Parole Board of Canada - Annual Report to Parliament on the Access to Information Act 2022-2023

About this publication

Author: Parole Board of Canada
ISSN 2564-0208

Introduction

In accordance with section 94 of the Access to Information (ATI) Act, an annual report to Parliament on the administration of the ATI Act is prepared each fiscal year and tabled in Parliament. This report covers the period from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023.

Purpose of the Access to Information Act

The Access to Information Act allows Canadian citizens, permanent residents and any other individual or corporation present in Canada the right of access to information under the control of a federal government institution. This right of access is subject to limited and specific exceptions. Decisions on the disclosure of information are reviewed independently of government. This Act complements existing procedures for obtaining government information and does not limit in any way the type of information that is normally available to the public under informal access to government records.

The Parole Board of Canada (PBC) recognizes the right of access to information under the control of government institutions as an essential element of democracy, openness and transparency. The PBC respects the spirit and requirements of the Access to Information Act, Access to Information Regulations, guidelines and related policy instruments.

Mandate of the Parole Board of Canada

The Parole Board of Canada is an independent administrative tribunal. The PBC is headed by a Chairperson who reports to Parliament through the Minister of Public Safety.

The Parole Board of Canada, as part of the criminal justice system, contributes to the protection of society by facilitating, as appropriate, the timely reintegration of offenders and the sustained rehabilitation of individuals into society as law-abiding citizens. The Board makes independent, quality conditional release, record suspension and expungement decisions, as well as clemency recommendations, in a transparent and accountable manner, while respecting diversity and the rights of offenders and victims.

The PBC has exclusive authority under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA) to grant, deny, cancel, terminate or revoke day parole and full parole. The Board may order certain offenders to be detained in prison until the end of their sentence. The Board makes conditional release decisions for federal offenders as well as for provincial offenders in provinces and territories that do not have their own provincial boards. The provinces of Ontario, Quebec and Alberta have their own parole boards.

The PBC is responsible for making decisions to order, refuse to order and revoke record suspensions (pardons) under the Criminal Records Act (CRA) and the Criminal Code. A record suspension is a formal attempt to remove the stigma of a criminal record for people who, having been convicted of an offence, have satisfied the sentence and remained crime-free for a prescribed number of years. The PBC also has legislated responsibility to order or refuse to order expungement of a conviction under the Expungement of Historically Unjust Convictions Act (Expungement Act). The Board also makes recommendations for the exercise of clemency through the Royal Prerogative of Mercy.

The PBC is comprised of full-time employees as well as Board members appointed by the Governor-in-Council. The PBC's National Office is located in Ottawa and there are six regional offices located in: Moncton (Atlantic), Montreal (Quebec), Kingston (Ontario), Saskatoon and Edmonton (Prairies), and Abbotsford (Pacific). The Appeal Division of the Board is located in Ottawa.

Organizational Structure of the PBC to Fulfill its Access to Information Act Responsibilities

The Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Unit is led by the Director of Public Affairs and Partnerships, who reports to the Deputy Chairperson of the PBC. ATIP is responsible for:

• processing and responding to all formal requests under the Access to Information Act;
• responding to interdepartmental consultations;
• handling complaints from the Office of the Information Commissioner;
• advising senior officials and employees on ATIP-related issues;
• producing the Annual Report to Parliament;
• updating Info Source;
• training employees;
• replying to informal inquiries; and
• coordinating and implementing policies, guidelines and procedures to ensure compliance with the Access to Information Act.

The Director of Public Affairs and Partnerships is responsible for administering the legislation and signing exemptions within his delegated authority. In 2022-2023, ATIP staff consisted of the Director, one ATIP Manager, one Senior ATIP Analyst, one ATIP Analyst and one ATIP Clerk all located at the National Office.

Requests are processed as follows:

• the completeness of the request is determined;
• the request is acknowledged;
• search for relevant records is conducted;
• records are analysed under the provisions of the legislation;
• other agencies/ministries are consulted, where appropriate;
• any necessary exemptions are applied; and
• the applicant is provided with non-exempted material.

