2021 to 2022 Annual Report on the Access to Information Act

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Financial Consumer Agency of Canada
427 Laurier Ave. West
Ottawa, ON K1R 1B9

www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency

ISSN 2816-9816

©His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Finance Canada, October 2022.

Aussi disponible en français sous le titre : Rapport annuel sur la Loi sur l’accès à l’information 2021-2022

Introduction

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC or the Agency) is pleased to submit to Parliament its annual report on the administration of the Access to Information Act (the Act) for the reporting period commencing on April 1, 2021 and ending on March 31, 2022. This report was prepared and tabled in accordance with section 94 of the Act as well as with section 20 of the Service Fees Act. 

The Act which took effect on July 1, 1983, gives Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or any person and corporation present in Canada, a right to access information contained in government records, subject to certain specific and limited exceptions. 

FCAC is a federal government agency that derives its mandate from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Act (FCAC Act). The FCAC Act outlines the Agency’s. 

Powers, duties, and functions, and lists the federal laws and regulations under its supervision.

The FCAC Act identifies the objects of the Agency, which are listed in Sections 3(2) and 3(3) at the following link: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/F-11.1/page-1.html#h-222474

FCAC’s mandate is to protect financial consumers. It achieves this in two primary ways: by supervising federally regulated financial entities and strengthening the financial literacy of Canadians.

In 2021–2022, the Agency renewed its vision and mission statements. The new vision statement, “To be a leader and innovator in financial consumer protection”, expresses how the Agency’s role as regulator and educator helps it protect financial consumers. The new mission statement, “Protect, Supervise, Educate”, embodies the Agency’s commitment to protect consumers of financial products and services, supervise federally regulated financial entities, and educate financial consumers to help them make informed decisions and improve their financial literacy. Together, these statements define FCAC’s purpose and identity, and affirm its focus on finding ways to improve outcomes for all Canadian financial consumers.

Organizational structure

The Agency’s Commissioner is the designated head of FCAC for the purpose of the Act. The Commissioner has delegated certain authorities under the Act to the positions of Assistant Commissioner, Corporate Services; Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Coordinator; and Senior ATIP Advisor. This serves to oversee the administration of the Act within the Agency and ensures compliance with the legislation. FCAC has one Senior ATIP Advisor and uses consultants as necessary to fulfill its obligations.

The ATIP Coordinator, is accountable for the development, coordination and implementation of effective Agency policies, guidelines, systems, and procedures relevant to the Act. This ensures that the Agency’s responsibilities and obligations are met and that there is appropriate processing and proper protection, and that the disclosure of information are made in accordance with the Act.

The main activities of the ATIP Coordinator (Director, Finance and Administration, Corporate Services) include:

• processing requests pursuant to the Act;
• developing and maintaining policies, procedures, and guidelines to ensure the Act is respected by FCAC;
• promoting awareness of the Act to ensure FCAC’s responsiveness to the obligations imposed on the government;
• monitoring FCAC’s compliance with the Act, regulations, and relevant procedures and policies;
• preparing annual reports to Parliament and other statutory reports, as well as other material that may be required by central agencies;
• representing FCAC in dealings with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada (OIC) and other government departments and agencies regarding the application of the Act as it relates to the Agency; and
• supporting FCAC in meeting its commitments in relation to greater openness and transparency through proactive disclosure of information and the disclosure of information through informal avenues.

Reading room 

The Agency has provided space for a reading room where the public may consult documents, at the following address:

• Enterprise Building - 427 Laurier Avenue West, 6th Floor Ottawa, Ontario

Delegation Order

The Delegation Order sets out the powers, duties, and functions for the administration of the Act that have been delegated by the Agency’s Commissioner as the head of the institution. The Delegation Order is attached as Appendix A.

Performance – Overview

The Statistical Report for 2021-2022 is attached as Appendix B.

Requests

During this reporting period, the Agency responded to 100% of the requests received by FCAC within the legislative timeline. 

The Agency carried over four requests from the previous year and received 11 new requests. Within this reporting period, the four requests carried over from the previous year were responded to within legislated timelines, ten of the new requests were processed within legislated timeframes and one has been carried over to the 2022-2023 reporting year. 

Of the 14 completed requests, one was completed within 1-15 days, 12 within 16-30 days and one within 31-60 days. The Agency required one extension of the legislative timeline to perform consultations under Section 69 and with Third Parties. Of the 14 completed requests, 79% of the records were “disclosed in part”, 14% were “all disclosed” and 7% had no records.

Consultations

During this reporting period, the Agency did not receive consultations from other organizations, but did receive 15 consultations from other government institutions. The 15 consultations received were processed within 15 days of their receipt. The Agency recommended that the content be disclosed entirely on all 15 consultations.

COVID-19

The Agency’s ability to fulfill its Access to Information Act obligations and responsibilities during this reporting period were not affected by COVID-19.  Therefore, no specific measures were implemented relating to COVID-19.

Training and awareness

During this reporting period, ATIP training was included as part of the FCAC new employee training session, and a coaching approach was applied with employees involved with the access to information and privacy procedures. As such, an individual’s responsibilities were explained, and the retrieval obligations and workflow were described, and their application monitored.

Policies and procedures

During this reporting period, the Agency applied the Act and TBS’ policies, procedures, and guidelines for the processing of requests. 

Complaints

During this reporting period, the Agency had one active complaint that was outstanding from the previous reporting period. FCAC is working towards its resolution with the OIC; FCAC has provided all requested information and is awaiting further instructions from the OIC. 

Monitoring compliance

FCAC monitors processing times by entering all actions and activities in an electronic database. A timeline for processing is established according to permissible legislated timeframes. This timeline and accompanying workflow were reviewed and adjusted in cases where extensions were required.

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

Under the Access to Information Act, the Agency collected a total fee revenue of $55.00 for the 2021-2022 fiscal year. Note that a $5.00 application fee is the only fee charged for an ATI request. No fees were waived for this fiscal period.

Costs

During this reporting period, the costs incurred relating to the application of the Access to Information Act totaled $196,887. 

Appendix A: Delegation order

Access to Information Act Delegation Order

The Commissioner of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, pursuant to section 95 of the Access to Information Act, hereby designates the following persons to exercise or perform the powers, duties or functions of the head of the institution set out in the sections of the act indicated next to each position.

Original signed by

Judith Robertson
Commissioner, Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

Date: June 16, 2021

Appendix B : Statistical report on the Access to Information Act

Name of institution: Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

Reporting period: 2021-04-01 to 2022-03-31

Section 1: Requests under the Access to Information Act

Section 2: Informal requests

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

Section 4: Requests closed during the reporting period

4.5 Complexity

4.6 Closed requests

4.7 Deemed refusals

Section 5: Extensions

Section 6: Fees

Section 7: Consultations received from other institutions and organizations

Section 8: Completion time for consultations on Cabinet confidences

Section 9: Investigations and reports of finding

Section 10: Court action

Section 11: Resources related to the Access to Information Act

Note: Enter values to three decimal places.