Info Source Bulletin 37B - Federal Court Decision Summaries

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Access to Information Act statistics
  • Requests under the Access to Information Act: 2013‒14
  • Access to Information Act requests since 1983
• Privacy Act statistics
  • Requests under the Privacy Act: 2013‒14
  • Privacy Impact Assessments
  • Personal Information Banks
  • Privacy Act requests since 1983
• Footnotes

Introduction

The Bulletin on Statistical Reporting is an annual compilation of statistical information about requests made under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Actto federal institutions.

The Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act both came in to effect on July 1, 1983.

Section 70(1)(c.1) of the Access to Information Act assigns responsibility to the President of the Treasury Board, as the designated Minister, to collect statistics on an annual basis for the purpose of assessing compliance with the provisions of the Act.

Similarly, the President of the Treasury Board, as designated Minister, issues policy instruments and prescribed forms to support the Acts. Two such forms are the Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act and the Statistical Report on the Privacy Act, which are used to collect statistics annually for the purpose of assessing compliance.

The tables and figures that follow summarize the combined results of all institutions subject to the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act that submitted reports for 2013‒14. Cumulative information from 1983 to 2014 is also presented.

Access to Information Act Statistics

The following is the collection of tables and figures that offer insights regarding requests made under the Access to Information Act and completed during the period April 1, 2013, to March 31, 2014. These figures are based on the statistical reports provided by government institutions subject to the Access to Information Act.

Requests Under the Access to Information Act: 2013–14

Requests Received Under the Access to Information Act

Requests Under the Access to Information Act	Number of Requests
Received during 2013–14 reporting period	60,105
Outstanding from 2012–13 reporting period	9,545
Total	69,650
Closed during 2013–14 period	58,475
Carried over to 2014–15 reporting period	11,175

Figure 1: Requests Received Under the Access to Information Act: Comparison of 2012–13 and 2013–14 – Text version

This table compares the category of requestor for the 2012–2013 reporting period with 2013–2014.

Figure 1: Requests Received Under the Access to Information Act: Comparison of 2012–13 and 2013–14

Requests under the Access to Information Act	2012-13	2013-14
Received during reporting period	55,145	60,105
Closed during reporting period	53,993	58,475
Carried over to next reporting period	8,852 See footnote *	11,175
Outsatnding from previous reporting period	7,694	9,545 See footnote *

* Inconsistencies in these numbers have been identified. The most current data reported in 2013–14 has been used for the purposes of the calculations below.

The preceding figure depicts a 9% increase in Access to Information Act requests received in the 2013–14 reporting period as compared with the previous year. It also shows that, of the 69,650 requests to be processed, 84% of requests were completed. This a slight decrease of 2% when compared to the previous year.

Source of Access to Information Act Requests Received

Source	Number of Requests
Business (private sector)	23,129
Public	23,723
Media	8,421
Organization	2,898
Academia	1,934
Total	60,105

Figure 2: Source of Access to Information Act Requests Received: Comparison of 2012–13 and 2013–14 – Text version

This table compares the category of requestor for the 2012–2013 reporting period with 2013–2014.

Figure 2: Source of Access to Information Act Requests Received: Comparison of 2012–13 and 2013–14

Category of requestor	2012–13	2013–14
Business	21,242	23,129
Public	22,274	23,723
Media	8,321	8,421
Organizations	2,415	2,898
Academics	893	1,934

Disposition of Access to Information Act Requests Completed

Disposition of Requests Completed	Requests as Percentage		Number of Requests
	2012–13	2013–14	2012–13	2013–14
All disclosed	21.6	26.8	11,681	15,684
Disclosed in part	52.8	50	28,534	29,250
All exempted	1.1	1.2	602	679
All excluded	0.5	0.9	278	521
No records exist	11.8	10.5	6,390	6,143
Request transferred	0.6	0.7	304	436
Request abandoned	9.7	7.7	5,256	4,520
Treated informally Table note *	1.8	2.1	948	1,242
Total	100.0	100.0	53,993	58,475

Figure 3: Disposition of Access to Information Act Requests Completed: Comparison of 2012–13 and 2013–14 – Text version

This table compares the disposition of completed requests for the 2012‒2013 reporting period with 2013‒2014.

