Archived - Annual Report to Parliament on the Administration of the Access to Information Act 2020–2021

Table of Contents

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

Policies, Guidelines, Procedures and Initiatives

  Impact of COVID-19 on ATIP Operations – Development of an end-to-end digital paperless delivery model

Training and Awareness
Delegation of Authority
Information Holdings
Interpretation of the Statistical Report (Annex A)

  Section 1 – Requests under the Access to Information Act

    Number of Formal Requests
    Other Requests
    Sources of Requests

  Section 2 – Decline to act on vexatious, made in bad faith or abuse of right requests

    Number of Requests

  Section 3 – Requests Closed During the Reporting Period
    Disposition of Requests
    Completion Time
    Exemptions Invoked
    Exclusions Cited
    Format of Information Released
    Complexity
    Deemed Refusals
    Translations

  Section 4 – Extensions
  Section 5 – Fees and Service Fees Act
  Section 6 – Consultations Received from Other Institutions and Organizations
  Section 7 – Completion Time of Consultations on Cabinet Confidences
  Section 8 – Complaints/Investigations/Audits
  Section 9 – Appeals to the Federal Court of Canada
  Section 10 – Resources Related to the Access to Information Act
  Supplemental Reporting – Capacity to Receive and to Process Requests

Monitoring Compliance
ANNEX A Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act

Introduction

This Annual Report to Parliament on the Administration of the Access to Information Act within the Department of Finance Canada (the ‘Department’) is prepared and tabled in Parliament in accordance with section 94 of the Access to Information Act and section 20 of the Service Fees Act, and covers the period from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021.

Purpose of the Access to Information Act

The Access to Information Act (the Act) came into force on July 1, 1983, and saw its most significant amendments with the passage of Bill C-58 on June 21, 2019. 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 Act also puts into practice the principle of ‘open by default’ in the digital age by making key information available proactively, without the need to make a request.

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.

Mandate of the Department of Finance Canada

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;
• Representing Canada in various international financial institutions and groups.

The Minister of Finance is accountable for ensuring that their responsibilities are fulfilled both within their 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.

Administration of the Access to Information Act

Access to Information and Privacy Division

The Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Division is part of the Consultations and Communications Branch. The ATIP Division is responsible for administering the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Actfor 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. As of March 31, 2021, 16 employees within the ATIP Division were dedicated to the administration of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act along with related functions. The ATIP Division is comprised of a director, supported by two managers, ten ATIP analysts, an administrative assistant, and two students. The Department of Finance Canada did not enter into any service agreements pursuant to section 96 of the Access to Information Act.

Principles on Assistance to Applicants

Section 4(2.1) of the Act reads as follows:

"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.

Policies, Guidelines, Procedures and Initiatives

Impact of COVID-19 on ATIP Operations – Development of an end-to-end digital paperless delivery model

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on the health and economic well-being of people around the world.

A sudden worldwide wave of lockdown measures, based on the guidance of public health officials, were put in place to contain the virus and save lives. In Canada, the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in late January. On March 11, the World Health Organization declared the global outbreak of COVID-19 a pandemic.

Like other workplaces across Canada, the Government of Canada implemented exceptional workplace measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 and protect federal employees and the public. From March 16 to March 31 (and beyond the end of the reporting period), the Department of Finance and other institutions were operating with significantly reduced on-site workforces, with most employees asked to work remotely. As a result, the Department’s ability to meet the legislated timelines under the Access to Information Act was significantly constrained, resulting in delays in responding to requests.

Given the nature of the work processes and reliance on physical files stored in the workplace and systems limitations, operations within the ATIP Division were halted for the last remaining weeks of March 2020 and part of the first quarter of 2020-2021. During this period, efforts were focused on informing ATIP stakeholders and clients of the Department’s reduced operational capacity caused by the exceptional measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. For example, email communications were sent to requesters and a notice was posted on the Department’s web site. The Division also provided advice and guidance to other ATIP offices with respect to communicating with stakeholders and other operational considerations.

In the first quarter of 2020-2021, the ATIP Division modernized its work processes, resulting in an end-to-end digital paperless delivery model permitting the resumption of ATIP activities on May 25, 2020. The ATIP office and its clients benefitted from this new electronic process as files are now processed remotely. Care and consideration was taken when developing the new approach to closely mirror the previous paper-based process to ensure that the existing security and quality assurance controls remain in effect.

