Annual Report to Parliament on the Access to Information Act, 2023 to 2024

1. Introduction

The Access to Information Act (ATIA) provides the Canadian public with a broad right of access to information in records under the control of a government institution. This is in accordance with the principles that government information should be available to the public and that necessary exceptions to the right of access should be limited and specific.
Section 94 of the ATIA requires that the Head of every federal government institution submits an Annual Report to Parliament on the administration of this Act over the fiscal year. The Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs has delegated the administration of the ATIA, including the reporting of the Annual Report, to the Commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC).
This report describes how CSC fulfilled its access to information responsibilities during the reporting period Fiscal Year (FY) period of April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024. The Annual Report is prepared and tabled in accordance with section 20 of the Service Fees Act.

Our institution did not have any non-operational (“paper”) subsidiaries during this reporting period.

2. Organizational structure

2.1 About the Correctional Service of Canada

The purpose of the federal correctional system, as defined in law, is to contribute to the maintenance of a just, peaceful and safe society by carrying out sentences for offenders sentenced to 2 years or more imposed by courts. This is done through the safe and humane custody and supervision of offenders, and by assisting the rehabilitation of offenders and their safe reintegration into the community as law-abiding citizens through the provision of programs in penitentiaries and in the community (Corrections and Conditional Release Act [CCRA], section 3).
CSC works closely with its Public Safety portfolio partners, including:

• the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
• the Parole Board of Canada (PBC)
• the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), and
• the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS)
• in addition to oversight bodies including the Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI)

2.2 The Access to Information and Privacy Division

The Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Division reports to the Director General of Rights, Redress and Resolution under the Policy Sector and has 8 units:

• Intake, Processing and Retention (ATIP Administrative Team)
• Access to Information Operations
• Privacy Operations
• Policy and Governance
• Disclosure and Law Enforcement
• ATIP Transformation (Backlog)
• Strategic Compliance, Reporting and Client Management
• ATIPXPress Migration

The Intake, Processing and Retention Unit (IPRU), is responsible for processing incoming requests, generating routine correspondence, tasking retrievals of records to Offices of the Primary Interest (OPIs), fostering the quality assurance of the ATIP process, preparing final release packages, responding to inquiries received on ATIP’s Toll Free number
(1-844-757-8031), and providing general support to the office.

The Access to Information Operations team is responsible for reviewing records under the ATIA, conducting consultations with internal and external stakeholders, applying exemptions and exclusions, preparing release packages for requesters, and responding to complaints from the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC).

The Privacy Operations team processes formal and informal requests under the Privacy Act (PA) and responds to complaints from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC). This team has been organized into 3 teams:

1. The Privacy Urgent Team is responsible for responding to urgent formal privacy requests (for example, documents requested by offenders/requesters or their representatives for upcoming parole hearings, court purposes or other legal proceedings where time is of the essence, and where the individual consents to release of their personal information)
2. The Strategic Privacy Response Team (SPRT) Team is responsible for reviewing offender records related to health care, employment, admission and discharge, visits and correspondence, and education and training
3. The Privacy Complaint Team is responsible for responding to delay and access complaints received by the OPC and to any judicial review applications related to these complaints

The Policy and Governance Unit (PGU) acts as a single point of contact for privacy within CSC. It develops privacy policies, guidelines, tools and procedures to support ATIP requirements within CSC. In addition, the unit provides advice, guidance and support regarding ATIP legislation and related policies; promotes privacy awareness; and manages privacy breaches, and any improper collection, use and disclosure complaints filed with the OPC. The unit also oversees Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs); reviews Memoranda of Understanding, Information Sharing Agreements, contracts, forms and Commissioner’s Directives; and delivers privacy training. The PGU is also responsible for the informal review of disciplinary, harassment and workplace violence reports for the department. This also includes complex privacy requests related to investigations as well as other sensitive files such as public interest disclosures.

The Disclosure and Law Enforcement Team (DLET) oversees releases under 8(2) of the PA, including files for litigation; dangerous offender applications and long-term supervision orders; other court purposes; and on-going investigations.

The ATIP Transformation Teams (Backlog Teams) is responsible for processing files from the ATIP Division’s backlog, including assessing areas of ATIP operations that could be streamlined to foster efficiencies in addressing current legacy requests and preventing future backlog of requests.