Figure 3: Disposition of Access to Information Act Requests Completed: Comparison of 2012–13 and 2013–14

Disposition of Requests Completed	2012‒2013	2013‒2014
Disclosed in part	28,534	29,250
All disclosed	11,681	15,684
No records exist	6,390	6,143
Request abandoned	5,256	4,520
Treated informally	948	1,242
All exempted	602	679
All excluded	278	521
Request transferred	304	436

Time Required to Complete Access to Information Act Requests According to Time Periods: Comparison of 2012–13 and 2013–14 ^{Footnote 1}

Completion Time	Requests as Percentage		Number of Requests
	2012–13	2013–14	2012–13	2013–14
0 to 30 days	64.8	61	34,997	35,653
31 to 60 days	17.3	18	9,331	10,522
61 to 120 days	9.8	10.4	5,294	6,053
121 to 180 days	3.4	3.8	1,847	2,227
181 to 365 days	2.8	4.9	1,542	2,892
More than 365 days	1.8	1.9	982	1,128
Total	100.0	100.0	53,993	58,475

The preceding table reveals a 1.9% increase in the number of requests that were completed in the first 30 days after they were received and a 4.7% increase in the completion of requests within a 181 to 365-day time period. The data reflects all requests completed, including requests for which extensions were required.

Figure 4: Five-Year Comparison of Time Required to Complete Access to Information Act Requests According to Time Period – Text version

This table compares the time required to complete requests according to time periods for the last 5 years between 2009–2014. Data is shown in percentages.

Figure 4: Five-Year Comparison of Time Required to Complete Access to Information Act Requests According to Time Period

Completion Time	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
0 to 30 days	56%	57%	55%	65%	61%
31 to 60 days	23%	21%	21%	17%	18%
61 to 120 days	10%	12%	13%	10%	10%
121 days or more	11%	11%	11%	8%	11%

Time Required to Complete Access to Information Act Requests

Disposition of Requests (including requests for which extensions were required)	Completion Time
	0 to 30 Days	31 to 60 Days	61 to 120 Days	121 to 180 Days	181 to 365 Days	More Than 365 Days	Total
All disclosed	11,267	3,107	852	176	252	30	15,684
Disclosed in part	13,984	6,407	4,361	1,661	2,012	825	29,250
All exempted	340	88	103	44	82	22	679
All excluded	163	146	78	64	64	6	521
No records exist	4,888	468	442	83	227	35	6,143
Request transferred	424	3	5	2	2	0	436
Request abandoned	3,417	251	205	189	251	207	4,520
Treated informally	1,170	52	7	8	2	3	1,242
Total number of requests	35,653	10,522	6,053	2,227	2,892	1,128	58,475
Total as percentage	61%	18%	10.4%	3.8%	4.9%	1.9%	100.0%

The preceding table shows that 61% of the Access to Information Act requests were completed within the initial statutory deadline of 30 days.

Relevant Pages Processed and Disclosed Relating to Access to Information Act Requests

Disposition of Requests	Number of Pages Processed	Number of Pages Disclosed	Number of Requests
All disclosed	1,129,242	1,052,434	15,684
Disclosed in part	6,326,261	4,098,946	29,250
All exempted	5,208,956	36	679
All excluded	62,914	0	521
Request abandoned	353,264	107,084	4,520
Total	13,080,637	5,258,500	50,654

Other Considerations Relating to Complexity of Access to Information Act Requests

Disposition	Consultation Required	Assessment of Fees	Legal Advice Sought	Other	Total
All disclosed	704	149	32	9,410	10,295
Disclosed in part	6,036	740	234	16,719	23,729
All exempted	241	21	19	73	354
All excluded	231	8	1	55	295
Request abandoned	286	477	11	553	1,327
Total	7,498	1,395	297	26,810	36,000

Reasons for Deemed Refusals Relating to Access to Information Act Requests ^{Footnote 3}

