Parole Board of Canada Annual Report to Parliament on the Privacy Act 2019-2020

Introduction

In accordance with section 72 of the Privacy Act, an annual report to Parliament on the administration of the Privacy Act is prepared each fiscal year. This report covers the period from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020. This Annual Report is tabled in Parliament in accordance with section 72 of the Privacy Act.

Purpose of the Privacy Act

The Privacy Act provides citizens or permanent residents of Canada with the right of access to personal information held by the government and the protection of that information against unauthorized use and disclosure. The Privacy Act has provisions on the collection, retention and disposal of personal information. Under the Privacy Act, access is given to any personal information about the individual contained in a personal information bank, and any other personal information about the individual under the control of a government institution that is reasonably retrievable by the government institution. The Privacy Act allows for the correction of personal information where the individual believes there is an error or an omission. This may require that a notation is attached to the information reflecting any correction requested but not made.

Mandate of the Parole Board of Canada

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

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 held in prison until the end of their sentence. This is called detention during the period of statutory release. The PBC contributes to the protection of society by facilitating, as appropriate, the timely reintegration of offenders as law-abiding citizens. 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. Only the provinces of Ontario and Quebec currently have their own parole boards that make parole decisions for offenders serving sentences of less than two years.

The PBC is also 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 Privacy Act Responsibilities

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

• processing and responding to all formal requests under the Privacy Act;
• answering interdepartmental consultations;
• handling complaints from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner;
• advising senior officials and employees on privacy-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 Privacy Act.

The Director and Team Leaders are responsible for administering the legislation and signing exemptions within their delegated authority. They are also responsible for giving advice and guidance to departmental officials on matters involving the Privacy Act. In 2019-2020, ATIP staff consisted of one Director, two Team Leaders, one Analyst and one ATIP Clerk. All ATIPstaff is located at National Office.

Requests are processed as follows: completeness of the request is determined; the ATIP Team Leaders and Analyst ensure the signature from the records is the same as the signature on the privacy request form; if in doubt the requestor is contacted concerning the validity of their identity. For individuals making a request onbehalf of another individual, we ensure a signed consent form is obtained and the signature from the records is the same as the signature on the consent form; the request is acknowledged; search for relevant records is conducted; records are analysed under the provisions of the legislation, other agencies/ministries and policing services 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 (mainly with policing services) 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 PBC as well as at National Office.

Delegation Order

Some powers, duties and functions for the administration of the Privacy Act have been delegated to the Chairperson, Executive Vice-Chairperson, Executive Director General, Director of Public Affairs and Partnerships, and to the Team Leaders. For a copy of the signed delegation order, please refer to Annex A.

Interpretation of the Statistical Report for the 2019-2020 Reporting Period

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

PART 1 – Requests under the Privacy Act

Three hundred and seventy-five (375) requests were received in 2019-2020 and forty-one (41) requests were outstanding from the previous reporting period, 2018-2019. Three hundred and ninety-six (396) requests were completed during the 2019-2020 reporting period. Twenty (20) requests were carried over to fiscal year 2020-2021. Requests under the Privacy Act are highlighted in the graph below for the past four fiscal years.

PART 2 – Requests Closed During the Reporting Period

2.1 Disposition and Completion Time

Of the three hundred and ninety-six (396) requests completed, information was disclosed in part in response to two hundred and twenty-two (220) requests and in full for one hundred and thirty-eight (138) requests. The PBC had no records for twenty-three (23) requests, nine (9) requests were abandoned and four (4) requests were all exempt. The PBC routinely receives many privacy requests from members of the public who do not have a file with the PBC.

The majority of requests 34% were processed within 15 days, 36% were processed from 15-30 days, 29% of requests were processed within 31-60 days and 1% within 61-120 days.

2.2 Exemptions

Consistent with past fiscal years, Section 26 was the exemption invoked the most, followed by 19(1)(c), 19(1)(d) and 22(1)(b). A comparison chart of all exemptions invoked over the past two fiscal years appears below.

2.3 Exclusions

No exclusion was cited this reporting period.

2.4 Format of Information Released

The format of information released was Paper for most of the requests (58%) with the balance of the  requests disclosed in electronic format (42%).

2.5 Complexity

2.5.1 Relevant Pages Processed and Disclosed

Overall, 82,583 pages were processed this past fiscal year from 373 requests, which represents an increase of 30% for both pages and requests processed during the last fiscal year.

2.5.2 Relevant Pages Processed and Disclosed by Size of Request

Two hundred and forty-seven (247) requests had 100 pages or fewer processed. Eighty-one (81) had between 101-500 pages processed. Twenty (20) had between 501-1,000 pages processed. Twenty-Four (24) had between 1,001 and 5,000 pages processed and one (1) request had over 5,000 pages processed.

2.5.3 Other Complexities

PBC files remain relatively complex. Of the 373 requests processed with records, 281 required consultations.

2.6 Closed Requests

2.6.1 Number of Requests Closed within Legislated Timeframes

98.5% of the requests closed during 2019-2020 were closed within the legislated timeframes.

2.7 Deemed Refusals

Of the three hundred and ninety-six (396) requests received this reporting period, there were six (6) deemed refusals during this reporting period.