The Strategic Compliance, Reporting and Client Management Team (SCRCM) is responsible for collecting, analyzing and presenting information using various search engines and data tools to support ATIP in its reporting requirements (including the ATIP Annual Reports) and compliance rates. When fully operational, this team will also be responsible for managing the ATIP Division’s relationships with its clients and build on the existing work to promote and foster a culture of client satisfaction within CSC’s ATIP Division.

The ATIPXPress Migration Team is responsible to find or develop modern software solutions to assist the Rights Redress and Resolution Branch to increase productivity and efficiency through the use of new technological solutions.
In addition, each sector, region, institution, district, parole office and community correctional centre has an ATIP liaison who assists the national ATIP Division in administering its overall responsibilities.
During the 2023 to 2024 fiscal year, there were 5.2 employees dedicated to access to information activities as follows:

• 4 full-time employees
• 1.2 part-time employee

CSC was not party to any service agreements under section 96 of the ATIA during this reporting period.

2.3 Initiatives and priorities

This section will outline CSC’s initiatives and priorities for ATIP, and unless otherwise noted is referring to both the ATIA and the PA, as well as both formal requests and informal requests such as information sharing with our public safety partners.
The highest proportion of ATIP requests are Privacy requests. These account for 93% of the total workload, while Access requests represent about 7% of all ATIP requests.
CSC has launched many initiatives to address its challenges and better position ATIP for the future. CSC developed an ambitious Strategic Action Plan with the following objectives:

• Gradually increase ATIA and PA compliance rates to attain the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) compliance standards
• Increase customer satisfaction
• Ensure production outpaces requests
• Minimize and eventually eliminate existing backlog requests
• Reduce the number and frequency of complaints submitted by requesters to both the OIC and OPC
• Sustain productivity to prevent future backlog of requests; and
• Take measures to become an employer of choice and a leader in the ATIP Community

CSC continues to implement this action plan, with focus on our resources and people, our infrastructure, our culture and practices and our results.
While our performance continues to improve, CSC continues to manage similar challenges to the previous year, which include:

• A persistent backlog: 6.3 million pages at the end of fiscal year 2023 to 2024. An average of 2 million pages (7,000 requests) received annually, with 1.8 million pages (7,243 requests) received in 2023 to 2024
• A high number of historical backlog files, some dating back to 2014
• An increase in requests for review of high risk and sensitive files (for example, litigation files)
• A disproportionally low number of staff to respond to the demands; however significant hiring was completed and further staffing processes are underway
• Requests becoming increasingly more complex, multi-faceted, inter-connected (multiple requests submitted by same requestor – largely from offenders or their legal counsel)
• A limited interest on the part of offenders to use their Case Management Team as an immediate source of request for information on their files, which drives formal ATIP requests for information
• Technology challenges (for example, Protected B server not suitable for Protected C or Secret documents and inmates with no access to internet)
• Staff turnover due to heavy workload, high stress and multiple competing priorities
• A shortage of ATIP experts broadly in the federal community thereby leading to competition with other employers and ATIP community both in public and private agencies

Despite these challenges, CSC has achieved many successes and has many initiatives underway, which include the following:

1. Increase in production: Production outpaces incoming workload

In fiscal year 2023 to 2024, ATIP received a total of 1,849,204 pages and processed a total of 3,256,410 pages, including all request types (Access requests, Privacy requests and informal requests including information sharing). The continued productivity is a positive step towards eliminating backlog and improving CSC’s compliance rate.
The following table and graph will show CSC’s overall production, including formal and informal requests under both Acts, and including both pages processed and pages resolved (abandoned, not relevant, etcetera)

Figure 1: Production in previous fiscal years

CSC aims to increase and maintain efficiency in processing ATIP requests, eliminate the current backlog, avoid accumulating further legacy requests while improving CSC’s compliance rate. To achieve this goal, the ATIP Division production must continue to outpace the number of requests received.

2. Information sharing with partners

CSC’s Disclosure and Law Enforcement Team (DLET) is responsible for engaging with Provincial and Territorial Crown Attorneys, Law Enforcement agencies and other public safety organizations to exchange information to foster public safety and protection of Canadians. This fiscal year, CSC’s DLET responded to 497 requests, including processing 521,243 pages, to requesting agencies. While these are not formal requests under the ATIA or the PA, they are an important function of ATIP to meet CSC’s disclosure and information sharing requirements with its criminal justice and law enforcement partners.
CSC has also been working with crown prosecutors across Canada to streamline information sharing and to ensure we have lawful authority to share personal information regarding dangerous offender and long-term supervision order cases. This includes preventing broad information sharing, especially where an individual has reached warrant expiry. The ultimate goal is to put a memorandum of understanding in place to clarify what information can be shared and when, and when a production order will be required.

