Archived - Annual Report to Parliament on the Administration of the Access to Information Act 2016–2017

Introduction

Purpose of the Access to Information Act

Mandate of the Department of Finance Canada

Administration of the Access to Information Act

Access to Information and Privacy Division

Principles on Assistance to Applicants

Educational and Training Activities

Policies, Guidelines, Procedures and Initiatives.

Interim Directive on the Administration of the Access to Information Act

Proactive Posting on the Web of Lists of Briefing Notes

Other Activities

Delegation of Authority

Information Holdings

Interpretation of the Statistical Report (Annex A)

Part 1 – Requests under the Access to Information Act

Number of Formal Requests

Other Requests

Sources of Requests

Part 2 – Requests Closed During the Reporting Period

Disposition of Requests

Completion Time

Exemptions Invoked

Exclusions Cited

Format of Information Released

Complexity

Deemed Refusals

Translations

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/Investigations/Audits

Part 8 – Appeals to the Federal Court of Canada

Part 9 – Resources Related to the Access to Information Act

Monitoring of Requests

Annex A - Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act

This Annual Report to Parliament on the Administration of the Access to Information Act (the Act) within the Department of Finance Canada (the ‘Department’) is prepared and tabled in Parliament in accordance with section 72 of the Act and covers the period from April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017.

The Act came into force on July 1, 1983. Its purpose is to provide a right of access to information in records under the control of a government institution in accordance with the principles that such information should be available to the public, that necessary exceptions to the right of access should be limited and specific, and that decisions on the disclosure of government information should be reviewed independently of government. The Act is intended to complement existing procedures for access to government information; it is not intended to limit access to information that is normally available to the general public. Under the Act, Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or any person or corporation present in Canada have the right to request access to information contained in government records.

The Department recognizes that the right of access to information in records under its control and other federal government institutions is an essential element of our system of democracy. It is committed to openness and transparency, respecting both the spirit and the requirements of the Act, its regulations and related policy instruments. The Department further acknowledges the importance of facilitating access to records by requiring that its employees make every reasonable effort to assist applicants.

The Department helps the Government of Canada develop and implement strong and sustainable economic, fiscal, tax, social, security, international and financial sector policies and programs. It plays an important central agency role, working with other departments to ensure that the government's agenda is carried out and that ministers are supported with high-quality analysis and advice.

The Department’s responsibilities include:

• preparing the federal Budget and the Update of Economic and Fiscal Projections;
• preparing the Annual Financial Report of the Government of Canada and, in cooperation with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and the Receiver General for Canada, the Public Accounts of Canada;
• developing tax and tariff policy and legislation;
• managing federal borrowing on financial markets;
• designing and administering major transfers of federal funds to the provinces and territories;
• developing financial sector policy and legislation; and
• representing Canada in various international financial institutions and groups.

The Minister of Finance is accountable for ensuring that his responsibilities are fulfilled both within his portfolio and with respect to the authorities assigned through legislation. In particular, the Minister has direct responsibility for a number of acts as well as fiscal and tax policy relating to other acts that are under the responsibility of other ministers.

The Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Division is part of the Communications Policy Division, Consultations and Communications Branch. The ATIP Division is responsible for administering the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act for the Department. As a centralized operation, the ATIP Division coordinates the timely processing of requests under the legislation, conducts interdepartmental consultations, handles complaints lodged with the Information Commissioner, and responds to informal inquiries. Division staff also provides guidance to departmental officials on matters involving the Act. The ATIP Division comprises a director, two team leaders, ten full-time ATIP analysts and two administrative assistants.

With the passing of the Federal Accountability Act, section 4(2.1) was added to the Act:

“The head of a government institution shall, without regard to the identity of a person making a request for access to a record under the control of the institution, make every reasonable effort to assist the person in connection with the request, respond to the request accurately and completely and, subject to the regulations, provide timely access to the record in the format requested.”

The Department is committed to both the spirit and intent of these principles, and adheres to the Act and to the Directive on the Administration of the Access to Information Act with respect to their application when processing requests under the Act.

This year, the ATIP Division participated in two departmental Orientation Sessions. These are provided to employees who are new to the Department as a means to introduce them to the activities of each Branch. It provided information about the ATIP Division, the Act, and information management practices to 53 new employees.

Six other training sessions were given to 76 departmental employees within various branches of the Department including exempt staff in the Minister’s Office. Some of the training was delivered using the Canada School of Public Service on-line ATIP training module to ensure that it is consistent with the whole of government approach.

Ad hoc training on a variety of subjects was also provided as needed to individuals throughout the Department including to new ATIP branch contacts.

On May 5, 2016 the President of the Treasury Board issued – under his authority as Minister responsible for the Access to Information Act – an Interim Directive on the Administration of the Access to Information Act (the Interim Directive).

The Interim Directive enshrines the principle of “open by default”. It also directs that:

• all fees, apart from the $5 application fee, will be waived; and
• when feasible, requesters will receive information in the format of their choice, including open and reusable formats.