Training and Awareness

During the reporting period, the ATIP Division provided 14 training and awareness sessions to 108 participants. Most of the sessions were provided to branch contacts to assist them in preparing for the new electronic process.

A few sessions were given to employees and managers within the Department on various topics, for example, the effective processing of access to information and privacy requests, understanding legislative requirements, in addition to the exemption and exclusion provisions under the legislation.

Delegation of Authority

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 Minister, 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.

DESIGNATION / DÉLÉGATION

ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT / LOI SUR L'ACCÈS À L'INFORMATION

Information Holdings

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.

Interpretation of the Statistical Report (Annex A)

Section 1 – Requests under the Access to Information Act

Number of Formal Requests

The number of formal requests received in this reporting period was 1115, a 49.9% increase from the 744 formal requests received the previous reporting year. The total number of requests considered was 1464 as 349 requests remained outstanding from 2019-2020. By the end of 2020 2021, 486 requests were completed and 978 were carried forward to 2021-2022.

Table 1 (Overview of Access to Information Act Requests) illustrates that the previous two periods were atypical, with 2018-2019 seeing a significant increase in requests received over previous years, and then, in 2019-2020, a substantial decrease. Even when these two outlier periods are ignored, 2020-2021 saw a 32.9% increase compared to 2016-2017.

Other Requests

In 2019-2020, the Department received 365 informal requests; this reporting year, the Department received 174 informal requests, a 52.3% decrease.

In 2019-2020, the Department received 400 consultations from other government institutions and organizations on matters of interest to the Department. This reporting year, the Department received 130, a 67.5% decrease. The total number of consultations considered was 171 as 41 remained outstanding from 2019-2020. By the end of 2020-2021, 144 consultations were completed and 27 were carried forward to 2021-2022.

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 resulting workload in 2020-2021 was similar to most other years. In addition to administering the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act, the ATIP Division also supported the Department and lent its expertise when required to respond to parliamentary motions for the production of documents.

Sources of Requests

The greatest change seen in 2020-2021 in sources of requests were in the number of requests received from requestors in the Media and those choosing to decline to identify their category of requestor:

Section 2 – Decline to act on vexatious, made in bad faith or abuse of right requests

Number of Requests

The Department of Finance did not decline to act on any requests in 2020-2021.

Section 3 – Requests Closed During the Reporting Period

Disposition of Requests

The following table indicates the disposition of the 486 requests completed during this reporting period:

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

Completion Time

Four hundred and twenty six (87.7%) of the 486 requests were closed within six months or less, with 162 of these requests (33.3% of the total) having received a response within 30 days, 112 of them (23.0%) requiring between 31 and 60 days, 97 requests (20.0%) requiring between 61 and 120 days, and 45 requests (9.3%), between 121 and 180 days.

Sixty requests (12.3%) required 181 days or more. Requests requiring more than six months to complete usually involve large numbers of documents that require 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.

Exemptions Invoked

In 2020-2021, the Department invoked a total of 2,154 exemptions pursuant to specific sections of the Act (more than one exemption can be applied to a specific request).

These exemptions were as follows:

Exclusions Cited

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 183 times: 14 for information that could be found in the public domain, available for purchase or found in a library and 169 times under section 69 for confidences of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada. Because the Department is responsible for preparing the federal Budget and develops legislation and associated policies, it has a large number of documents classified as Cabinet confidences.

Format of Information Released

Records were provided to applicants in 284 cases, and in all instances (100%), documents were provided electronically.

Complexity

One hundred and twenty seven requests processed by the Department in 2020-2021 involved complex issues which required the need to consult with other government institutions and/or third parties. Fifteen files had an added level of complexity in that legal advice was sought. 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 two files which contained more than 1,000 pages, with the largest comprising 4,988 pages.

Deemed Refusals

Of the 486 requests completed this fiscal year, 354 (72.8%) were closed on time, a decrease from 2019-2020’s 78.0%, owing in large part to the measures put in place to contain the COVID-19 virus and keep people safe.

The remaining 132 requests were closed after the statutory deadline for various reasons including consultations, both external and internal, workload pressures, shortage of staff, and difficulty in retrieving records. In 76 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 other 56 instances, no extension of the statutory deadline was taken.

Table 3 provides the completion time for the 132 requests closed past the statutory deadline in 2020-2021.