3. Informal Sharing Pilot project

In partnership with the National Headquarters (NHQ) Policy Sector (Rights, Redress and Resolution Branch); the Prairie Region hosted the Informal Sharing Pilot project at Stony Mountain Institution, Bowden Institution and Saskatchewan Penitentiary through a staggered implementation. The purpose of the pilot was to establish a preliminary working model for informal sharing at the site level, which was supported by a dedicated staff at each site who provided support to offenders on the process and tips on how to refine and clearly define their request. This process was used as a measure to gauge the efficacy of current practices, develop recommendations for key business processes and evaluation tools to support the implementation of a long-term informal sharing solution and to inform the establishment of a digitization business model. The pilot process involved 5 specific file banks and was applied in cases in which the offender chose to engage their Case Management Team to collect the requested information in place of a formal ATIP request. Data analysis indicates 132 requests were submitted via the informal process, with 4,613 pages requested and 4,268 released. The quality of submissions and the overall number of pages relating to PA requests have also been impacted as there was significantly less requests for “full” file banks.
This pilot produced several recommendations and future considerations which CSC is currently exploring, such as the removal of full file bank, checkboxes in the Request form, training for ATIP site staff and other correctional staff such as Parole Officers, development of a site intranet page for ATIP and Informal Sharing, etc.

4. Pilot Project with the Department of Justice

In 2021 to 2022, the ATIP Division and CSC Legal Services Unit (LSU), in conjunction with the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched a Pilot Project entitled the Disclosure Review Process (DRP) 2.0 for litigation files. The DRP outlines which file banks can be processed by DOJ and which review by DLET or PGU. This approach prevents “double-work” for example, where files are reviewed more than once or where second reviews are unnecessary. DOJ lawyers are trained to recognize personal information and protect it if it is not relevant for court purposes. As such, there is no value added for them to consult the ATIP Division to confirm and identify personal information included in these files. However, DOJ consults the DLET to obtain expert advice on complex files involving security matters. In 2023 to 2024, nearly 54,000 pages have been reviewed by DOJ. The pilot is anticipated to end in fiscal year 2024 to 2025 and the DRP process will become formalized.

5. Transforming our inventory of backlog files

This fiscal year, CSC took significant steps to address our inventory of older files (backlog), including:

• Generating 2,927 backlog notification letters to verify with requesters whether they are still interested in the requested files. Of those requests, 2,023 were resolved totaling 632,284 pages
• Resolving all requests where the requester (offender) has reached their Warrant Expiry (no longer under CSC supervision) and did not leave CSC with their updated contact information. This project allowed CSC to close 1,228 requests totaling 277,997 pages
• To reduce the number of Preventive Security (PS) paper files, the Transformation Team started targeting PS files for this project; and
• The Transformation Team reviewed and closed 20 video requests and an additional 22 were resolved. The total number of video minutes received was 2,219, and the team reviewed 2,219 minutes and released 1,864 minutes of video. CSC took 660 hours to review these videos

6. Managing Protected C documents: “Protected C” pilot project

In collaboration with Security Intelligence Officers (SIO) from various sites, the Transformation Team began a Preventive Security pilot project to modernize and streamline the process for processing Preventive Security requests. These files are largely Protected C and have been processed on paper in the past due to security limitations on CSC’s regular network. The process was streamlined to allow CSC to address Protected C documents digitally on appropriate equipment thus allowing CSC to share the redacted Protected C pages with the SIO via the secure SINET network. This has allowed CSC to significantly decrease the number of pages shared with the SIO for review to only the Protected C pages, saving them considerable time and allowing them to provide any additional security concerns to ATIP efficiently. This streamlined process has eliminated the time and cost associated with sending printed copies back and forth between ATIP and the institutions. CSC has also updated the process of separating the Protected B and Protected C pages by creating a triaging process. The creation of a secure space on the SINET network for ATIP specifically will also allow CSC to implement the document triaging from the onset of the retrieval phase. CSC engaged the SIOs and provided information on this new process as well as creating a database of contact information for each institution to provide requests to SIOs for review. To date, there are 34 files nearing completion for this project and the results have been positive for both ATIP and the SIOs. CSC anticipates implementing this process permanently by 2025.