Number of Requests Closed Past the Statutory Deadline or Not Within the Time Frame Covered by an Extension (deemed refusal)	Principal Reason
	Workload	External Consultation	Internal Consultation	Other Table note *
8,197	6,106	694	676	721

Status of Requests Closed Relating to Access to Information Act Requests

Status of Requests Closed	Requests as Percentage		Number of Requests
	2012–13	2013–14	2012–13	2013–14
Closed within the statutory deadline including extensions	89.3	86.0	48,231	50,278
Closed in deemed refusal	10.7	14.0	5,762	8,197
Total	100.0	100.0	53,993	58,475

Length of Extensions Relating to Access to Information Act Requests

Length of Extensions Footnote 4	9(1)(a) Interference With Operations	9(1)(b) Consultation		9(1)(c) Third-Party Notice
		Section 69	Other Footnote 5
30 days or less	2,338	25	674	159
31 to 60 days	2,656	70	1,171	1,106
61 to 120 days	1,816	420	1,415	340
121 to 180 days	194	358	1,412	74
181 to 365 days	163	94	407	94
365 days or more	18	3	25	34
Total	7,185	970	5,104	1,807

Exemptions Applied Under the Access to Information Act

Information Obtained in Confidence

Provision	Number of Requests
13(1)(a)	1,200
13(1)(b)	338
13(1)(c)	632
13(1)(d)	283
13(1)(e)	21
Total	2,474

Federal-Provincial Affairs

Provision	Number of Requests
14(a)	660
14(b)	331
Total	991

International Affairs and Defence

Provision	Number of Requests
15(1) International Affairs	2,354
15(1) Defence	1,480
15(1) Subversive activities	7,302
Total	11,136

Law Enforcement and Investigations

Provision	Number of Requests
16(1)(a)(i)	601
16(1)(a)(ii)	380
16(1)(a)(iii)	132
16(1)(b)	651
16(1)(c)	4,371
16(1)(d)	119
16(2)(a)	189
16(2)(b)	25
16(2)(c)	1,294
16(3)	4
16.1(1)(a)	26
16.1(1)(b)	10
16.1(1)(c)	49
16.1(1)(d)	13
16.2(1)	49
16.3	14
16.4(1)(a)	5
16.4(1)(b)	1
16.5	13
Total	7,946

Safety of Individuals

Provision	Number of Requests
17	169
Total	169

Economic Interests of Canada

Provision	Number of Requests
18(a)	292
18(b)	473
18(c)	17
18(d)	331
18.1(1)(a)	51
18.1(1)(b)	25
18.1(1)(c)	1
18.1(1)(d)	137
Total	1,327

Personal Information

Provision	Number of Requests
19(1)	20,702
Total	20,702

Third-Party Information

Provision	Number of Requests
20(1)(a)	233
20(1)(b)	2,407
20(1)(b.1)	47
20(1)(c)	1,973
20(1)(d)	642
20.1	5
20.2	0
20.4	1
Total	5,308

Operations of Government

Provision	Number of Requests
21(1)(a)	3,938
21(1)(b)	4,224
21(1)(c)	1,259
21(1)(d)	570
Total	9,991

Testing Procedures, Tests and Audits

Provision	Number of Requests
22	326
22.1(1)	38
Total	364

Solicitor-Client Privilege

Provision	Number of Requests
23	2,248
Total	2,248

Statutory Prohibitions

Provision	Number of Requests
24(1)	2,019
Total	2,019

Information to Be Published

Provision	Number of Requests
26	128
Total	128

Exclusions Applied Under the Access to Information Act

Act Does Not Apply to Certain Materials

Provision	Number of Requests
68(a)	533
68(b)	26
68(c)	2
68.1	73
68.2(a)	68
68.2(b)	67
Total	769

Cabinet Confidences

Provision	Number of Requests
69(1)(a)	203
69(1)(b)	8
69(1)(c)	54
69(1)(d)	146
69(1)(e)	622
69(1)(f)	30
69(1)(g) re (a)	759
69(1)(g) re (b)	15
69(1)(g) re (c)	425
69(1)(g) re (d)	238
69(1)(g) re (e)	486
69(1)(g) re (f)	166
69.1(1)	16
Total	3,168