A tracking system is used to log all actions taken. Consultations with other agencies/ministries take place in most cases when other institutions' information is found in the PBC’s files and their recommendations are normally followed.

Reading rooms are available in each of the six regional offices of the Board as well as at National Office.

As part of the Parole Board of Canada’s migration to Canada.ca, our proactive disclosure reports are now available through the Open Government portal.

All Access to Information summaries, as per Part 2 of the Proactive Publications, are posted on a monthly basis on the Open Government Portal, https://open.canada.ca/en/access-to-information

Delegation Order

Some powers, duties and functions for the administration of the Access to Information Act have been delegated to the Chairperson, Executive Vice-Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, Director of Public Affairs and Partnerships, and to the ATIP Manager. For a copy of the signed delegation order, please refer to Annex A.

Interpretation of the Statistical Report for the 2021-2022 Reporting Period

For a copy of the Statistical Report, please refer to Annex B.

PART 1 – Requests under the Access to Information Act

1.1  Number of Requests

Twenty-nine (29) requests were received under the Access to Information Act during the current reporting period. No request were carried forward from last fiscal year (2021-2022) and two (2) requests were carried forward into next fiscal year (2023-2024). Comparisons for the past four fiscal years are found on the following graph.

1.2  Sources of Requests

In 2022-2023, the majority of requests came from the public and media. A comparison of the source of the requester, by percentage of total requests received, can be found in the graph below.

1.1  Channels of requests

Of the twenty-nine (29) requests received, 72% were received online, 14% by mail and 14% by e-mail.

PART 2 – Informal Requests

2.1  Number of Informal Requests

In 2022-2023, seventy-three (73) informal requests were received.

2.2  Channels of requests

The seventy-three (73) informal requests were received by e-mail.

2.3  Completion time of informal requests

Thirteen (13) informal requests were completed between 16-30 days and sixty (60) were completed within 61 to 121 days.

2.4  Pages released informally

A total of 22,140 pages were released for the seventy-three (73) informal requests.

2.5  Pages re-released informally

No pages were re-released during this reporting period.

PART 3 – Applications to the Information Commissioner on declining to Act on Request

ATIP did not have any requests that related to this during this reporting period.

PART 4 – Requests Closed During the Reporting Period

4.1  Disposition and Completion Time

Seventy percent (70%) of the requests were completed within 15 days, fifteen percent (15%) were completed within 30 days, four percent (4%) were completed within 31-60 days, four percent (4%) were completed within 61-120 days and seven percent (7%) were completed within 121-180 days.

A graph of the disposition of requests and completion time for 2022-2023 is shown below. Of the 27 requests processed, 33% were fully disclosed and 29% were partially disclosed.

4.2  Exemptions

During fiscal year 2022-2023, 19(1) (Personal Information) was the exemption invoked the most, followed closely by 21(1)(a) (Third Party Information). The exemptions invoked varied from file-to- file.

4.3  Exclusions

There were no exclusions applied this fiscal year.

4.4  Format of Information Released

The format of information released was electronic for the majority of the requests ten (10), while six (6) requests were disclosed in paper format and one (1) in other format.

4.5 Complexity

4.5.1  Relevant Pages Processed and Disclosed for paper and e-record

Overall, 14,702 pages were processed this past fiscal year from 25 requests and of these 11,245 were released.

4.5.2  Relevant Pages Processed and Disclosed for paper and e-record by size of request

80% of requests processed this past fiscal year had less than 500 pages.

4.5.3  Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for audio formats

There were no requests for audio.

4.5.4  Relevant minutes processed per request disposition for audio formats by size of requests

There were no requests for audio.

4.5.5 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for video formats

There were no requests for videos.

4.5.6  Relevant minutes processed per request disposition for video formats by size of requests

There were no requests for videos.

4.5.7  Other Complexities

In fiscal year 2022-2023, the complexities were all based on consultations required.

4.6  Closed requests

4.6.1  Requests closed within legislated timelines

Of the twenty-seven (27) requests closed in 2022-2023, 100% of the requests were closed within the legislated timeframes.