 7. ATIPXPress Migration

Similar to other federal departments, CSC has been using AccessPro Case Management (APCM), an ATIP software for the management of both internal and external ATIP requests since the mid-2000s. APCM will soon become a legacy application, and as a result, there is a need to modernize. To this end, CSC is in the process of implementing the ATIPXPress software.
Following the procurement of licenses in November 2022, CSC created a project team to implement the ATIPXPress system at CSC. Given the size of the project, the ATIPXPress Migration Team designed a system architecture, built 2 environments to host the system, configured and tested ATIPXPress to meet the ATIP Division’s business requirements and developed a training program for its employees.
The project team has successfully configured and tested the system to meet the essential requirements of the ATIP Division. CSC will be proceeding with a pilot project launch of the ATIPXPress system at the end of the first quarter of 2024 to 2025. The pilot project will include a small processing team that will address low-risk requests that are fast to process to ensure that the configuration and the system meet all of CSC’s business requirements. At the end of the second quarter, the project will onboard the entire ATIP office in a phased approach. It is worth noting that a short list of defects was submitted to the vendor and corrections are scheduled to be delivered in late summer of 2024. We are confident that the implementation of the new ATIPXPress in 2024 to 2025 will increase CSC’s ATIP division’s productivity and effectiveness to respond to all our requesters.
As an early adopter of the new Request Processing Software Solution, CSC has been very supportive in helping other departments migrate toward the new system. CSC has co-chaired a Community of Practice group to share best practices and lessons learned during the implementation with departments who are at the early stages of their project. CSC is also working closely with the vendor to assist them in developing and enhancing the system to better meet the needs of the ATIP community.

8. Other successes

The ATIP Division has made progress in several other areas that are important to highlight:

• File room clean up: The IPRU team has made significant progress in reducing ATIP’s physical footprint by destroying old physical files that have met their retention date
• Despite limited resources, the Privacy Urgent Team is responding to court and judicial review requests on time
• Revised 176 template letters in preparation for ATIPXPress
• CSC continues to have a collaborative work relationship with the OPC and the OIC by meeting with their offices on a regular basis to identify priorities and ensure good communication; and
• Multiple teams (SPRT, Privacy Urgent, IPRU, Privacy Complaints) worked collaboratively to complete a high-profile and high-volume request for judicial review that was due to court on September 2023. The teams managed to complete the request by July 2023

Goals and vision moving forward

In the 2024 to 2025 fiscal year, the ATIP Division will turn its focus to:

• Increasing customer satisfaction
• Ensuring production continues to outpace new requests
• Minimizing and eventually eliminating the existing backlog
• Sustaining productivity to prevent future backlogs
• Examining options to avoid future workload increases
• Researching and implementing digitization of services
• Providing training and awareness to prevent beaches of personal information and increase employees’ ATIP knowledge
• Complementing its previous work on resolving backlog requests by also focusing on current requests to better meet TBS compliance standards. In addition, we are refocusing our efforts on backlog requests to more recent late files. This is expected to result in fewer complaints, allowing CSC to focus even more resources on current files
• Adding a Director, ATIP Modernization, Disclosure and Law Enforcement position to support the management of the specialized teams in order to adequately increase its compliance with its statutory obligations under both the ATIA and PA
• In collaboration with Legal Services, CSC is drafting procedures for Faint Hope and judicial review applications
• DLET will work with LSU and litigators to create guidelines for the Disclosure Review Process
• Complete the migration of AccessPro platform to ATIPXPress to enhance ATIP’s capacity to respond to information requests by requesters; and
• Increasing capacity by creating a video and audio review team

3. Delegation order 2023 to 2024

The Commissioner of CSC is responsible for the administration of the ATIA. The Minister delegates this authority to members of departmental senior management, including the ATIP Division Departmental Coordinator (ATIP Director), to carry out their powers, duties and functions under the Act, in relation to ATIP requests. Certain authorities are delegated to positions in the ATIP Division at NHQ as shown in Appendix A of this report.