More specifically:

• the ATIP Division no longer provides fee estimates in response to requests;
• branch officials continue to work with the ATIP Division to identify requests that are not clear or may be wide in scope. This assists requesters in reformulating their requests where it would result in requestors receiving more accurate, complete and timely access;
• records are provided in the format requested by the requestor, i.e. Excel, PDF, etc...as long as privacy, confidentiality and security would not be compromised;
• branch officials have been reminded, while reviewing documents for release, to exercise discretion in a fair, reasonable and impartial manner taking into consideration of the core principle of the Access to Information Act. Government information should be available to the public, subject only to limited and specific exceptions to protect privacy, confidentiality and security.

To meet Canada’s commitments under Open Government, one of the four deliverables presented to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat included posting the list of briefing note titles produced for the Deputy Minister, the Minister and the Parliamentary Secretary on a monthly basis starting October 3, 2016.

The ATIP Division discloses on the Department’s website the same information disclosed under the monthly Access to Information Act requests (i.e. the WebCIMS number (tracking number), the date of the briefing note, to whom it was addressed and the title, in both official languages. The lists of briefing notes can be found on the Departmental web site (under the “Transparency” tab located on the Department’s main web page at http://www.fin.gc.ca/disclose-divulgation/discl_index-eng.asp).

This allows requestors to obtain the lists in a timelier manner and to make their requests for specific briefing notes quicker.

To ensure policy compliance and adherence to procedures for appropriate handling and preparation of responses to ATIP requests, the ATIP Division continued to update tools used by staff both in the ATIP Division and across the Department and held face-to-face meetings with new staff and contacts. Both tools and meetings were instrumental in ensuring that the Department’s employees are aware of their roles and responsibilities related to access to information and privacy requests.

The delegation of authority approved on December 1, 2015, provides the authority to approve or deny the release of departmental information requested under the Act. This is shared by the Deputy Minister, the Associate Deputy Ministers, the Assistant Deputy Ministers, General Directors, Executive Directors, Senior Director of Communications Policy, the Access to Information and Privacy Director, ATIP Team Leaders and Senior ATIP Analysts to sign off on more administrative matters. Generally, the ATIP Director approves all exemptions.

All government institutions subject to the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act publish an inventory of their information holdings as well as relevant details about personal information under their control. The information can assist individuals in making an access to information or personal information request, or in exercising their privacy rights.

A description of the Department’s programs, activities, and information holdings, including its classes of records and personal information banks can be found in Info Source: Sources of Federal Government and Employee Information.
Some programs and activities, such as human resources and financial management, are common to most government institutions. These are known as internal services and they involve the following types of information:

• Standard classes of records: These are descriptions of all records created and used to support internal services.
• Standard personal information banks: These are descriptions of personal information contained in records, and collected and used to support internal services.

The number of formal requests received in this reporting period was 839, a 34.8% increase from 622 formal requests received the previous reporting year. The total number of requests considered was 1019 as 180 requests remained outstanding from 2015-2016. By the end of 2016-2017, 780 requests were completed and 239 were carried forward to 2017-2018.

Table 1 illustrates a five-year trend.

In 2015-2016 the Department received 152 informal requests; this reporting year, the Department received 517 informal requests, a significant increase of 240%. The vast majority of informal requests came from members of the media, followed by the business community and members of the public.

In 2015-2016, the Department received 206 consultations from other federal government institutions and organizations on matters of interest to the Department. This reporting year, the Department received 220. The total number of consultations considered was 231 as nine remained outstanding from 2015-2016. By the end of 2016-2017, 210 consultations were completed and 21 were carried forward to 2017-2018.

Table 2 illustrates a five-year trend of the total number of received formal Access to Information Act requests, Privacy Act requests, informal requests, and consultations received from other government institutions and organizations.

The greatest change seen in 2016-2017 in sources of requests were in the number of requests received from requestors in the Media and Business categories and those choosing to decline to identify their category of requestor:

The following table indicates the disposition of the 780 requests completed during this reporting period:

The following is a comparison of the disposition of requests completed for the last three reporting periods.

The changes in most of the categories were minimal with the exception of the increase in requests which were disclosed in part.

Of the 780 requests completed this fiscal, 654 (83.8%) were closed on time, a significant decrease over 2015-2016’s 92.5%. While the completion rate declined, requests were up by 34.8% and page volume almost tripled from the previous year (161% more pages).

There was no increase in resources or staffing within the ATIP Division. The ATIP Division continued to make a number of changes to improve its efficiency, reporting and direction with:

1. Electronic approvals and consultations;
2. Targeted branch statistics showing lists of ATIP files on-time and late; and
3. Proactive release of lists of briefing notes.