4.7  Deemed Refusals

4.7.1  Reason for not meeting legislated timeframes

In fiscal year 2022-2023, there were no requests that were closed beyond the statutory deadline.

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

There were no deemed refusals during this reporting period.

4.8  Requests for Translation

Consistent with past fiscal years, there were no requests for translations.

PART 5 – Extensions

5.1  Reasons for Extensions and Disposition of Requests

In fiscal year 2022-2023, there were four (4) extensions taken.

5.2  Length of extensions

One (1) extension taken was for 30 days or less, one (1) was for between 31-60 days and two (2) were for between 121-180 days.

PART 6 – 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.

• Enabling authority: Access to Information Act
• Fee payable: $5.00 application fee is the only fee charged for an ATI request
• Total revenue: $130
• Fees waived: $15

In accordance with the Interim Directive on the Administration of the Access to Information Act, issued on May 5, 2016, and the changes to the Access to Information Act that came into force on June 21, 2019, the Parole Board of Canada waives all fees prescribed by the Act and Regulations, other than the $5 application fee set out in paragraph 7(1)(a) of the Regulations.

• Cost of operating the program: $49,154

PART 7 – Consultations Received from other Institutions and Organizations

7.1  Consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions and organizations

Sixteen (16) consultations were received from other government institutions, with a total of three hundred and ninety-nine (399) pages reviewed. No requests were carried over.

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

Fifteen (15) requests were processed within 15 days and one (1) request was processed within 16-30 days.

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

No consultations were received from other organizations. This is consistent with past trends at the PBC.

PART 8 – Completion Time of Consultations on Cabinet Confidences

8.1  Requests with Legal Services

There was no consultation on Cabinet Confidences with Legal Services this past fiscal year.

8.2  Requests with Privy Council Office

There was no consultation on Cabinet Confidences with the Privy Council Office this past fiscal year.

PART 9 – Investigations and Reports of finding

9.1  Investigations

There were no complaints received during 2022-2023.

9.2  Investigations and Reports of finding

There were no investigations and reports of finding for the reporting period.

PART 10 – Court Action

10.1  Court actions on complaints

There are no active court actions on complaints.

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

There are no active court actions on third party notifications under paragraph 28(1)(b).

PART 11 – Resources Related to the Access to Information Act

Total salary costs associated with the Access to Information Act activities were $48,544 for 2022- 2023. Goods and services costs were $610. Salary costs attributable to ATIP are the costs accountable for the administration of the Act. These are the salary costs of individuals working on ATIP activities such as processing ATIP requests, assisting the Office of the Information Commissioner in complaint investigations, processing consultation requests from other government institutions, preparing reports, maintaining statistics and training employees on the Access to Information Act. Similar to previous fiscal years, the vast majority of salary costs in the ATIP office were associated with Privacy Act activities. A chart of the costs associated with the Access to Information Act is shown as a percentage of expenditures in the chart below.

Formal/Informal Interface

As reported in previous annual reports, the PBC continues to handle a large number of requests informally through its Public Affairs and Partnerships Division and regional offices. The availability of corporate publications and the PBC website on Canada.ca greatly facilitate access to information about the PBC and its programs. As well, the CCRA directs the PBC to maintain a registry of its written decisions, which are available to members of the public upon written request. This allows Canadian citizens greater access to information about specific decisions related to the conditional release of offenders. The CCRA provides for:

1. A Decision Registry containing all conditional release decisions made by the Board since November 1992, and which is accessible by written request to anyone who demonstrates an interest in a specific case or group of cases;
2. Access by victims to some offender-related information, and;
3. Members of the public to attend PBC hearings.

This law has an important impact on the disclosure of offender-related information to third parties.

Impacts of COVID-19

For the current reporting period, the ATIP Unit did not experience any impacts related to COVID-19 and it continued to complete all existing and new requests within legislative timeframes. ATIP Unit employees have worked a blend of in-office and remote work throughout the pandemic, which has provided for a flexible work environment that has allowed the unit to effectively adapt to the pandemic as it has continued to evolve.