4. Performance 2023 to 2024

4.1 Requests processed under the Access to Information Act

In 2023 to 2024, CSC received 489 ATIA requests, which represents a 46% increase from the previous year. A total of 512 requests were carried over from the previous reporting years, totaling 1,001 requests requiring processing in 2023 to 2024. CSC responded to 407 access to information requests, representing 41% of the total number of requests received and outstanding from the previous reporting periods. Please refer to Appendix B for the Statistical Report.

Figure 2: Access to information request workload

This graph shows the total workload of access to information requests as a sum of requests received during the reporting period and requests outstanding from the previous reporting period. The line illustrates the trend of files closed. As the graph outlines, while the number of access to information requests had been relatively stable over the years, the current fiscal year saw a slight increase. Efficiencies and resources continue to be implemented to address the long-standing backlog and the current workload.

4.2 Disposition of requests

Of the 407 requests completed during the 2023 to 2024 reporting period, 92 requests were full disclosures; 170 were partial disclosures; 8 were withheld in their entirety; no records existed for 82; 1 was a request transfer; 52 were abandoned by the requesters; 2 were neither confirmed nor denied and none were declined to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner. In summary, 23% of the requests were full disclosures and 42% were partial disclosures. In total, 117,591 pages were processed.

Figure 3: Disposition of requests

4.3 Exemptions and exclusions

There were 390 exemptions and 7 exclusions applied during this reporting period. Most exemptions invoked by CSC were under 4 subsections of the ATIA:

• Subsection 19(1) was applied in 158 cases (41%) to protect personal information of individuals
• Subsection 21(1) was applied in 64 cases (16%) to protect information relating to operations of government
• Subsection 16(1) was applied in 53 cases (14%) to protect information relating to law enforcement and investigations
• Subsection 20(1) was applied in 51 cases (13%) to protect third party information

Table 2: A complete breakdown of the exemptions and exclusions applied during this reporting period

4.4 Extensions

A total of 119 extensions were taken for closed requests this reporting period. This represents a significant increase in extensions taken for closed requests in comparison to the previous fiscal year (88). Most of the extensions were taken due to a large volume of records (97), and the others were due to required consultation (21) and third-party notice (1).

4.5 Completion time

During the reporting period, CSC completed 110 requests in 30 days or less; 88 requests between 31 and 60 days; 71 requests between 61 and 120 days; 25 requests between 121 to 180 days; and 113 requests completed in over 180 days.

Figure 4: Completion time

4.6 Deemed refusals

During this fiscal year, there was a decrease in the number of requests deemed as refusal – 62% of the requests (251) were closed beyond the legislated timeline, representing a 7% decrease from 2022 to 2023 (270). 

Figure 5: Number of requests closed past the legislated timeline (Deemed refusals)

4.7 Outstanding requests

As of the last day of the reporting period, 594 requests were outstanding and were carried over to the 2024 to 2025 reporting period. Of those 594 requests, 249 were received during this fiscal year, whereas 69 were received during the previous fiscal year 2022 to 2023. Also, 4 outstanding requests were initially received in 2015 to 2016 or earlier; 0 were received in 2016 to 2017; 8 were received in 2017 to 2018; 25 were received in 2018 to 2019; 48 were received in in 2019 to 2020; 72 were received in 2020 to 2021; and 119 were received in 2021 to 2022. A total of 395 of those requests were beyond the legislated timelines as of March 31, 2024, of which 87 (22%) were received during the fiscal year 2023 to 2024. A total of 199 outstanding requests were still considered to be within legislated timelines as of March 31, 2024

Figure 6: Number of active requests by reporting period

4.8 Outstanding active complaints

During this reporting period, CSC received a total of 34 complaints, representing a decrease in the number of complaints received during the last fiscal year (57 complaints in 2022 to 2023). Of those 34 complaints, 19 remained active and were carried over to the next fiscal year 2024 to 2025. Other complaints carried over to fiscal year 2024 to 2025 include: 3 complaints received during fiscal year 2022 to 2023, 5 complaints received in 2021 to 2022, and 2 complaints received in 2020 to 2021.
Most access complaints received during this reporting period are related to delay/time limit complaints.

4.9 Informal requests

During the reporting period, 229 informal requests were received. A total of 1,029 requests were carried over from previous reporting years, totaling 1,258 informal requests requiring processing in 2023 to 2024. Informal requests included requests for previously released access to information packages. A total of 112 informal requests were closed during 2023 to 2024. During this fiscal year, the total number of pages re-released was 13,973.