Consultations by Other Federal Institutions Regarding Access to Information Act Requests: Comparison of 2012–13 and 2013–14

Consultations	Number of Requests		Number of Pages to Review
	2012–13	2013–14	2012–13	2013–14
Received during reporting period	11,178	9,086	595,370	471,101
Outstanding from the previous reporting period	1,134	1,216	162,417	183,775
Total	12,312	10,302	757,787	654,876
Closed during the reporting period	11,262	9,515	632,007	547,748
Pending at the end of the reporting period	1,050	787	125,780	107,128

The preceding table shows a 16.3% decrease in the number of consultations by other government institutions.

Consultations by Other Organizations ^{Table note *} Regarding Access to Information Act Requests: Comparison of 2012–13 and 2013–14

Consultations	Number of Requests		Number of Pages to Review
	2012–13	2013–14	2012–13	2013–14
Received during reporting period	243	265	8,082	14,171
Outstanding from the previous reporting period	12	23	891	2,073
Total	255	288	8,973	16,244
Closed during the reporting period	241	252	8,089	12,143
Pending at the end of the reporting period	14	36	884	4,101

The preceding table shows an 13% increase in the number of consultations by other organizations.

Recommendations and Completion Time for Consultations by Other Federal Institutions Regarding Access to Information Act Requests

Recommendation	Number of Days Required to Complete Consultation Requests Footnote 6
	1 to 30 Days	31 to 60 Days	61 to 120 Days	121 to 180 Days	181 to 365 Days	More Than 365 Days	Total
Disclose entirely	3,673	672	169	17	108	23	4,662
Disclose in part	1,982	1,037	547	138	89	36	3,829
Exempt entirely	180	55	32	4	0	0	271
Exclude entirely	30	6	4	0	0	0	40
Consult other institutionFootnote 14	144	38	24	5	7	2	220
Other	397	43	23	12	17	7	499
Total	6,406	1,851	799	176	221	68	9,521

Recommendations and Completion Time for Consultations by Other Organizations ^{Table note *} Regarding Access to Information Act Requests

Recommendation	Number of Days Required to Complete Consultation Requests
	1 to 30 Days	31 to 60 Days	61 to 120 Days	121 to 180 Days	181 to 365 Days	More Than 365 Days	Total
Disclose entirely	145	28	3	0	1	0	177
Disclose in part	39	12	6	1	0	1	59
Exempt entirely	3	0	0	0	0	0	3
Exclude entirely	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Consult other institutionFootnote 14	4	0	1	2	0	0	7
Other	6	0	2	0	1	0	9
Total	197	40	12	3	2	1	255

Fees and Cost of Operations Relating to Access to Information Act Requests

Description of Fees and Costs	Amount
Cost of operations Footnote 7	$62,585,847.00
Requests completed	58,475
Average cost per completed request	$1,070.30
Pages processed	13,080,637
Average cost per page processed	$4.78
Fees collected	$331,782.00
Average fees collected per completed request	$5.67
Fees waived	$178,808.20
Average fees waived per completed request	$3.06

Institutions That Received the Most Access to Information Act Requests

Rank	Name of Institution	Requests as Percentage	Number of Pages Processed	Number of Requests
1	Citizenship and Immigration Canada	48.8%	1,241,427	29,281
2	Canada Border Services Agency	7.8%	386,072	4,671
3	Canada Revenue Agency	4.6%	1,636,782	2,751
4	National Defence	3.7%	234,134	2,231
5	Royal Canadian Mounted Police	2.9%	505,610	1,730
6	Health Canada	2.6%	206,812	1,563
7	Environment Canada	2.4%	185,385	1,459
8	Transport Canada	1.8%	202,969	1,091
9	Privy Council Office	1.5%	58,409	907
10	Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada Table note *	1.5%	138,159	904
11	Other institutions	22.5%	8,284,878	13,517
Total		100.0%	13,080,637	60,105

Access to Information Act Requests Since 1983

Please note that the statistics reflect adjustments made throughout the years.