Translations

No requests for translations were received.

Section 4 – Extensions

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:

• 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;
• Consultation is necessary with other government institutions, other levels of governments; or
• 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 2020-2021, the Department claimed 164 extensions under s. 9(1)(a) due to the volume of records and interference with government operations, versus 157 the previous fiscal year. Third party notifications required 18 extensions under s. 9(1)(c), down from 89.

Sixty-three extensions were claimed for consultations on Confidences of the Queen’s Privy Council and 98 extensions for other types of consultations, for a total of 161 extensions claimed under s. 9(1)(b). Extensions for consultations are down from the 380 extensions taken in 2019-2020.

Section 5 – Fees and Service Fees Act

As previously noted, only the $5.00 application can be charged when processing Access to Information Act requests.

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 Access to Information Act, the information below is reported in accordance with the requirements of section 20 of the Service Fees Act:

• Enabling authority: Access to Information Act
• Fee amount: $5, the only fee charged for an Access to Information request
• Total revenue: $4,045
• Fees waived: $1,530

• Cost of operating the program: $1,378,260

Section 6 – Consultations Received from Other Institutions and Organizations

The Department received a total of 130 consultations from other government institutions and organizations this reporting year, carried over 41 from the previous fiscal year, and closed 144.

Of the 144 consultations that were completed in 2020-2021, the Department responded to 60 (41.7%) in 30 days or less; 26 (18.0%) were responded to in 31 to 60 days, 20 (13.9%) required 61 to 120 days, and 38 (26.4%) required more than 121 days to complete.

Section 7 – Completion Time of Consultations on Cabinet Confidences

The departmental Legal Services Unit responded to 76 consultations to confirm whether documents were Cabinet Confidences. All but 8 consultations were responded to within 120 days.

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

Section 8 – Complaints/Investigations/Audits

Twenty-eight complaints lodged against the Department were received during the reporting period:

• Six complaints concerned the exemption of information;
• Five complaints concerned the exclusion of information under section 69 of the Act
• Thirteen complaints concerned extensions taken or delay in responding;
• Four complaints fell in the category of miscellaneous or general refusal, for example those relating to incomplete record searches.

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

• Four complaints were concluded as “not well-founded”;
• Ten complaints were concluded as “well-founded”;
• Four complaints were ‘’resolved’’ during the course of the investigation;
• Six 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 audits were initiated or concluded this fiscal year.

Section 9 – Appeals to the Federal Court of Canada

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

Section 10 – Resources Related to the Access to Information Act

Administration of the Act cost the Department $1,378,260 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.

Supplemental Reporting – Capacity to Receive and to Process Requests

In line with public health restrictions, starting in August 2020, a limited number of employees of the ATIP Division reintegrated the physical office and were able to receive and process records received by mail and paper records, corresponding to 32 weeks. The Division was receiving and logging requests received electronically (by email or through the digital request service) throughout all of 2020-2021.

The ATIP Office was unable to process electronic records for the first seven weeks of 2020‑2021, and resumed its activities in May 2020. Once activities resumed, the Department had almost full capacity to process electronic records, depending on the classification level. For paper records, the Department had partial capacity from August 2020 forward.

Monitoring Compliance

In addition to producing statistics on branch performance across the Department, the ATIP Division continues to send targeted reports showing lists of outstanding branch actions related to Access to Information Act requests and consultations from other government departments. These statistics are shared on a weekly basis with senior management, branch ATIP contacts, the Deputy Minister’s Office and the Ministers’ Offices.

The ATIP Division also updated senior management throughout the fiscal year with a focus on departmental performance, current ATIP activities and the modernization of its work processes.

ANNEX A
Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act
(including Supplemental Statistical Report)

Section 1: Requests Under the Access to Information Act

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

Section 2: Decline to act on vexatious, made in bad faith or abuse of right requests

Section 3: Requests Closed During the Reporting Period

3.5 Complexity

3.6 Closed requests

3.7 Deemed refusals

Section 4: Extensions

Section 5: Fees

Section 6: Consultations Received From Other Institutions and Organizations

Section 7: Completion Time of Consultations on Cabinet Confidences

Section 8: Complaints and investigations

Section 9: Court Action

Section 10: Resources Related to the Access to Information Act

Note: Enter values to two decimal places.

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

Section 1: Capacity to Recieve Requests

Section 2: Capacity to Process Records