2.8 Requests for Translations

There were no requests for translations. This is consistent with past trends at the PBC.

PART 3 – Disclosures Under Subsection 8(2) and 8(5)

There were no disclosures made under 8(2) and 8(5) this past fiscal.

PART 4 – Requests for Correction of Personal Information and Notations

There were no requests for correction of Personal Information during this period.

PART 5 – Extensions

5.1 Reasons for Extensions and Disposition of Requests

Consistent with past trends at the PBC, the majority of the 136 extensions taken were for consultation purposes listed in the other category, had files with a disposition of disclosed in part and the extensions taken were for between 16-30 days. A comparison of the types of extensions taken is shown below.

PART 6 – Consultations Received from Other Institutions and Organizations

6.1 Consultation received from other Government of Canada Institutions and other Organizations

Three (3) consultations from other institutions were processed. Two (2) were completed within 1-15 days and one (1) within 31-60 days. No consultations were received from other organizations.

6.2 Recommendations and Completion Time for Consolations Received from other Government of Canada Institutions

Of the three (3) consultations received, one had a recommendation of all disclosed and the balance were disclosed in part.

6.3 Recommendations and Completion Time for Consultations Received from other Organizations

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

PART 7 – Completion Time of Consultations on Cabinet Confidences

7.1 Requests with Legal Services

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

PART 8 – Complaints and Investigations Notices Received

There was one (1) complaint received from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner during this reporting period, which was also finalized during the reporting period and was deemed to be not well founded.

PART 9 – Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs)

No Privacy Impact Assessments were completed during this reporting period.

PART 10 – Resources Related to the Privacy Act

Total salary costs associated with the Privacy Act activities were $255,267 for 2019-2020. Goods and services costs were $4,247 and overtime was $2,942. The associated full-time equivalency (FTE) human resources were 3.50. Included in the salary costs attributable to the Privacy Act are the costs associated with the administration of the Act. These are the salary costs of individuals working on privacy activities such as processing privacy requests, assisting the Office of the Privacy Commissioner in complaint investigations, processing consultation requests from other government institutions, preparing reports, maintaining statistics and working on privacy policy initiatives. A comparison of costs associated with the Privacy Act is shown below.

Formal/Informal Interface

The Parole Board shares a great deal of file information with offenders in contexts other than the processing of requests under the Privacy Act. For example, information is shared during hearings with offenders and when notifying them of its decisions. In carrying out such duties, the Board must comply with the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA). Section 141 of the CCRA states that at least 15 days before the review date of an offender, the PBC shall provide or cause to be provided to the offender, in writing, the information that is to be considered in the review of the case or a summary of that information. This process, therefore, may allow for the sharing of more information than would be otherwise permitted under the provisions of the Privacy Act.

Furthermore, the CCRA gives Canadian citizens greater access to information about offenders. The CCRA provides for:

1. A Decision Registry containing all conditional release decisions made by the PBC since November 1992, and which is accessible to anyone who demonstrates an interest in a specific case or group of cases, by written request;
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 personal information to third parties.

Impacts of COVID-19

During COVID-19, the ATIP Unit’s operations were slightly impacted at the outset given that one clerical staff position’s duties could not be performed remotely.  A workaround to this was implemented and the ATIP Team Leaders and the ATIP Analyst were able to perform their work remotely, which allowed the ATIP unit to continue to complete existing and new requests within legislative timeframes. See Annex C.

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. In the reporting fiscal year, although there were no informal or formal training sessions delivered on the Privacy Act the PBC continues to have an ATIP training tool on its internal website. The training informs staff about the roles and responsibilities of each Parole Board employee in relation to the Privacy Act and emphasizes that all employees have a role to play when it comes to the collection, retention, disposal 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.

Revised PBC-related Policies, Guidelines and Procedures

The ATIP unit will continue to be involved in the creation and revision of forms throughout the PBC. During the reporting period, PBC also began conducting privacy verifications on the shared drives in order to ensure that employees’ access to personal information respects the need-to-know principle.

Key Issues and Actions Taken on Complaints

One (1) complaint was received during the reporting period under the ‘miscellaneous’ category, and was deemed to be not well founded.

Monitoring the Time to Process Privacy requests and Requests for Correction

The PBC monitors the time to process all privacy requests and requests for correction through the use of a computerized tracking system. Monitoring is done by the Team Leader responsible for the request.

Material Privacy Breaches

There were no material privacy breaches during this reporting period.

ANNEX A - Delegation Order Privacy Act

By this order made pursuant to section 73 of the Privacy 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.

Original signed by
The Honourable Bill Blair, P.C., C.O.M., M.P.
Public Safety Canada
Date: July 22, 2020.

Schedule 1

ANNEX B - STATISTICAL REPORT ON THE PRIVACY ACT

Name of Institution: Parole Board of Canada

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

Part 1 – Requests under the Privacy Act

Part 2 – Requests closed during the reporting period

2.1 Disposition and completion time

ANNEX C - Supplemental Statistical Report – Requests Affected by COVID-19

The following table reports the total number of formal requests received during two periods; 2019-04-01 to 2020-03-13 and 2020-03-14 to 2020-03-31

Table 1 – Requests Received

Table 2 – Requests Closed

Table 3 – Requests Carried Over