4.10 Consultations from other institutions and organizations

The ATIP Division’s workload involves responding to consultations in response to formal requests received by other institutions and organizations. CSC works closely with its partners in the Public Safety portfolio such as CBSA, RCMP, CSIS, PBC and OCI to respond to consultations in a timely fashion. CSC is consulted on such subjects as court cases, offender grievances, OCI matters, offender files, and deported individuals.
During the 2023 to 2024 reporting period, the number of consultations completed was 77, and the number of pages reviewed was 3,411.

5. Training and awareness

CSC offered several training and awareness sessions in this period. In general, the sessions covered both Access to Information and Privacy topics, with some variance based on the training participants.
The ATIP Division plays a fundamental role in developing and delivering training to employees at NHQ, Regional Headquarters and at the institutional level across Canada, as well as the ATIP staff, on ATIP related matters. The PGU also continues to provide advice, and address questions and concerns regarding training, policy and guidelines, and interpretations of the Acts through its generic email account. Through the use of these email accounts, CSC staff is provided with a single point of contact to increase their knowledge of the ATIP legislation and related policies.
During this fiscal year, the ATIP Division has focused on updating internal training materials for its staff and are preparing to increase its capacity to provide training and awareness on ATIP matters in the 2024 to 2025 fiscal year. During this reporting period, the ATIP Division was involved in informal information sessions, informal trainings, and awareness sessions. More specifically, the DLET team and LSU led an informal information session with the Correctional Operations and Programs Sector, regional ATIP Liaisons, Regional Administrators, Communications and Executive Services and CSC’s Preventive Security Intelligence to explain DLET’s mandate and key activities in sharing information with provincial partners such as Crowns, police and with LSU in case of litigation. There were 60 participants that attended this session.
In addition, there were 6 presentations delivered by staff at the Prairie Region Regional Headquarters about ATIP awareness. One was provided to the Chiefs of Mental Health, 1 to the Regional Psychology Department, 1 to the Regional Psychiatric Centre, 1 to Social Workers, 1 to Grade 9 students, and 1 to Bowden Institution’s Mental Health Team. Staff in the Pacific Region also delivered 5 training sessions about general ATIP topics to management teams. On average, there were 10 to 15 people that attended the sessions.

6. Policies, guidelines and procedures

There were no new or revised institution-specific policies, guidelines and procedures related to access to information that were implemented during the reporting period. 

7. Proactive publication under Part 2 of the ATIA

CSC is a government institution for the purposes of part 2 of the ATIA. As such, it is subject to sections 82 to 90 of the ATIA.

As a result of Bill C-58: An Act to amend the Access to Information and Privacy Acts receiving Royal Assent on
June 21, 2019, the ATIP Division continues to work closely with Parliamentary Relations and other stakeholders on proactive publications. A total of 6 requests for proactive publication were received this fiscal year. All 6 were processed and closed. Of these, 4 (66.6%) were closed on time and 2 (33.4%) were late.

CSC’s published proactive publication requirements during the 2023 to 2024 fiscal year can be found at
Proactive disclosure | Open Government - Government of Canada. We also provide links on our website, at
Proactive Disclosure - Canada.ca.

Table 3: Proactive publication requirements table

8. Summary of key issues and actions taken on complaints

CSC’s ATIP Division has made significant progress to reduce its Access complaints with the following measures:

• The ATIP Division continued to prioritize providing timely responses by the 2 Access Teams
• The ATIP Division has monthly meetings with the OIC to discuss priority files and resolve issues prior to the section 37 orders, findings and recommendations. This allows CSC to focus its resources where they will be most effective
• The ATIP Division has continued to make use of a divisional complaints coordinator in order to work closely with the OIC to respond to formal complaints and queries using a single point of contact
• The ATIP Division created action plans tailored to complete requests that are the subject of Time Limits complaints
• In order to resolve the complaints, new searches are conducted, information is consulted further and disclosed additional records to requesters when possible; and
• In 2024 to 2025, the Access Teams will conduct a pilot to redistribute some administrative work such as record retrieval to other levels to permit analysts to focus on analytical work. This will bring Access more in line with how Privacy Teams already function. In previous years, the Access Team analysts have been performing record retrieval themselves, which reduces their productivity in terms of pages compared to analysts who review Privacy files as significant portions of each day are dedicated to administrative tasks and not file review. The expected result of this pilot is that Access Team Analysts can review more pages per day therefore increasing their productivity, better using their skills, and improving CSC’s compliance for Access requests

9. Reporting on the access to information fees for the purposes of the Service Fees Act

The Service Fees Act requires a responsible authority to report annually to Parliament on the fees collected by the institution.
With respect to fees collected under the ATIA, the information below is reported in accordance with the requirements of the Service Fees Act, section 20.

