Administration of the Access to Information Act
Annual Report to Parliament 2019-2020

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Administration of the Access to Information Act - Annual Report to Parliament 2019-2020.

Catalogue Number: En104-12/1E-PDF
ISSN 2562-766X

Impact Assessment Agency of Canada
Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator

Physical/mailing address:
160 Elgin Street, 22^nd Floor
Ottawa, ON K1A 0H3

Telephone: 613-948-1362
Email: iaac.atip-aiprp.aeic@canada.ca

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Organizational Structure
• Delegation Order
• Statistical Report – Interpretation and Analysis
  • Subject matter of Access requests received
  • Number, source and disposition of Access requests received
  • New Exemptions
  • Extensions
  • Access Consultation Requests
  • Multi-year Trends
• Training and Awareness
• Policies, Guidelines and Procedures
• Complaints, Audits and Investigations
• Monitoring and Reporting
• Impact Assessment Agency Registry
• Appendices
  • Appendix A: Designation Order
  • Appendix B: Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act

Introduction

The Access to Information Act (the Act) provides Canadian citizens, as well as people and corporations present in Canada, the right of access to federal government records that are not of a personal nature and/or subject to certain limited and specific exceptions. The Act complements but does not replace other procedures for obtaining government information. It is not intended to limit in any way the access to government information that is normally available to the public upon request.

This report is submitted in accordance with Section 94(1) of the Act, which requires every head of a federal government institution to submit a report to Parliament on the administration of the Act within their institution during the reporting period. It presents an overview of the Access to Information Act activities carried out within the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (formerly known as the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and further referred to in this report as “the Agency”) during the reporting period of April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020.

Established in 1994, the Agency came into being to prepare for the implementation of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, which came into effect in early 1995. The Agency is a federal body accountable to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. The Agency provides high-quality impact assessments that contribute to informed decision making, in support of sustainable development. The Agency is the responsible authority for most federal impact assessments. The current Impact Assessment Act of Canada, 2019 came into force on August 28, 2019 and its accompanying regulations provide the legislative framework for impact assessments.

Organizational Structure

The provision of Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) services in the Agency is the responsibility of the Director of Human Resources, Wellness Division & ATIP Division who reports to the President through the Vice-President, Corporate Services, to fulfill the Agency’s Access to Information Act responsibilities.

The ATIP function is the direct responsibility of the ATIP Coordinator and a team of two ATIP Officers.

The ATIP Team has administered the Act by:

• Receiving Access requests under the Act, creating request files and tracking the processing of requests using AccessPro Case Management software;
• Assessing required processing time, any fees that were still applicable, and communicating with applicants regarding those assessments;
• Coordinating retrieval of records for response to Access requests;
• Sending statutory notices to applicants, third parties, and the Information Commissioner;
• Conducting necessary consultations;
• Advising applicants and third parties of their rights and obligations under the legislation;
• Negotiating with third parties to obtain their consent to disclosure under the Act;
• Processing records for disclosure in response to applicants’ requests, using AccessPro Redaction software;
• Providing training and advice to Agency officials on interpretation and application of the Act, as well as its interaction with the Impact Assessment Act of Canada, 2019;
• Negotiating the resolution of formal complaints;
• Compiling statistics;
• Responding to Parliamentary Questions related to the administration of the Act;
• Drafting and updating the Agency’s procedural documents relating to the processing of Access requests;
• Posting the monthly proactive disclosure of completed Access to Information request summaries on the Open Government Portal (open.canada.ca);
• Preparing, submitting and posting the Agency’s annual report to Parliament on the administration of the Act; and
• Preparing, submitting and posting the Agency’s annual Info Source update.

Delegation Order

For the purposes of the Act, the Agency’s “head of the institution” as defined in section 3 of the Act is the President of the Agency.

The responsibilities associated with the administration of the Act are delegated to the senior executive officers reporting directly to the President (Vice-presidents and General Counsel), as well as the Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator by the President for the effective administration of the program. The decision-making responsibility for the application of the various provisions of the Act is formally established and outlined in the departmental Delegation of Authority Instrument, which can be found under Appendix A.

Statistical Report – Interpretation and Analysis

The Statistical Report on Access to Information requests processed by the Agency from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020 is included in Appendix B of this report. The following sections provide an overview of key data on the Agency’s performance for the year with some explanations, interpretations and analysis of the Statistical Report for 2019-2020.