Requests requiring more than six months to complete usually involved large numbers of documents that required extensive internal consultations, consultations with third parties and, often, consultations with other government institutions. Given the nature of the work done by the Department, consultations must be conducted with other federal government institutions on many of its requests and completion time is consequently impacted by the amount of time required of the other institutions to respond to those consultations.

Of the 780 requests closed during the reporting period, 335 (43%) were completed within 30 days, 298 (38%) were completed within two to four months, 103 (13%) were completed within four to six months, and 44 (6%) took more than six months to complete.

In 2016-2017, the Department invoked a total of 2414 exemptions pursuant to specific sections of the Act (more than one exemption can be applied to a specific request).

These exemptions were as follows:

The Access to Information Act does not apply to information that is already publicly available, such as government publications and material in libraries and museums. It also excludes material such as Cabinet confidences. Consistent with the Act, exclusions were invoked 571 times: 31 for information that could be found in the public domain, available for purchase or found in a library and 540 times under section 69 for confidences of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada. Because the Department is responsible for preparing the Budget and develops legislation and associated policies, it has a large number of documents classified as Cabinet confidences.

Many of the requests processed by the Department in 2016-2017 involved complex issues which required the need to consult with several other government institutions and/or third parties. The number of pages in any given file is also a factor in the length of time it takes to complete a file. This year saw a number of files which contained more than 500 pages, with the largest comprising 10,553 pages.

One hundred and twenty-six requests were closed past the statutory deadline for various reasons including increase in workload and consultations, both external and internal. In 84 instances, extensions of the statutory time limit had been claimed but the files were nonetheless late, due mainly to the volume of pages processed and the consultations both external and internal. In the remaining 42 instances, no extension of the statutory deadline was taken.

Table 3 provides the completion time for the 126 requests closed past the statutory deadline in 2016-2017.

No requests for translations were received.

Subsection 9(1) of the ATI Act sets out circumstances under which the initial 30-day time limit for response may be extended. Extensions may be taken for the following reasons:

• if the request is for a large number of records or requires a search through a large number of records, and meeting the original time limit would unreasonably interfere with the operations of the institution;
• if consultation is necessary with other government institutions, other levels of governments; or
• if notice is to be given to a third party (pursuant to s. 27(1)) of the pending release of commercial information of that third party.

During 2016-2017, the Department took 93 extensions under s. 9(1)(a) due to the volume of records and interference with government operations, versus 54 the previous fiscal year. Third party notifications required 88 extensions under s. 9(1)(c), up from 38.

A total of 194 extensions for consultations on confidences of the Queen’s Privy Council and 137 extensions for other types of consultations (331 extensions in total) were taken under s. 9(1)(b). Extensions for consultations were up from the 193 extensions taken in 2015-2016.

As previously noted, effective May 5, 2016 all fees, apart from the $5.00 application were waived.

During 2016-2017 a total of $6,652.00 was collected in application and search fees. Application, search and reproduction fees in the amount of $3,596.00 were either waived or refunded in 87 cases.

The Department received a total of 220 consultations from other government institutions and organizations this reporting year, carried over 11 from the previous fiscal year, and closed 210. The on-time response rate was 80%.

Of the 210 consultations from other government institutions and organizations which were closed this year, the Department responded to 170 (80.9%) in 30 days or less; 24 (11.4%) were responded to in 31 to 60 days, 13 (6.1%) required 61 to 120 days and three (1.4%) required 121 to 365 days to complete.

The Departmental Legal Services Unit responded to 217 consultations to confirm whether documents were Cabinet confidences. All but two consultations were responded to within 60 days. This represents a 70.8% increase from 127 consultations processed the previous reporting period.

No consultations on Cabinet confidences were forwarded to the Privy Council Office.

There were 31 complaints lodged against the Department received during the reporting period:

• 10 complaints concerned the exemption of information;
• 4 complaints concerned the exclusion of information under section 69 of the Act;
• 15 complaints concerned extensions taken or delay in responding; and
• 2 complaints were on refusal – no records existed.

The Office of the Information Commissioner rendered 24 findings this year:

• 1 complaint was concluded as “not well-founded”;
• 12 complaints were concluded as “well-founded, resolved without recommendation”; and
• 11 complaints were “discontinued” by the complainants.

None of the Information Commissioner’s investigations raised any specific issues or concerns with respect to the Department’s handling of these requests and no further action was required of the Department.

No appeals to the Federal Court were made in this reporting period.

Administration of the Act cost the Department $1,050,039.00 this reporting year. Costs incurred in the reporting period include the salaries of ATIP staff and the administrative expenses associated with administration of the Act. Costs do not include salaries of other departmental personnel involved in processing requests.

In addition to producing weekly and monthly statistics on branch performance across the Department, the ATIP Division has developed more targeted branch statistics showing lists of outstanding branch actions related to ATI Act requests and consultations from other government departments. These statistics are shared with senior management, branch ATIP contacts, the Deputy Minister’s Office and the Minister’s Office.

Note: All requests previously recorded as "treated informally" will now be accounted for in this section only.