Training Activities

The PBC requires all of its public service staff to complete the online course “Access to Information and Privacy Fundamentals” as part of their Collective Learning Roadmap. One (1) training session on the Access to Information and Privacy Act was also delivered to new Board members and employees by the ATIP Manager. Some examples of the types of information provided to Board members and employees this past fiscal year include: information regarding the collection, correction, use and disclosure of personal information; writing privacy notice statements; and handling privacy breaches. These training sessions were given to approximately nineteen (19) Board members and employees.

The PBC continues to have an ATIP training tool on its internal website. The training tool provides information to staff about the roles and responsibilities of each Parole Board employee in relation to the Access and Privacy Act and emphasizes that all employees have a role to play when it comes to the collection, retention, disposal of records, how they are handle receiving a retrieval request form the ATIP Unit and protection of personal information. In addition, the PBC continued to expand privacy training by finalizing and posting the privacy principles on its internal website.

Proactive Publication under Part 2 of the ATIA

The Government of Canada has implemented a series of measures to strengthen public sector management by enhancing transparency and oversight of public resources in the federal government.

One of these measures includes the proactive disclosure of financial and human resources related information by departments and agencies. By making this information readily available on departmental web sites, Canadians and Parliament are better able to hold the Government and public sector officials responsible for their actions.

For this purpose, the Government announced the mandatory publication on departmental web sites of travel and hospitality expenses for selected government officials, contracts entered into by the Government of Canada for amounts over $10,000 except, limited exceptions, when national security could be compromised; reclassification of positions, the awarding of grants and contributions and the total annual departmental expenditures for travel, hospitality and conferences including a brief description of the main variances from the previous year's actual expenditures.

Information that would normally be withheld under the Access to Information Actor the PrivacyAct does not appear on this web site.

List of Proactive disclosures

• Disclosure of Position Reclassifications
• Disclosure of Contracts
• Disclosure of Hospitality Expenses
• Disclosure of Travel Expenses
• Report on Annual Expenditures for Travel, Hospitality and Conferences
• Disclosure of Grant and Contribution Awards Over $25,000 (Note: The PBC does not award any grants or contributions.)

Initiatives and Projects to Improve Access to Information

In order to improve the access to information held within the Parole Board of Canada, we have been working on implementing the following activities:

• Looking at improvements to modernize the delivery of services by promoting the ATIP Online to requesters.
• Updating our current ATIP digital software.
• Verifying improvements for responding to requests for copies of previously released ATI requests.

Revised PBC-related Policies, Guidelines and Procedures

In keeping with Treasury Board’s policies, guidelines and procedures regarding the Access to Information Act, the PBC has an ATIP procedural manual to ensure consistency while processing requests under the Access to Information Act. In addition, updated information geared towards assisting applicants in obtaining information from the PBC was posted on the external website.

This included information on how to make an access to information request, the timeframe for responding to access requests, the principles for assisting applicants, completed access to information requests, Info source, Access to Information and Privacy Annual Reports, Frequently Asked Questions and related links.

Key Issues and Actions Taken on Complaints

No complaints were received for this reporting period and there are no outstanding complaints.

Monitoring the Time to Process Access to Information Requests

The PBC monitors the time to process all Access to Information requests through the use of a computerized tracking system. Monitoring is done by the Manager, ATIP. As the PBC is 100% compliant with the legislated timelines set out in the Act, no additional monitoring is required.

ANNEX A: Delegation - Access to information

Access to Information Act Delegation Order

By this order made pursuant to section 95(1) of the Access to Information Act, I hereby authorize those officers and employees of the Parole Board of Canada occupying, on an acting basis or otherwise, the positions identified within the attached schedule to perform on my behalf any of the powers, duties or functions specified therein.

This delegation replaces and repeals all previous orders.

Dated at the City of Ottawa,
this 28 day of Feb, 2022

Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C.,M.P.
Public Safety Canada