Subject matter of Access requests received

The requests received during this reporting period dealt with a range of topics including:

• Environmental assessment projects and panel reviews;
• Meetings and correspondence involving senior management and industry representatives;
• Departmental and ministerial briefings;
• Agency records on various industry projects;
• Staffing processes; and
• Procurement matters.

Number, source and disposition of Access requests received

The Agency received 41 requests under the Access to Information Act during the 2019-2020 reporting period. Figure 1 is a percentage breakdown of the sources of access requests received in 2019-2020:

An additional 12 requests were brought forward from the previous 2018-2019 reporting period, making a total of 53 active requests. Of those active requests, 44 were completed within the reporting period and nine were not completed. Those nine requests are carried forward to the next reporting period.

There were four Informal Requests addressed in this reporting period; these Informal Requests were all completed within 15 days.

During the reporting period, 44 completed requests were processed within the legislated timeframes (the initial 30-day or the allotted extension period). This includes requests for which the Agency required extensions to consult with other government departments and/or third parties. Figure 2 outlines the resulting dispositions of those completed requests.

New Exemptions

Figure 3 shows in the 2019-2020 reporting period, the Agency did not invoke any of the new exemptions.

Extensions

Section 9 of the Act allows institutions to extend the legislated timeframe for processing a request if a search for responsive records cannot be completed within 30 days of receipt of the request, or if the institution must consult with other institutions or third parties.

Figure 4 shows that under section 9, the Agency invoked one or more extensions (beyond the initial 30 days) in eleven of the requests completed during the reporting period (highlighted portion). This is reflected in Table 3.1 of the Statistical Report in Appendix B.

Of the 11 requests requiring one or more extensions, six extensions were required given that meeting the original time limit would have unreasonably interfered with the operations of the Agency. Ten extensions were required for necessary consultations with other government institutions and nine were required for third party notices, as reflected in Table 4.1 of the Statistical Report in Appendix B and highlighted below in figure 5.

For those eleven requests requiring extension, the time extensions enabled the ATIP Team to undertake necessary consultations, as highlighted in the second column of Figure 6 below, which is excerpted from Table 3.5.3 of the Statistical Report in Appendix B. These necessary consultations included consultations with other government institutions and/or third parties.

Access Consultation Requests

The details of the Access Consultation requests processed during the 2019-2020 reporting period are presented in Section 6 of the Statistical Report in Appendix B.

The Agency received 46 Access Consultation requests from other federal institutions and three from other organizations, for a total of 49 consultation requests. All

46 Access Consultation requests received from other federal institutions were completed within 30 days. All three requests from other organizations were completed within 30 days. No consultation requests were brought forward from the 2018-2019 fiscal year and no consultations were carried over to 2019-2020, resulting in a total of 49 completed Access Consultation requests in 2019-2020. Over 4000 pages of records were processed as part of these Access Consultations.

When viewed collectively, Figure 7 and Figure 8 show that the Agency recommended full disclosure in 41 of the consultation requests, three to be transferred for consultation with another institution, and partial disclosure for the remaining five requests.

Multi-year Trends

The following demonstrates the trends that have emerged over the last three reporting periods in comparison with the current reporting period.

There was one late file in the reporting period and there have been no late files in three previous reporting periods as noted below in Figure 9.

Figure 10 shows that 34% of requests came from the Public and 17% of requests came from the Business sector. The Agency received four requests where the applicant identified as affiliated with the Academia, a notable increase from the previous three fiscal years.

Figure 11 illustrates the increased trend for the release of records in electronic format rather than paper. Most requestors now specify they would like their release packages on CD or sent through email.

With regard to Access Consultations, it is noted in this reporting period that the percentage of consultations from federal institutions increased and percentage of consultations from other organizations remained the same. This is detailed below in Figure 12.

Training and Awareness

Agency employees are provided with training and guidance to assist them in fulfilling their duties under the Access to Information Act. The ATIP Team provides advice and support on an as-needed basis. The ATIP Team is currently developing new training to reflect the changes arising from Bill C-58: An Act to amend the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, which came into force in June 2019.

Employees have been informed of the ATIP-related training offered by the Canada School of Public Service. Training and reference materials are made available to employees on the Agency’s Intranet site.

Policies, Guidelines and Procedures

No new Agency policy regarding administration of the Access to Information Act was implemented during the reporting period. Subsequent to the report period, the Agency implemented the new proactive publication requirements as introduced in Bill C-58 – An Act to amend the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts.

The ATIP Team revised the templates used for correspondence with Offices of Primary Interest (OPI) on an as-needed basis and has continued to streamline the approval process for requests and consultations. The records retrieval procedure and the tasking process were revised and clarified. Liaision roles and responsibilities under the Act have been further clarified, and guidance was provided on the obligation to provide recommendations and strong rationale to ATIP. The Agency continues to examine opportunities to transform the ATIP process to a paperless process.

Complaints, Audits and Investigations

No complaints were received in the 2019-2020 reporting period. The Office of the Information Commissioner is currently investigating a total of two active complaints, and no appeals have been filed with the Federal Court of Appeal on closed complaints.

Monitoring and Reporting

The Agency continues to ensure compliance with the Access to Information Act through effective reporting and monitoring mechanisms. Weekly ATIP reports are prepared for the Vice-President, Corporate Services, and for the Agency’s senior leadership. These reports include detailed status of individual requests, compliance statistics, and any complaint investigations.

A weekly Access to Information (ATI) report is provided to the Minister’s Office, which includes new ATI requests and anticipated releases. These reports also include request description, status of any individual requests and number of pages to be released.

Special reports are also submitted to provide justifications for time extensions and to outline plans for timely completion of complex or high profile requests. Extensions over 90 days require the approval of the Agency’s President. Extensions under 90 days require the approval of the Vice-President, Corporate Services, and disclosure to the Agency senior leadership.

Impact Assessment Agency Registry

As required under the Impact Assessment Act of Canada, 2019, the Agency facilitates public access to information and records related to environmental assessments, through the Impact Assessment Agency Registry (the Registry). Formal processes are in place to provide the public with access to environmental assessment records without recourse under the Access to Information Act.

Subsequent to the reporting period, the Agency has undertaken a renewal of the Registry futher to section 105 of the Impact Assessment Act of Canada 2019. Under the new legislative authorities and proposed policy direction, online comments are automatically published when an individual agrees to the terms and conditions for submitting comments to the Registry. A Privacy Impact Assessment has occurred to examine privacy-related considerations of the Registry renewal.

In addition, the ATIP Team refers requesters to the program responsible for granting access to Registry records in accordance with the Impact Assessment Act.

Appendices

Appendix A: Designation Order

Designation order

(Access to Information Act)

As head of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency for purposes of the Access to Information Act, I hereby designate, under section 73 of that Act, the officers and employees of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, who hold the positions set out in the attached Annex, to exercise or perform all of the powers, duties or functions that are conferred upon me by the provisions of the Access to Information Act specified in the aforementioned Annex.

Original signed July 23, 2017 by Ron Hallman, President, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.

Annex to Designation Order (Access to Information Act) Dated – July 2014

The Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator and the Senior Executive Officers reporting directly to the President of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency are designated to exercise or perform all powers, duties or functions of the President as the head of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency under the provisions of the Access to Information Act listed below. This designation replaces all previous delegation orders.

Appendix B: Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act

Name of institution: Impact Assessment Agency of Canada

Reporting period: 2019-04-01 to 2020-03-31

Section 1: Requests Under the Access to Information Act

1.1 Number of requests

1.2 Sources of requests

1.3 Informal requests

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

3.1 Disposition and completion time

3.2 Exemptions

3.3 Exclusions

3.4 Format of information released

3.5 Complexity

3.5.1 Relevant pages processed and disclosed

3.5.2 Relevant pages processed and disclosed by size of requests

3.5.3 Other complexities

3.6 Closed requests

3.6.1 Number of requests closed within legislated timelines

3.7 Deemed refusals

3.7.1 Reasons for not meeting legislated timelines

3.7.2 Requests closed beyond legislated timelines (including any extension taken)

3.8 Requests for translation

Section 4: Extensions

4.1 Reasons for extensions and disposition of requests

4.2 Length of extensions

Section 5: Fees

Section 6: Consultations Received From Other Institutions and Organizations

6.1 Consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions and organizations

6.2 Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions

6.3 Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other organizations

Section 7: Completion Time of Consultations on Cabinet Confidences

7.1 Requests with Legal Services

7.2 Requests with Privy Council Office

Section 8: Complaints and investigations

Section 9: Court Action

9.1 Court actions on complaints received before June 21, 2019 and on-going

9.2 Court actions on complaints received after June 21, 2019

Section 10: Resources Related to the Access to Information Act

10.1 Costs

10.2 Human Resources

Note: Enter values to two decimal places.