Total Number of Access to Information Act Requests Since 1983

Requests Under the Access to Information Act	Number of Requests
Requests received	637,816
Requests completed	622,630

Figure 5: Disposition of Access to Information Act Requests Since 1983 – Text version

This table identifies the numbers of requests received and the dispositions of the completed requests since 1983. Data is shown in percentages.

Figure 5: Disposition of Access to Information Act Requests Since 1983

Disposition of Requests Completed	Requests as Percentage
Disclosed in part	46.7%
All disclosed	26.6%
Unable to process	20.3%
Withheld entirely	2.8%
Other	3.7%

In the preceding figure:

• “Withheld entirely” includes categories “all exempted” and “all excluded”
• “Other” includes the categories “treated informally” and “request transferred”
• “Unable to process” includes the categories “no records exist”, “requests abandoned” and “requests that could not be processed (1983-2011)”.

Disposition of Completed Access to Information Act Requests Since 1983

Disposition of Requests Completed	Requests as Percentage	Number of Requests
Disclosed in part	46.7%	290,519
All disclosed	26.6%	165,607
No records exist Table note *	2.8%	17,692
Treated informally	2.3%	14,057
Abandoned Table note **	2.2%	13,738
All exempted	2.1%	13,322
Transferred	1.4%	8,809
All excluded	0.7%	4,180
Requests that could not be processed (1983‒2011) Table note ***	15.2%	94,706
Total	100.0%	622,630

Time Required to Complete Access to Information Act Requests Since 1983

Completion Time (including requests for which extensions were required)	Requests as Percentage	Number of Requests
0 to 30 days	59.4%	369,945
31 to 60 days	18.3%	113,671
61 days or more	22.3%	139,014
Total	100.0%	622,630

Total Fees and Cost of Operations Relating to Access to Information Act Requests Since 1983

Description of Fees and Costs of Operations	Amount
Requests completed	622,630
Cost of operations7	$670,470,779.70
Average cost per request completed	$1,076.84
Fees collected	$6,116,741.02
Average fees collected per request completed	$9.82
Fees waived	$3,105,579.94
Average fees waived per request completed	$4.99

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat found certain reporting errors in the previously posted Statistical Reporting 2013-14. These errors have since been resolved and the corrected data is now posted.

Privacy Act Statistics

The following is the collection of tables and figures that offer insights regarding requests made under the Privacy Act and completed during the period April 1, 2013, to March 31, 2014. These figures are based on the statistical reports provided by government institutions subject to the Privacy Act.

Requests Under the Privacy Act: 2013‒14

Requests Received Under the Privacy Act

Requests Under the Privacy Act	Number of Requests
Received during 2013‒14 reporting period	56,338
Outstanding from 2012‒13 reporting period	10,010
Total	66,348
Closed during 2013‒14 reporting period	54,912
Carried over to 2014‒15 reporting period	11,436

Figure 6: Requests Received Under the Privacy Act: Comparison of 2012‒13 and 2013‒14 – Text version

This table compares the number of requests under the Privacy Act received, completed and carried forward from the 2012-2013 reporting period with those from 2013-2014.

Figure 6: Requests Received Under the Privacy Act: Comparison of 2012‒13 and 2013‒14

Requests under the Privacy Act	2012‒13	2013‒14
Requests received during reporting period	55,355	56,263
Closed during reporting period	56,059	54,839
Carried over to next reporting period	9,162	11,430
Outstanding from previous reporting period	9,867	10,006

The preceding figure depicts a 2% increase in the number of Privacy Act requests received in the 2013‒14 reporting period, when compared with the previous reporting period. It also shows that, of the 66,348 requests to be processed, 83% of requests were completed. This a slight decrease of 3% compared to the previous year.