• Enabling authority: ATIA
• Fee payable: $2,005 (The $5.00 application fee is the only fee charged for an ATI request.)
• Total revenue: $2,005
• Fees waived: $175 (In accordance with the Interim Directive on the Administration of the Access to Information Act, issued on May 5, 2016, CSC waives all fees prescribed by the Act and Regulations, other than the $5 application fee set out in paragraph 7(1)(a) of the Regulations.)
• Cost of operating the ATIP program: $8,260,856

10. Monitoring compliance

The SCRCM produces weekly reports for senior management that outlines various outputs, including the number of requests received, closed and outstanding. The SCRCM also generates ad hoc reports to monitor and report on strategic areas or “quick wins” with the objective of identifying trends and measuring performance to increase compliance with legislated timeframes. Statistics related to the PGU’s ATIP’s tasks are shared with ATIP’s Director and with the ATIP Director and the Rights, Redress and Resolutions’ Director General on a weekly basis.
CSC is limiting its inter-institutional consultation to only when required for the proper exercise of discretion or when there is an intention to disclose. CSC-ATIP will only perform an inter-institutional consultation if the subject matter truly is outside of the subject matter expertise within CSC. The monitoring takes place on a case-by-case basis and is decided by the Team Leader and Deputy Director. Monitoring access consultations and access informal disclosures takes place on a case-by-case basis by the Access Team Leader and Access Deputy Director.
Additionally, CSC-ATIP will perform an informal disclosure of documents previously requested under the ATIA upon request. A cursory review is performed to ensure that personal information belonging to the original requester is redacted in subsequent informal releases.
CSC-ATIP works collaboratively with the Public Affairs, Culture and Engagement Sector to ensure that the Minister’s office and CSC senior management are made aware of information releases that do not contain unredacted personal information belonging to the requester. Monitoring access consultations and access informal disclosures takes place on a case-by-case basis by the Access Team Leader and Access Deputy Director.
All CSC issued contracts include General Conditions found in the Public Service and Procurement Canada (PSPC) Standard Acquisition Clauses and Conditions (SACC) Manual, which include a clause in the General Conditions that relates to Access to Information.
Additionally, to support monitoring compliance, the Financial Directive 350-3 Contracting and CMS-INST-2015-017 Contract Review Boards instructions outline requirements that CSC-ATIP will review all contract and contractual arrangements requests, including those within a budget manager’s delegation, that contain personal information to ensure the proper privacy protocols have been adhered to and the appropriate privacy clauses have been incorporated in the resulting contract or contractual arrangement.

Appendix  A – Delegation Order

Figure 7: Image of Access to Information Act Delegation Order

Appendix B – Access to Information Act Statistical Report

Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act

Name of institution: Correctional Service of Canada

Reporting period: 2023-04-01 to 2024-03-31

Section 1: Requests under the Access to Information Act

1.1 Number of requests

Table 4: Number of under the Access to Information Act

1.2 Sources of requests

Table 5: Sources of requests

1.3 Channels of requests

Table 6: Channels of requests

Section 2: Informal requests

2.1 Number of informal requests

Table 7: Number of informal requests

2.2 Channels of informal requests

Table 8: Channels of informal requests

2.3 Completion time of informal requests

Table 9: Number of informal requests by completion time

2.4 Pages released informally

Table 10: Pages released informally

2.5 Pages re-released informally

Table 11: Pages re-released informally

Section 3: Applications to the Information Commissioner on declining to act on requests

Table 12: Applications to the Information Commissioner on declining to act on requests

Appendix C – 2023 to 2024 Supplemental Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act and Privacy Act

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

Name of institution: Correctional Service of Canada

Reporting period: 2023-04-01 to 2024-03-31

Section 1: Open Requests and Complaints Under the Access to Information Act

1.1 Enter the number of open requests that are outstanding from previous reporting periods

Table 46: The number of open requests that are outstanding from previous reporting periods

Section 3: Social Insurance Number (SIN)

Section 4: Universal Access under the Privacy Act