2022 to 2023 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, November, 2023.

Aussi disponible en français sous le titre : Rapport annuel sur la Loi sur l’accès à l’information 2022-2023

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 or ATIA) for the reporting period commencing on April 1, 2022 and ending on March 31, 2023. 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 all individuals who are present in Canada but who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents within the meaning of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and all corporations that are 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 2022–2023, 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 including Part 2 -Proactive Publication of Information. 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 that FCAC comply with its responsibilities and obligations under the Act;
• 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.

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

The main responsibilities regarding Part 2- Proactive Publication of Information are separated among the procurement, finance, human resources and ATIP teams in order to ensure that each proactive publication requirement is met.

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, 5th 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 2022-2023 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 one request from the previous year and received four new requests. Within this reporting period, all requests were responded within legislated timelines including the one request carried over from previous fiscal year. Therefore, no request has been carried over to the 2023-2024 reporting year.

Of the five completed requests, one was completed within 1-15 days and four within 16-30 days. Also, 20% of the completed requests had records which were “all disclosed” and 80% had records which were “disclosed in part”.

Complaints

During this reporting period, the Agency had one active complaint from 2016 that was outstanding from the previous reporting period.

Consultations

During this reporting period, the Agency did not receive consultations from other organizations, but did receive 11 consultations from other government institutions. The 11 consultations received were processed within 15 days of their receipt. The Agency recommended that the content be disclosed entirely on 6 consultations, disclosed in part on 2 and exempted entirely for 3 of the 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 and Part 2 - Proactive Publication of Information. As such, an individual’s responsibilities were explained, and the retrieval obligations and workflow were described, and their application monitored.

The Agency also implemented a mandatory training via the Canada School of Public Service for the Office of Primary Interest staff members regarding Access to Information.

In addition, the Agency created an informal ATIP 101 session which has been and will be offered on a regular basis to the Agency’s staff.

Policies and Procedures

During this reporting period, the Agency applied the Act and TBS’ policies, procedures, and guidelines for the processing of requests along with developing and implementing updated internal access to information request procedures.

Proactive Publication of Information under Part 2 of the ATIA

The Agency is listed in the Schedule I.1 of the Financial Administration Act, therefore, subject to the following proactive publications:

• Government Travel, Hospitality Expenses - Annual Expenditures on Travel, Hospitality and Conferences (canada.ca)
• Reports tabled in Parliament - Open Government Portal (canada.ca)
• Contract over $10,000 - Search Government Contracts over $10,000 (canada.ca)
• Grants & Contributions (G&C) over $25,000 – FCAC does not have G&C funding
• Packages of briefing materials prepared for new or incoming deputy heads or equivalent - Disclosure of transition binders – Financial Consumer Agency of Canada - Canada.ca
• Titles and reference numbers of memoranda prepared for a deputy head or equivalent, that is received by their office - Briefing Note Titles and Numbers (canada.ca)
• Packages of briefing materials prepared for a deputy head or equivalent’s appearance before a committee of Parliament - Open Government Portal (canada.ca)

FCAC published 100% of their reports within the legislative timelines.

The Agency is updating and implementing its procedures regarding the proactive publication in order to improve the current process.

Initiatives and Projects to Improve Access to Information

In order to modernize the delivery of services, facilitate information management and request processing, the Agency implemented the ATIP Online AOMT V3 as part of its process. Furthermore, the Agency is in the process of acquiring a Request Processing Software Solutions.

Summary of Key Issues and Actions Taken on Complaints

During this reporting period, the Agency received the final report from OIC on the complaint that was outstanding from the previous fiscal period. The OIC recommended that the information be re-assessed, and new information released as appropriate. A final response to the complainant and OIC was provided on May 9th, 2023.

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 section 20 of the Service Fees Act.

Under the ATIA, the Agency collected a total fee revenue of $20.00 for the 2022-2023 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 by FCAC relating to the application of the ATIA totaled $265,545.

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. A report is produced and provided to the ATIP Coordinator on a monthly basis. This is shared with the CFO and Assistant Commissioner, Corporate Services, if and as needed during the year, and with all of senior management on an annual basis.

During this reporting period, no inter-institutional consultation was required, and the Agency did not receive frequently requested types of information, therefore, no monitoring to that effect was required.

The Agency is ensuring measures to support the right of public access to information by entering all information in an electronic database which secures the personal information and remains accessible if an individual wishes to practice is right of access to their personal information.

The Agency monitors the accuracy and completeness of proactively published information by entering all information in electronic databases. A timeline for processing is established according to permissible legislated timeframes. The Agency also produces monthly and quarterly reports depending on the proactively published information.

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: 2022-04-01 to 2023-03-31

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

* * I.A.: International Affairs. Def.: Defence of Canada. S.A.: Subversive Activities

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 of 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.

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

Name of institution: Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

Reporting period: 2022-04-01 to 2023-03-31

Section 1: Capacity to receive requests under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act

Section 2: Capacity to process records under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act

Section 3: Open requests and complaints under the Access to Information Act

Section 4: Open requests and complaints under the Privacy Act

Section 5: Social insurance number

Section 6: Universal access under the Privacy Act