Disposition of Privacy Act Requests Completed

Disposition of Requests Completed	Requests as Percentage		Number of Requests
	2012‒13	2013‒14	2012‒13	2013‒14
Disclosed in part	43.00	48.31	24,217	26,529
All disclosed	33.00	30.98	18,700	17,010
No records exist	16.00	13.24	9,013	7,271
Request abandoned	7.00	6.63	3,738	3,639
All exempted	1.00	0.83	389	456
All excluded	0.02	0.01	2	7
Total	100.00	100.00	56,059	54,912

The preceding table shows an approximately 3% increase in the number of Privacy Act requests where records were disclosed. It also depicts an approximately 3% decrease where no records exist.

Figure 7: Disposition of Privacy Act Requests Completed: Comparison of 2012‒13 and 2013‒14 – Text version

This table compares the number of requests under the Access to Information Act received, completed and carried forward within the 2013-2014 reporting period with those from 2012-2013.

Figure 7: Disposition of Privacy Act Requests Completed: Comparison of 2012‒13 and 2013‒14

Disposition of requests completed	2012-2013	2013-2014
Disclosed in part	24,217	26,517
All disclosed	18,700	17,008
No records exist	9,013	7,230
Request abandoned	3,738	3,629
All exempted	389	448
All excluded	2	7

Time Required to Complete Privacy Act Requests According to Time Periods: Comparison of 2012‒13 and 2013‒14

Completion Time 2013‒14 (including requests for which extensions were required)	Requests as Percentage		Number of Requests
	2012‒13	2013‒14	2012‒13	2013‒14
0 to 30 days	51	65	29,027	35,552
31 to 60 days	24	16	13,290	8,763
61 to 120 days	12	6	6,704	3,200
121 to 180 days	3	5	1,891	2,605
181 to 365 days	7	4	3,535	2,484
More than 365 days	3	4	1,612	2,308
Total	100	100	56,059	54,912

Figure 8: Five-Year Comparison of Time Required to Complete Privacy Act Requests According to Time Periods – Text version

This table compares the number of requests under the Access to Information Act received, completed and carried forward within the 2013-2014 reporting period with those from 2012-2013.

Figure 8: Five-Year Comparison of Time Required to Complete Privacy Act Requests According to Time Periods

Completion Time	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
0 to 30 days	67%	67%	69%	51%	65%
31 to 60 days	19%	18%	15%	24%	16%
61 to 120 days	7%	7%	6%	12%	6%
121 days or more	7%	8%	10%	13%	13%

Disposition of Privacy Act Requests

Disposition of Requests	Completion Time
	0 to 30 Days	31 to 60 Days	61 to 120 Days	121 to 180 Days	181 to 365 Days	More Than 365 Days	Total
All disclosed	13,210	2,248	584	594	265	109	17,010
Disclosed in part	14,189	5,644	2,117	1,741	1,774	1,064	26,529
All exempted	230	75	54	27	54	16	456
All excluded	2	0	0	1	3	1	7
No records exist	5,997	537	251	142	197	147	7,271
Request abandoned	1,924	259	194	100	191	971	3,639
Total	35,552	8,763	3,200	2,605	2,484	2,308	54,912
Total percentage	64.74	15.96	5.83	4.74	4.52	4.20	100

Relevant Pages Processed and Disclosed in Relation to Privacy Act Requests ^{Table note *}

Disposition of Requests	Number of Pages Processed	Number of Pages Disclosed	Number of Requests
All disclosed	822,376	770,864	17,010
Disclosed in part	5,813,497	4,673,567	26,529
All exempted	581,449	0	456
All excluded	482	0	7
Request abandoned	109,712	8,819	3,639
Total	7,327,516	5,453,250	47,641

Other Considerations Relating to the Complexity of Privacy Act Requests

Disposition	Consultation Required	Legal Advice Sought	Other Footnote 8	Other	Total
All disclosed	55	6	31	1,221	1,313
Disclosed in part	867	36	3,440	6,037	10,380
All exempted	5	4	13	13	35
All excluded	0	0	0	1	1
Request abandoned	14	1	35	188	238
Total	941	47	3,519	7,460	11,967

Reasons for Deemed Refusals Relating to Privacy Act Requests

Number of Requests Closed Past the Statutory Deadline or Not Within the Time Frame Covered by an Extension (deemed refusal)	Principal Reason
	Workload	External Consultation	Internal Consultation	Other
12,948	10,174	809	908	1,057

Status of Requests Closed Relating to Privacy Act Requests

Status of Requests Closed	Requests as Percentage		Number of Requests
	2012‒13	2013‒14	2012‒13	2013‒14
Closed within the statutory deadline including extensions	71.8	76.4	40,237	41,944
Closed in deemed refusal	28.2	23.6	15,822	12,968
Total	100.0	100.0	56,059	54,912

Disclosures Under Subsection 8(2) of the Privacy Act

Paragraph 8(2)(e) Footnote 9	Paragraph 8(2)(m) Footnote 10	Total
3,891	65	3,956

Reasons for Extensions and Disposition of Privacy Act Requests

Disposition of Requests Where an Extension Was Taken	15(a)(i) Interference With Operations	15(a)(i) Consultation		15(b) Translation or Conversion
		Section 70 Footnote 11	Other Footnote 12
All disclosed	1,036	1	27	2
Disclosed in part	4,500	3	556	13
All exempted	71	0	1	0
All excluded	1	0	0	0
No records exist	443	0	3	1
Request abandoned	719	0	12	0
Total	6,770	4	599	16

Length of Extensions Relating to Privacy Act Requests ^{Footnote 13}

Length of Extensions	15(a)(i) Interference With Operations	15(a)(i) Consultation		15(b) Translation Purposes
		Section 70	Other
1 to 15 days	33	0	7	0
16 to 30 days	6,737	4	592	16
Total	6,770	4	599	16

Exemptions Applied Under the Privacy Act

Exempt Banks

Provision	Number of Requests
18(2)	9
Total	9

Personal Information

Provision	Number of Requests
19(1)(a)	519
19(1)(b)	69
19(1)(c)	1,745
19(1)(d)	1,219
19(1)(e)	2
19(1)(f)	0
Total	3,554

Federal-Provincial Affairs

Provision	Number of Requests
20	1
Total	1

International Affairs and Defence

Provision	Number of Requests
21	4,406
Total	4,406

Law Enforcement and Investigation

Provision	Number of Requests
22(1)(a)(i)	2,568
22(1)(a)(ii)	1,038
22(1)(a)(iii)	27
22(1)(b)	4,029
22(1)(c)	1,681
22(2)	4
22.1	35
22.2	1
22.3	12
Total	9,395

Security Clearances

Provision	Number of Requests
23(a)	11
23(b)	0
Total	11

Individuals Sentenced for an Offence

Provision	Number of Requests
24(a)	44
24(b)	679
Total	723

Safety of Individuals

Provision	Number of Requests
25	96
Total	96

Information About Another Individual

Provision	Number of Requests
26	23,569
Total	23,569

Solicitor-Client Privilege

Provision	Number of Requests
27	885
Total	885

Medical Records

Provision	Number of Requests
28	38
Total	38

Exclusions Applied Under the Privacy Act

Act Does Not Apply to Certain Materials

Provision	Number of Requests
69(1)(a)	1
69(1)(b)	0
Total	1

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Provision	Number of Requests
69.1	0
Total	0

Confidences of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada

Provision	Number of Requests
70(1)(a)	2
70(1)(b)	0
70(1)(c)	2
70(1)(d)	0
70(1)(e)	2
70(1)(f)	0
Total	6

Certificate Under the Canada Evidence Act

Provision	Number of Requests
70.1	0
Total	0

Consultations by Other Federal Institutions Relating to Privacy Act Requests: Comparison of 2012‒13 and 2013‒14

Consultations	Number of Requests		Number of Pages to Review
	2012‒13	2013‒14	2012‒13	2013‒14
Received during reporting period	1,132	1,139	44,501	55,219
Outstanding from the previous reporting period	84	31	19,270	1,666
Total	1,216	1,170	63,771	56,885
Closed during the reporting period	1,189	1,115	62,042	47,613
Pending at the end of the reporting period	27	55	1,729	9,272

The preceding table reveals a 24% increase in the number of pages to review for consultations received during the reporting period.

Consultations by Other Organizations ^{Table note *} Relating to Privacy Act Requests: Comparison of 2012‒13 and 2013‒14

Consultations	Number of Requests		Number of Pages to Review
	2012‒13	2013‒14	2012‒13	2013‒14
Received during reporting period	163	35	6,026	457
Outstanding from the previous reporting period	3	0	45	0
Total	166	35	6,071	457
Closed during the reporting period	166	34	6,071	444
Pending at the end of the reporting period	0	1	0	13

The number of consultations received decreased by 79% when compared to the number reported in 2012‒13.

Recommendations and Completion Time for Consultation by Other Federal Institutions Relating to Privacy Act Requests

Recommendation	Number of Days Required to Complete Consultation Requests
	1 to 30 Days	31 to 60 Days	61 to 120 Days	121 to 180 Days	181 to 365 Days	More Than 365 Days	Total
Disclose entirely	437	15	2	0	0	0	454
Disclose in part	491	63	11	2	5	0	572
Exempt entirely	37	5	3	0	0	0	45
Exclude entirely	1	2	0	0	0	0	3
Consult other institution Footnote 14	19	0	1	0	0	0	20
Other	20	1	0	0	0	0	21
Total	1,005	86	17	2	5	0	1,115

Recommendations and Completion Time for Consultations by Other Organizations ^{Table note *} Relating to Privacy Act Requests

Recommendation	Number of Days Required to Complete Consultation Requests
	1 to 30 Days	31 to 60 Days	61 to 120 Days	121 to 180 Days	181 to 365 Days	More Than 365 Days	Total
Disclose entirely	15	0	0	0	0	0	15
Disclose in part	16	1	0	0	0	0	17
Exempt entirely	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Exclude entirely	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Consult other institution Footnote 14	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	33	1	0	0	0	0	34

Cost of Operations Relating to Privacy Act Requests

Requests completed	54,912
Cost of operations Footnote 7	$33,167,651
Average cost per completed request	$604.01

Institutions That Received the Most Privacy Act Requests

Rank	Name of Institution	Requests as Percentage	Number of Requests	Pages Processed
1	Canada Border Services Agency	21.10%	11,890	401,168
2	Citizenship and Immigration Canada	17.68%	9,961	483,526
3	Correctional Service of Canada	15.10%	8,508	913,213
4	Employment and Social Development Canada	12.94%	7,286	544,239
5	National Defence	10.57%	5,957	1,423,923
6	Royal Canadian Mounted Police	6.84%	3,854	1,184,652
7	Canada Revenue Agency	2.75%	1,548	626,822
8	Immigration and Refugee Board	1.84%	1,038	102,822
9	Canada Post Corporation	1.40%	789	73,912
10	Veterans Affairs Canada	1.16%	654	252,030
11	Other institutions	8.61%	4,853	1,321,209
Total		100.00%	56,338	7,327,516

Privacy Impact Assessments

Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) provide a framework to ensure that privacy is considered throughout the design or redesign of programs, activities or service delivery. The assessments will identify the extent to which proposals comply with all appropriate statutes. Assessments assist managers and decision makers in avoiding or mitigating privacy risks and promote fully informed policy, program and system design choices.

Article 6.3 of the Directive on Privacy Impact Assessments states the following:

The appropriate senior officials or executives are responsible for adhering to the following process for the completion of a privacy impact assessment:

…

6.3.15 Ensuring that the approved core PIA provided to [the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat] is simultaneously provided to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, along with any additional documentation that may be requested by that office.

Personal Information Banks

Personal Information Banks (PIBs) provide a description of personal information about individuals that is held by federal institutions. The Privacy Act requires that PIBs describe all personal information that is organized and retrievable by a person's name or by an identifying number, symbol or other particular assigned only to that person. PIBs must include personal information that has been or is being used, or is available for use for an administrative purpose.

Institution-specific PIBs describe personal information that is contained in the records of a specific federal government institution, and standard PIBs describe personal information that may be found in records created, collected and maintained by most federal government institutions to support common internal functions, programs and activities such as communications, travel and employment. Standard PIBs are created by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, and institutions can register against them. