Interpretation of the statistical report

Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Statistical Report on the Privacy Act is included in Appendix A of this report.

Between April 1, 2018 and March 31, 2019, Environment and Climate Change Canada received 62 requests under the Privacy Act. There were also 10 requests carried forward from the 2017–2018 reporting period, for a total of 72 active requests. In 2018–2019, a total of 61 requests were completed.  Eleven (11) requests were carried forward to the next reporting period.

Trends

Environment and Climate Change Canada received 32 more requests under the Privacy Act in 2018–2019 than in the previous fiscal year; this represents an increase of 103% in the number of privacy requests received.  Environment and Climate Change Canada continued to note a trend in which privacy requests received this year were largely related to active labor relations and staffing matters. In some cases, it appears that the requests are filed to supplement existing processes/recourse mechanisms.

The number of requests under the Privacy Act received by Environment and Climate Change Canada from 2014-2015 to 2018–2019 is found in figure 1.

Environment and Climate Change Canada completed 61 requests under the Privacy Act in 2018–2019. Figure 2 displays the number of requests under the Privacy Act completed by Environment and Climate Change Canada from 2014–2015 to 2018–2019. Overall, 55 of the privacy requests completed this fiscal year were closed within the legislative timelines. This represents a 90% compliance rate.

Figure 3 shows the number of pages processed by the ATIP Division in processing requests under the Privacy Act from 2014–2015 to 2018–2019.

In the 2018–2019 reporting period, a total of 4,444 pages of records were retrieved and reviewed in response to privacy requests.  This represents an increase of 26% over the 2017–2018 fiscal year.

The number of pages disclosed by the ATIP Division in processing requests under the Privacy Act from 2014–2015 to 2018–2019 is found in figure 4.

Corrections

Paragraph 12(2)(a) of the Privacy Act gives individuals a right to request a correction of personal information about them held by the federal government.

No corrections were requested or made in the 2018–2019 reporting period.

Disclosure under Subsection 8(2)

Paragraphs 8(2)(e), (f), (g), and (m) of the Privacy Act permit the disclosure of personal information to various investigative/regulatory bodies or to Members of Parliament, or if disclosure is in the public interest.

No disclosures under subsection 8(2), including under paragraph 8(2)(m), were completed in the 2018–2019 reporting period.

Consultations

In 2018–2019, Environment and Climate Change Canada did not receive any privacy consultations from other government institutions. The ATIP Division received nineteen (19) new internal consultations from labour relations to review investigation reports. Twenty-one (21) internal consultations were completed during the 2018-2019 reporting period.

Costs

In 2018–2019, the total cost of administering the Privacy Act was $148,190. This included $136,337 for salaries and $11,853 for goods and services.