrieval process.

The ATIP Directorate works in collaboration with departmental officials within the Finance and Corporate Services Branch and the Policy, Programs and Communications Branch to fulfill the proactive disclosure requirements found in Part 2 of the act. For a breakdown of the groups responsible for meeting each applicable proactive publication requirement under Part 2 of the act, see section 8 below.

During the reporting period, the ATIP Directorate also reviewed records prepared in response to 143 written parliamentary questions.

The Agency did not enter into any service agreements with another government institution under section 96 of the act during the reporting period.

3. DELEGATION ORDER

For the purpose of the Access to Information Act, the President delegated full authority to the Vice-President, Finance and Corporate Services and Corporate Secretary, and partial authority to the ATIP Coordinator.

A copy of the signed delegation instrument for the Access to Information Act is attached as Annex A.

4. PERFORMANCE 2024-2025

The following information is provided to assist the reader in interpreting the information reported in Annex B and Annex C.

Number of requests received and closed

The Agency received 8 requests in 2024-2025, a considerable decrease from the previous year, when 25 requests were received.

A total of 9 requests were closed, which included 1 outstanding request from 2023-2024. No requests were carried over to the next reporting period.

The following table shows the trend in the number of requests, by source, over the last 10 fiscal years.

Legislated timelines

All requests closed in 2024-2025 were closed within the legislated timelines. The following table provides details on the response times for the past 10 years.

Completion time and disposition

Among the requests closed in 2024-2025, 3 were completed within 1-30 days, 1 within 31-60 days, and 5 within 61-120 days.

Of these requests, records were fully disclosed for 4 requests and disclosed in part for 4 requests; no records existed for 1 request.

Exemptions and exclusions

Only 2 exemptions and no exclusions were invoked in 2024-2025. The exemptions invoked were those related to the sections of the act pertaining to personal information (section 19) and to third-party information (section 20).

Complexities

Records were retrieved in response to 8 of the 9 access requests closed in 2024-2025. No relevant records existed for 1 request. The processing of these requests included the review of 1,611 pages of records, of which 1,608 pages were disclosed in part or in their entirety. Electronic copies of the records were provided in response to all requests.

The following table provides additional information regarding the pages disclosed.

Four requests required that the Agency initiate consultations, as described below.

• 2 notices to third parties pursuant to section 27 of the act;
• 1 consultation with another government institution; and
• 1 consultation with Legal Services.

Extensions

The statutory time limit to respond to requests was extended as follows.

Extensions were taken pursuant to paragraphs:

• 9(1)(a) – where the request was for a large number of records, the request required a search through a large number of records and/or meeting the original time limit would unreasonably interfere with the operations of the Agency;
• 9(1)(b) – where consultations were necessary and could not be completed within the original time limit; and/or
• 9(1)(c) – where notice of the request and of the Agency’s intention to disclose information must be given to third parties pursuant to subsection 27(1) of the act.

Consultations

In 2024-2025, the Agency responded to 17 consultations received from other federal government institutions and provincial governments. These consultations involved the review of 151 pages and were all completed within the required timelines.

5. TRAINING AND AWARENESS ACTIVITIES

The ATIP Directorate provides ongoing advice to Agency officials on the processing of access to information requests and the proactive publication of information as well as the interpretation of the act to ensure the efficient and consistent application of the act by the Agency.

Awareness sessions on the requirements of the Access to Information Act are made available to all employees of the Agency upon request. Many informal briefings were provided to Agency employees who requested information on the requirements of the act during the reporting period.

6. POLICIES, GUIDELINES, PROCEDURES, AND INITIATIVES

The Agency did not implement any new or revised access to information policies, guidelines or procedures during the reporting period.

The selection of a new ATIP case management software was completed in 2024-2025. Onboarding to the new software was initiated and is expected to be completed in the next fiscal year.

7. COMPLAINTS

Requesters may register a complaint with the Office of the Information Commissioner regarding any matter related to the processing of their request.

One complaint related to the search for responsive records was received from the Office of the Information Commissioner pursuant to Section 32 during the reporting period and is still ongoing.

8. PROACTIVE PUBLICATION

The following table sets out the proactive publication requirements found in Part 2 of the act, applicable to ACOA, the Agency’s level of compliance with these requirements, and the links to those publications.

Proactive Publication Requirements Table

9. MONITORING

The ATIP Directorate regularly monitors the timeliness and trends associated with the processing of requests through ongoing communication with department officials. This includes weekly status reports and discussions with Communications, and regional and ministerial liaison offices.

ANNEX A

ANNEX B

Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act

Name of institution: Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

Reporting period: April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025

Section 1: Requests Under the Access to Information Act

1.1  Number of requests

1.2  Sources of requests

1.3  Channels of requests

Section 2: Informal requests

2.1 Number of informal requests

2.2 Channels of informal requests

2.3 Completion time of informal requests

2.4 Pages released informally

2.5 Pages re-released informally

Section 3: Applications to the Information Commissioner on Declining to Act on Requests

Section 4: Requests Closed During the Reporting Period

4.1  Disposition and completion time

4.2 Exemptions

* I.A.:  International Affairs    Def.:  Defence of Canada    S.A.:  Subversive Activities

4.3 Exclusions

4.4  Format of information released

4.5  Complexity

4.5.1  Relevant pages processed and disclosed for paper, e-record and dataset formats

4.5.2  Relevant pages processed per request disposition for paper, e-record and dataset formats by size of requests

4.5.3 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for audio formats

4.5.4 Relevant minutes processed per request disposition for audio formats by size of requests

4.5.5 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for video formats

4.5.6 Relevant minutes processed per request disposition for video formats by size of requests

4.5.7  Other complexities

4.6  Closed requests

4.6.1  Requests closed within legislated timelines

4.7  Deemed refusals

4.7.1  Reasons for not meeting legislated timelines

4.7.2  Requests closed beyond legislated timelines (including any extension taken)

4.8  Requests for translation

Section 5: Extensions

5.1  Reasons for extensions and disposition of requests

5.2  Length of extensions

Section 6: Fees

Section 7: Consultations Received From Other Institutions and Organizations

7.1  Consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions and organizations

7.2  Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions

7.3  Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other organizations outside the Government of Canada

Section 8: Completion Time of Consultations on Cabinet Confidences

8.1  Requests with Legal Services

8.2  Requests with Privy Council Office

Section 9: Investigations and Reports of finding

9.1 Investigations

9.2 Investigations and Reports finding

Section 10: Court Action

10.1 Court actions on complaints

10.2 Court actions on third party notifications under paragraph 28(1)(b)

Section 11: Resources Related to the Access to Information Act

11.1  Allocated Costs

11.2 Human Resources

ANNEX C

Supplemental Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act and Privacy Act

Name of institution: Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

Reporting period: April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025

Section 1: Requests Carried Over and Active Complaints Under the Access to Information Act

1.1 Requests carried over to next reporting period, broken down by reporting period received

1.2 Active complaints with the Information Commissioner of Canada, broken down by reporting period received

Section 2: Requests Carried Over and Active Complaints Under the Privacy Act

2.1 Requests carried over to next reporting period, broken down by reporting period received

2.2 Active complaints with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, broken down by reporting period received

Section 3: Social Insurance Number

Section 4: Universal Access under the Privacy Act