Annual Report on the Administration of the Access to Information Act 2024-2025

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• 1. About the Public Service Commission of Canada
  • 1.1 Raison d’être
  • 1.2 Mandate and role
  • 1.3 Programs
• 2. Organizational structure
• 3. Delegation Order
• 4. 2024-2025 Performance
  • 4.1 Requests under the Access to Information Act
  • 4.2 Disposition of requests completed
  • 4.3 Completion time and extensions
  • 4.4 Format of information released
  • 4.5 Consultations
  • 4.6 Informal requests
  • 4.7 Active complaints
• 5. Training and awareness
• 6. Policies, guidelines and procedures
• 7. Initiatives and projects to improve access to information
• 8. Summary of Key Issues and Actions Taken on Complaints
• 9. Proactive Publication under Part 2 of the Act
• 10. Monitoring compliance
• Appendix A – Delegation Order

Introduction

The Access to Information Act (the Act) came into force on July 1, 1983. The Act gives Canadian citizens and permanent residents as well as other individuals present in Canada a broad right of access to information contained in government records, subject to certain specific and limited exceptions.

On December 12, 2006, the Act was amended as a result of the Federal Accountability Act. In June 2019, the Act was amended again. Its scope was expanded to include proactive publication of information.

Section 94 of the Act requires that the head of every federal institution produce an annual report on the administration of the Act by the institution. The report must be submitted to Parliament in the first 15 sitting days of the parliamentary session after September 1.

Prepared and tabled in accordance with section 94 of the Act, this annual report summarizes the administration of the Act within the Public Service Commission of Canada for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.

This report is also available on the Publications page of the Public Service Commission of Canada’s website.

1. About the Public Service Commission of Canada

1.1 Raison d’être

The President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada is identified as the appropriate minister for the Public Service Commission of Canada (PSC) in accordance with the Financial Administration Act. The PSC reports independently on its mandate to Parliament.

Through collaboration with departments and agencies, the PSC is dedicated to building tomorrow’s public service that is based on excellence and is representative of Canada’s diversity. It safeguards non-partisanship and promotes and protects merit and the use of both official languages in a staffing and recruitment context. It supports departments and agencies in recruiting talented people from coast to coast using innovative and modern services, tools, and practices.

1.2 Mandate and role

Under the delegated staffing system set out in the Public Service Employment Act, the PSC fulfills its mandate by promoting and safeguarding a non-partisan, merit-based and representative public service that serves all Canadians. It does this by:

• supporting departments and agencies in hiring qualified individuals into and within the public service
• overseeing and ensuring the integrity of public service hiring
• protecting the non-partisan nature of the public service while respecting employees’ rights to participate in political activities
• delivering recruitment programs and assessment services

1.3 Programs

As per the Service Inventory, the PSC delivers services via 3 programs, with support from Internal Services, all of which support the delivery of its departmental results.

Policy Direction and Support

The Policy Direction and Support Program aims to support departments and agencies in hiring qualified individuals into and within the public service, in experimenting and innovating with their staffing approaches and supporting strategies to help them both meet their business needs and achieve their diversity and employment equity objectives. This program establishes government-wide direction on staffing through regulations and policy and provides guidance to organizations to enable legislative, regulatory and policy compliance. It also assesses public servants' requests for permission to become candidates for elected office and conducts outreach to ensure public servants know their legal rights and responsibilities regarding political activities.

Recruitment and Assessment Services

The Recruitment and Assessment Services Program supports departments and agencies in the hiring of qualified individuals into and within the public service, helping to shape a workforce reflecting Canada’s diversity. This includes the delivery of recruitment programs, student programs, assessment and accommodation services, and the administration of legislated priority entitlements. Through outreach and the use of modern tools, online systems, and technology, the program reduces barriers for Canadians accessing public service jobs. It also collaborates with departments and agencies to create and implement innovative staffing and assessment approaches to meet the Government of Canada’s strategic recruitment priorities and renew the public service.

Oversight and Monitoring

The Oversight and Monitoring Program supports the integrity of the merit-based public service hiring process and helps identify areas for continuous improvement of the public service. The program performs audits and investigations and conducts surveys to monitor organizational compliance with staffing legislation, regulations, policies, and to provide a system-wide view of the public service staffing environment. This program also monitors and analyzes hiring data and conducts research to provide departments and agencies, and Canadians, with an informed view of the dynamics of public service hiring.

Internal Services

Internal services are groups of related activities and resources that are administered to support the needs of programs and other corporate obligations of an organization. These groups are: Acquisitions, Communications Services, Financial Management, Human Resources Management, Information Management, Information Technology, Legal Services, Management and Oversight Services, Material, Real Property, and Travel and Other Administrative Services.

2. Organizational structure

The PSC has a stable and effective Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) program. The ATIP Office works closely with PSC employees to make sure all requests are handled on time. It relies on open communication with PSC sectors, government organizations, third parties and requesters to ensure optimal application of the Act.

ATIP Office

Housed in the Chief Financial Officer and Vice-President’s Office of the Corporate Affairs Sector, in the National Capital Region, the ATIP Office supports the Director, Sector Management and ATIP Coordination (the Director) in administering the provisions of the Act and related Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) policies for the PSC.

During the reporting period, the ATIP Office was composed of a Manager, a Senior Advisor, an analyst and a junior analyst. There was no change to the composition of the ATIP Office team in 2024-2025.

In addition to receiving and processing requests made to the PSC under the Act, the ATIP Office is responsible for:

• developing and offering training and awareness sessions to employees to ensure they understand their roles, responsibilities and obligations under the Act
• providing support to sector liaison officers
• conducting regular reviews of the departmental Info Source chapter
• monitoring the PSC’s compliance with the Act, regulations and other relevant policies and directives, including those relevant to proactive publication
• responding to consultation requests submitted by other government institutions with respect to PSC documents
• preparing the Annual Report to Parliament on the administration of the Act and other statutory reports, as well as other material that may be required by central agencies
• developing, reviewing and implementing effective guidelines, systems and procedures that ensure requests are processed as required under the Act and as directed by TBS policies and directives.

The PSC was not party to any service agreements, new or pre-existing, for ATIP services with other government institutions during the reporting period.

Liaison Officers

The ATIP Office processes requests with the help of liaison officers, who are employees across the organization with extensive knowledge of their respective sector’s activities which enables them to act as the point of contact between their area and the ATIP Office. There is a liaison officer for each sector of the PSC, as well as for the Corporate Secretariat and the Office of the Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive.

Liaison officers play an important role in making sure the PSC thoroughly searches its information holdings when handling requests, by:

• assigning program experts to search for relevant records
• advising if other groups in the PSC could have relevant information
• informing the ATIP Office of any issues regarding specific requests (delays, interference with operations, need to consult)
• delivering relevant records, with any recommendations about disclosure, to the ATIP Office

Proactive Publication

The PSC is subject to sections 82 to 89 of the Act and is therefore required to proactively publish:

• travel expenses
• hospitality expenses
• reports tabled in Parliament
• contracts over $10,000
• briefing materials prepared for new or incoming deputy head
• the title and reference number of memoranda prepared for the deputy head
• briefing materials prepared for the deputy head’s appearance before a committee of Parliament
• reclassification of positions

Within the PSC, these obligations are met through the actions of relevant program areas and Executives within each directorate who are responsible for ensuring the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of proactively published information.

For a breakdown of the groups responsible for meeting each applicable proactive publication requirement under Part 2 of the Act, see section 9 Proactive Disclosure under Part 2 of the Act.

3. Delegation Order

The President of the PSC is designated as the head of the institution for the administration of the Act. Pursuant to subsection 95(1) of the Act, the President has delegated full powers, duties and functions under the Act to the Chief Financial Officer and Vice-President, Corporate Affairs and to the Director, Sector Management and ATIP Coordination (as the designated ATIP Coordinator for the PSC). Partial delegation is also provided to the ATIP Manager, who has operational responsibility for the application of the Act.

The signed and dated delegation order that was in effect at the end of the reporting period is available in Appendix A.

4. 2024-2025 Performance

In the 2024-2025 reporting period, the PSC received a total of 60 requests under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act. This is a 20% decrease in overall volume received compared to the previous year. Generally speaking, volume has remained fairly consistent over the past 5 reporting periods.

4.1 Requests under the Access to Information Act

From April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025, the PSC received 27 requests under the Act, in addition to 10 requests that were carried over from the previous reporting period. This represents a 33% decrease in requests received compared with the previous year.

The PSC closed 33 requests during the reporting period. A total of 93,185 pages were processed, of which 58,156 pages were disclosed in whole or in part. At the end of the period, 4 requests received during the year were still being processed and were carried over within the legislated timelines.

4.2 Disposition of requests completed

Of the 33 requests closed during this reporting period:

• 13 resulted in the full disclosure of information
• 13 resulted in partial disclosure of information
• 5 produced no relevant records
• 2 were abandoned

4.3 Completion time and extensions

Of the 33 requests closed during the reporting period:

• 6 (18%) were closed within 15 days
• 12 (36%) were closed within 30 days
• 6 (18%) were closed within 31 to 60 days
• 1 (3%) was closed within 61 to 120 days
• 2 (6%) were closed within 181 to 365 days
• 6 (18%) were closed within more than 365 days

Of the 15 requests closed beyond the initial 30 days, 12 required an extension. The 3 other requests did not require an extension as the due date fell on a weekend or statutory holiday. These requests were closed on the following business day and therefore deemed to be completed on time.

The 30-day response time required by law may be extended under subsection 9(1) of the Act. A request may be extended as per multiple provisions of this subsection. During the reporting period, the extension provision was invoked 11 times due to interference with operations/workload pressures (i.e. high volume of records needing to be processed), and once due to a need for consultation.

All requests were closed within the time limits established under the Act.

4.4 Format of information released

All information released during the reporting period was provided in electronic format.

4.5 Consultations

The PSC received a total of 17 requests for consultation from other federal institutions, 16 of which were closed during this reporting period and one that was carried over within negotiated timelines. Of the requests closed during the period:

• 11 were completed within 15 days of reception
• 4 were completed within 16 to 30 days
• 1 was completed within 31 to 60 days

The processing of these consultations required the review of 2,388 pages. Of the 16 consultation requests closed during the reporting period, the PSC agreed to the full release of records for 15 requests and recommended partial disclosure of records for 1 request.

4.6 Informal requests

An informal request is a request for information that is not made or processed under the Act. Fees cannot be charged under the Act for informal requests and there are no deadlines for responding. In addition, the requester has no statutory right of complaint to the Information Commissioner. The requests are generally for information that has already been disclosed in response to previous requests under the Act.

The PSC posts summaries of completed Access to Information requests on the Open Data Portal on a monthly basis.

During the reporting period, the PSC received and completed 99 informal requests, which allowed for the re-release of 33,553 pages. This represents a 115% increase in the number of informal requests completed compared to the previous reporting period.

4.7 Active complaints

During the reporting period, 2 new complaints against the PSC were registered by the OIC regarding the processing of requests under the Act. At the close of the reporting period, 1 of these complaints was still pending resolution and had been assigned to an OIC investigator.

For more information on key issues and actions taken on complaints, see section 8.

5. Training and awareness

The ATIP Office continues to offer a core training program for PSC supervisors and managers, delivered upon request. The main goal of this training program is to make sure supervisors and managers are fully aware of their responsibilities under the Act and related policies.

It also promotes the Canada School of Public Service’s self‑directed course Access to Information and Privacy Fundamentals (COR502) for all employees.

During the reporting period, the ATIP Office undertook development of material for an information session on Access to Information and Privacy, which is scheduled to be offered to all PSC employees in 2025-26.

6. Policies, guidelines and procedures

In this reporting period,the PSC ATIP Office began a review of its suite of guidelines and processes in order to streamline operations and to ensure proper alignment to TBS guidance and other internal policy instruments. This work is also expected to help identify areas where artificial intelligence could be leveraged to further increase efficiency and support compliance with the Act.

It is expected that the work will be completed and that the new instruments will be implemented in 2025-2026.

7. Initiatives and projects to improve access to information

During the reporting period, the PSC collaborated with internal IT and Procurement experts to undertake acquisition of a new request processing software solution to replace the aging AccessPro system. The ATIP Office relies on such technology to ensure the processing and tracking of all ATIP-related files, including requests made under the Act. The PSC has chosen ATIPXpress, and deployment is expected in the 2025-2026 fiscal year.

8. Summary of Key Issues and Actions Taken on Complaints

Requesters have the right to register a complaint with the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) regarding any matter relating to the processing of their request. The PSC works collaboratively with the OIC to resolve complaints and provide requesters with a resolution.

The ATIP Office takes all measures to attempt to meet expectations from the outset, ensuring a thorough analysis of requests submitted under the Act and establishing clear communication with requesters. Accurate interpretation of a request is key to meeting access needs, and analysts connect with requesters to obtain clarifications when needed.

All response letters issued by the PSC include a description of the requesters’ right to register a complaint with the OIC if they are not satisfied with the processing of their request, as well as contact information and supplementary guidance where appropriate.

Upon notification that a complaint has been received by the OIC, the PSC ATIP Office collaborates with investigators to make representations and provide relevant documentation and commits to incorporating any lessons learned into its processes.

During the reporting period, the OIC issued findings on a total of 10 investigations, 9 of which had been registered during previous reporting periods and 1 which was registered in 2024-2025:

The Information Commissioner issued an order in relation to the well-founded complaint, which the PSC promptly implemented by rearranging work distribution and releasing the requested information by the OIC-imposed deadline.

9. Proactive Publication under Part 2 of the Act

10. Monitoring compliance

The PSC ATIP Office relies on software tools and trackers to monitor all requests as they are received, analyzed and completed. This allows for the scheduling and monitoring of time required to complete a request and to anticipate the potential need for extensions. The ATIP Office assists the OPIs throughout the information retrieval process and ensures timelines are met by setting clear deadlines and making regular follow-ups and reminders. 

Employees of the ATIP Office meet regularly to discuss ongoing requests and to ensure that the processing of requests is meeting scheduled milestones, and the Director is briefed on workload and other related issues on a weekly basis. This workflow contributes to ensuring that legislated timelines are met consistently.

Responsibility for ensuring that proactive publication obligations are met is decentralized at the PSC and resides with individual executives in the relevant program areas. The ATIP Office collected information from the relevant program areas in order to produce this annual report. To proactively support compliance and facilitate reporting in the future, the ATIP Office has developed a monitoring matrix to collect proactive publication information from program areas throughout the year. The matrix will be implemented in the 2025-2026 fiscal year.

Appendix A – Delegation Order

Access to Information Act – Delegation Order

The President of the Public Service Commission, pursuant to section 95 of the Access to Information Act (the Act), hereby designates the persons holding the positions set out in the schedule hereto, or the persons occupying on an acting basis those positions, to exercise the powers, duties and function of the President as the head of Public Service Commission, under the provisions of the Act and related regulations set out in the schedule opposite each position. This designation replaces all previous delegation orders.

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© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the President of the Public Service Commission of Canada, 2025

Cat No SC1-19E-PDF (Electronic PDF, English)
ISSN 2819-7410