Annual Report to Parliament 2023 to 2024: Administration of the Access to Information Act

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October 2024

© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, 2024.

This publication may be reproduced for personal or internal use without permission, provided the source is fully acknowledged. However, multiple copy reproduction of this publication in whole or in part for purposes of redistribution requires the prior written permission from the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H3, or information@iaac-aeic.gc.ca.

Catalogue Number: En14-12/1E-PDF

ISSN 2562-766X

This document has been issued in French under the title: Application de la Loi sur l’accès à l’information

Contents

• List of abbreviations and acronyms
• Introduction
• Organizational Structure
• Delegation Order
• Performance 2023-2024
  • Percentage of requests responded to within legislated timelines
  • Number of completed requests
  • Number of active requests
  • Number of active complaints
  • Extensions
  • Consultations completed for other institutions
  • The IAAC’s 2023-2024 Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act for 2023-2024
    • Source and channels of access requests received
    • Informal requests
    • Multi-year trends
    • Exemptions and exclusions
    • Translation
  • The IAAC’s Supplemental ATIP Statistical Report for 2023-2024
    • Capacity to receive requests
    • Capacity to process paper and electronic requests
    • Subject matter of access requests received
  • Training and Awareness
    • Training and awareness of proactive publication responsibilities and requirements
  • Policies, Guilines and Procedures
  • Initiatives and Projects to Improve Access to Information
  • Summary of Key Issues and Actions Taken on Complaints
  • Reporting on Access to Information fees for the purposes of the Service Fees Act
    • Fees
    • Cost
    • Access to Information requests
    • Inter-institutional consultations
    • Frequently requested information
    • Procurement
    • Proactively published information
  • Reporting on Access to Information fees for the purposes of the Service Fees Act
• Proactive Publication Under Part 2 of the ATIA
  • Initiatives to improve proactive publication
• Annexes
  • Annex A: Designation Order
  • Annex B: Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act

List of abbreviations and acronyms

ATI

Access to Information

ATIP

Access to Information and Privacy

Act, the

Access to Information Act

ECCC

Environment and Climate Change Canada

IAA

Impact Assessment Act

IAAC

Impact Assessment Agency of Canada

OIC

Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada

OPI

Office of Primary Interest

PD/OG

Proactive Disclosure/Open Government

PSPC

Public Services and Procurement Canada

Registry, the

Canadian Impact Assessment Agency Registry

SACC

Standard Acquisition Clauses and Conditions

TBS

Treasury Board Secretariat

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 and in accordance with section 20 of the Service Fees Act. It presents an overview of the Access to Information Act activities carried out within the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) (formerly known as the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency) during the reporting period of April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024.

The IAAC is a federal body that reports to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada. Under the Impact Assessment Act (IAA), the IAAC is the lead federal organization responsible for conducting and administering environmental and impact assessments. The IAAC is also the Crown coordinator for Indigenous consultation on designated projects. In leading these assessments, the IAAC is responsible for assessing the positive and negative environmental, economic, social, health, and gender effects of designated projects.

Organizational Structure

The proactive publication responsibilities associated with Part 2 of the ATI are assigned to the Manager, Executive Coordination and Briefing Unit (ECBU), in the President’s Office. This person is also known as the Proactive Disclosure/Open Government (PD/OG) Analyst. Each team responsible for compiling the raw data will submit their report to the PD/OG analyst who will then ensure that the reports meet standards for accessibility, translation, formatting, and completeness. The PD/OG analyst will then seek approval of the IM Manager, who is also the responsible manager for ATIP, before posting these reports to the Open Government website.

Organizational structure image - Text version

Acting Deputy Chief Information Officer – Manager for Information Management, Access to Information and Privacy, and Data: Steve Labelle

• Proactive Disclosure/Open-Government Analyst: Johane Hamilton
• Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator: Steven Racine
  • Senior Access to Information and Privacy Analyst: Ashley Trevers
  • Access to Information and Privacy Analyst: Desiree Newman
  • Analyst: Vacant
• Acting Head of Information Management: Claudia Terzian

Delegation Order

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

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.

Performance 2023-2024

The Statistical Report on Access to Information requests processed by the IAAC from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024 is included in Appendix B of this report. The following sections provide an overview of key data on the IAAC’s performance for the year with some explanations, interpretations and analysis of the Statistical Report for 2023-2024.

Percentage of requests responded to within legislated timelines

Of the 39 requests closed during the 2023-2024 period, 31 were closed within the legislated timeline. This represents a percentage of 79%.

Number of completed requests

During the 2023–2024 reporting period, 22 (56%) of the 39 requests were completed within the initial 30-day period. This includes 18 (46%) requests completed in the first 15 days and 4 (10%) requests completed between 16 and 30 days. Table 2 provides further details and additional information on the performance of the IAAC.

Of the 39 requests completed, 3 (8%) were disclosed in full, and 17 (44%) were disclosed in part. Table 3 outlines the remaining resulting dispositions of all completed requests.

Number of active requests

During the 2023-2024 reporting period, a total of 39 (81%) new requests were received, in addition to 9 (19%) requests carried over from the 2022-2023 period, resulting in 48 active requests. As Identified in Table 4 all 9 active requests received during the 2022-2023 reporting period were completed within legislated timelines as of March 31, 2024.

Number of active complaints

During the 2023–2024 reporting period, there were 5 open complaints with the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada against the IAAC.

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.

In 2023-2024, the IAAC invoked one or more extensions (beyond the initial 30 days) in 39 of the requests completed during the reporting period. Table 6 identifies the length of time sought for each extension.

Out of 39 requests, 30 (77%) required extensions. Of these, 8 (21%) were necessary to prevent unreasonable interference with the IAAC’s operations. An additional 11 (28%) extensions were needed for consultations with other government institutions, and 11 (28%) were required for third-party notices. The reasons for these extensions and the disposition of the requests are detailed in Table 7.

Access Consultation requests

The details of the Access Consultation requests processed during the 2023-2024 reporting period are presented in Section 7 of the Statistical Report in Appendix B.

The IAAC received 41 Access Consultation requests from other federal institutions and 5 from other organizations, for a total of 46 consultation requests received during the 2023-2024 reporting period.

Additionally, 5 requests were carried forward from the 2022-2023 reporting period, resulting in a total of 51 active Access Consultations during the 2023-2024 reporting period.

Consultations completed

49 Access Consultation requests from other federal institutions and other organizations were completed. Of these, 45 (92%) were completed within 30 days. Over 5048 pages of records were processed as part of these Access Consultations.

2 consultation requests were carried forward into the 2024-2025 reporting period.

The IAAC’s 2023-2024 Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act for 2023-2024

Source and channels of access requests received

Requests received by the public 13 (33%) and media 9 (23%) represent the largest source of incoming requests. Figure 10 shows a percentage breakdown of the sources of the access requests received during the 2023-2024 reporting period.

The 39 requests were received through Access to Information and Personal Information Online Request Service, as identified in Table 11.

Informal requests

A total of 30 informal requests were received during the 2023-2024 reporting period. All requests were received online.

19 informal requests were re-released within 1 to 15 days. 10 were re-released within 16 to 30 days. Lastly, 1 was re-released within 31 to 60 days. Section 2 of this report provides a breakdown of each.

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 were 39 requests closed in the 2023-2024 reporting period as noted below in Table 12 compared to 58 in 2022-2023 and 54 in 2021-2022.

Table 13 as identified previously, all of requests were received via the ATIP portal. When compared to the previous reporting year, the number of requests received has decreased by (32%).

Table 14 illustrates the steady trend for the release of records in electronic format rather than paper. All requestors in the past four reporting years have specified they would like their release packages electronically, with the last request for release in paper format submitted in 2018-2019.

Regarding Access Consultations, it is noted in this reporting period that there was a decrease of consultations from federal institutions by (18%) and other organizations by (17%). This is detailed below in Table 15.

Exemptions and exclusions

The Access to Information Act exempts certain information from being disclosed. In 2023–24, 39 requests contained information that was subject to exemptions and/or exclusions under the act and this information was not disclosed. A request may have multiple exemptions applied resulting in a greater number of exemptions invoked than redacted requests.

Most requests were subject to exemptions because the records requested contained the following information, as reflected in Appendix B of this report:

• published material available for purchase, and library and museum material (15 applications) (section 13 of the Act)
• law enforcement and security information (10 applications) (section 16 of the Act)
• personal information (17 applications) (section 19 of the Act)
• third-party business information (37 applications) (section 20 of the Act)
• information related to the internal decision-making processes of government (27 applications) (section 21 of the Act)

The Access to Information Act does not apply to published material, material available for purchase by the public (section 68 of the Act), or confidences of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada (Cabinet confidences) (section 69 of the Act). Annex B shows the frequency these exclusions were invoked and include 12 occasions to exclude published material and 2 occasions to protect Cabinet confidentiality.

Translation

No requests for translation were made in the 2023-2024 reporting year.

The IAAC’s Supplemental ATIP Statistical Report for 2023-2024

Capacity to receive requests

The IAAC had an uninterrupted service delivery and was able to receive requests the full 52 weeks of the reporting period.

Capacity to process paper and electronic requests

The IAAC had an uninterrupted service delivery and was able to process records in all classification levels (i.e., protected A, protected B, classified and, secret) for the full 52 weeks of the reporting period.

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.

Training and Awareness

IAAC employees are provided with training and guidance to assist them in fulfilling their duties under the Act. The ATIP Team provides advice and support on an as-needed basis.

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 IAAC’s Intranet site.

Training and awareness of proactive publication responsibilities and requirements

Training sessions on proactive disclosure and publication are typically conducted as one-off sessions with the relevant employees. Each session focuses on the specific requirements and responsibilities of the team. For example, if an employee from the Finance team needs additional training or clarification, the PD/OG analyst will schedule a 30-minute meeting to cover the financial reporting requirements. Table 16 shows the total number of scheduled training sessions since tracking began. This does not include any impromptu in-person or videoconference meetings, nor does it include proactive disclosure training given as part of other training sessions, such as those for transition binders for the Minister or binders for the President’s appearances before a Parliamentary Committee.

Policies, Guidelines and Procedures

There were no new policies, guidelines or procedures implemented during this reporting period.

Initiatives and Projects to Improve Access to Information

In the 2023-2024 reporting period, the IAAC undertook several key initiatives to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of our Access to Information (ATI) processes. Our primary focus was on reviewing and refining our internal procedures, ensuring that our administrative tasks were streamlined to reduce redundancy and improve response times. This comprehensive review allowed us to identify and implement best practices, which have significantly improved our workflow and processing capabilities. In addition, to better position the organization for future requests, IAAC is working with information holders to streamline the ATIP process, identify efficiencies, and develop systematic improvements for the flow of information.

Additionally, we invested efforts into revising our in-house training materials for employees responsible for handling ATI requests. This initiative aimed to ensure that our staff are well-equipped with the knowledge and skills required to manage requests efficiently and in compliance with the Access to Information Act.

Summary of Key Issues and Actions Taken on Complaints

Applicants have the right to register a complaint with the Information Commissioner of Canada (OIC) regarding any matter relating to the processing of a request.

Five complaints were received in the 2023-2024 reporting period and eleven requests were carried over from the previous reporting period. The OIC closed 12 complaints and determined two to be well founded. The complaints deemed well founded were resolved without recommendations. As of the end of this reporting period there were a total of 4 active complaints.

No appeals have been filed with the Federal Court of Appeal on closed complaints.

Table 17 provides a breakdown of the reasons for the complaints, Table 18 summarizes the findings from the OIC, and Table 19 shows the number of complaints received, closed, and carried over for the current year as well as for three of the previous reporting periods.

Reporting on Access to Information fees for the purposes of the Service Fees Act

Fees

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.

The $5.00 application fee is the only fee charged for an ATI request. In the 2023-2024 reporting period, total fees of $185 were collected for the processing of 37 requests. Two application fees were waived.

Cost

The total costs involved in administering the Access to Information Act during the 2023-2024 reporting period were $287,000. This amount represents the total spent on salaries.

Access to Information requests

The IAAC continues to ensure compliance with the Act through effective reporting and monitoring mechanisms. Weekly ATIP reports containing detailed statuses of individual requests are prepared for the Vice-President, Corporate Services, and for the IAAC’s senior leadership. A weekly Access to Information (ATI) report is provided to the Minister’s Office, which includes new ATI requests and anticipated releases. These reports include request description, and statuses of any individual requests.

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 IAAC’s President. Extensions under 90 days require the approval of the Vice-President, Corporate Services, and disclosure to the IAAC senior leadership.

Inter-institutional consultations

To ensure the IAAC limits inter-institutional consultations to only when required for the proper exercise of discretion or for an intention to disclose, ATIP Analysts are instructed to review records page by page when marking records requiring consultation. This ensures not only that the appropriate institutions are being consulted, but also to limit the number of pages an institution will receive. Where possible, records requiring more than one consultation are separated by page so that institutions only have to review their information. For example, a table containing multiple institutional comments spanning 60 pages will be separated by institution, rather than sending the full 60 pages to all.

Frequently requested information

As is described in the next section of this report, the IAAC facilitates public access to information and records related to environmental assessments, through the Canadian Impact Assessment Agency Registry (the Registry). Offices of Primary Interest work with the Registry Team to determine if additional information that is frequently requested, does not contain sensitive information, and meets the IAAC’s operational policy can be posted on the Registry.

Procurement

The IAAC ensures measures to support the right of public access to information are reflected in contracts, information sharing agreements and information sharing arrangements in accordance with section 4.2.8 of the Directive Access to Information Requests.

The templates used by the IAAC for preparing solicitations with resulting contract clauses are from Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) and the requirement for disclosure of information is captured in those templates. For example, the IAAC’s most commonly used template for under $121K contracts includes PSPC’s general conditions located in clause 2010B 34 Access to Information. For contracts over $121K, clause 2035 44 Access to Information, containing the same information as 2010B 34 is used and a clause pertaining to the disclosure of incumbent information is used.

Further, the IAAC follows the Directive on the Management of Procurement, which requires quarterly public disclosure of a contract when its value is over $10,000, a positive or negative amendment when its value is over $10,000, and a positive amendment when it modifies the initial value of a contract to an amended contract value that is over $10,000.

Proactively published information

The IAAC monitors the accuracy and completeness of proactively published information in the approval process. Each team responsible for compiling the raw data will submit their report to the Proactive Disclosure/Open Government (PD/OG) Analyst, located in the President’s office. The PD/OG ensures that the reports meet standards for accessibility, translation, formatting, and completeness before posting these reports to the Open Government website.

Reporting on Access to Information fees for the purposes of the Service Fees Act

In adherence to the Impact Assessment Act, the IAAC champions public access to records associated with environmental assessments through the Impact Assessment Agency Registry (the Registry). Formalized protocols are in place to enable public access to these records without the need for recourse under the Access to Information Act.

After the reporting period, the IAAC has embarked on updates to the Registry pursuant to section 105 of the Impact Assessment Act. Under the updated legislative framework and proposed policy direction, online comments are automatically published once an individual consents to the terms and conditions for submissions.

Furthermore, the Registry now features a subscription service, allowing subscribers to receive notifications when new content is made available on the Canadian Impact Assessment Registry. This enhancement is designed to keep stakeholders informed and engaged with the latest developments.

Additionally, the ATIP Team assists requesters by directing them to the appropriate program for accessing Registry records, in accordance with the provisions of the Impact Assessment Act.

Proactive Publication Under Part 2 of the ATIA

Proactive Publication Requirements Table
All Government Institutions as defined in section 3 of the Access to Information Act

Government entities or Departments, agencies, and other bodies subject to the Act and listed in Schedules I, I.1, or II of the Financial Administration Act

Government institutions that are departments named in Schedule I to the Financial Administration Act or portions of the core public administration named in Schedule IV to that Act (i.e. government institutions for which Treasury Board is the employer)

Ministers

Reports published within timelines

The changes initiated in the previous year did prove to benefit the proactive publication at the IAAC. From 2022-2023 to 2023-2024, the IAAC improved on the publication of all categories of reports without exception.

Initiatives to improve proactive publication

While the initiatives implemented during 2022-2023 yielded positive results, IAAC still has room for improvement. The primary focus for the PD/OG analyst has been on delegation and training.

In January 2024, the PD/OG analyst began training their direct reports on the process for posting monthly reports. By February 2024, junior staff were delegated the task of reviewing reports from subject matter experts to ensure they meet formatting standards. After completing their reviews, they obtain necessary approvals before posting the reports on the Open Government Registry. This new process has resulted in timelier postings.

Regarding briefing packages for the deputy head and the Minister, the PD/OG analyst is now working more closely with sectors to provide advice on proactive disclosure before the packages go through the approval chain. Early results of this collaboration are promising.

Annexes

Annex 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.

Annex B: Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act

Name of institution: Impact Assessment Agency of Canada

Reporting period: 2023-04-01 to 2024-03-31

Section 1: Requests under the Access to Information Act

1.1a Number of requests received

1.1b Number of requests carried into next reporting period

1.2 Sources of requests

1.3 Channels of requests

Section 2: Informal requests

2.1a Number of informal requests received

2.1b Number of informal requests carried into next reporting period

2.2 Channels of informal requests

2.3 Completion time of informal requests

2.4 Pages released informally

2.5 Pages re-released informally

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

3.1a Number of applications received by the Information Commissioner

3.1b Information Commissioner decision

Section 4: Requests closed during the reporting period

4.1 Disposition and completion time

4.2 Number of exemptions per section of the Act

4.3 Number of exclusions per section of the Act

4.4 Format of information released

4.5 Complexity

4.5.1 Relevant pages processed and disclosed for paper and e-record formats

4.5.2 Relevant pages processed per request disposition for paper and e-record formats by size

4.5.3 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for audio formats

4.5.4 Relevant minutes processed per request disposition for audio formats for all sizes of requests

4.5.5 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for video formats

4.5.6 Relevant minutes processed per request disposition for video formats for all sizes of requests

4.5.7 Other complexities

4.6 Closed requests

4.6.1 Requests closed within legislated timelines

4.7 Deemed refusals

4.7.1 Reasons for not meeting legislated timelines

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

4.8 Requests for translation

Section 5: Extensions

5.1 Reasons for extensions and disposition of requests

5.2 Length of extensions

Section 6: Fees

6.1a Fees collected

6.1b Fees waived

6.1c Fees refunded

Section 7: Consultations received from other Institutions and Organizations

7.1a Consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions

7.1b Number of consultation requests from other Government of Canada institutions carried into next reporting period

7.1c Consultations received from other organizations

7.1d Number of consultation requests from other organizations carried into next reporting period

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

7.3 Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other organizations outside the Government of Canada

Section 8: Completion time of consultations on Cabinet confidences

8.1 Requests with Legal Services for all sizes

8.2 Requests with Privy Council Office

Section 9: Investigations and reports of finding

9.1 Investigations

9.2 Investigations and Reports of finding

Section 10: Court action

10.1 Court actions on complaints

10.2 Court actions on third party notifications under paragraph 28(1)(b)

Section 11: Resources related to the Access to Information Act

11.1 Allocated costs

11.2 Human resources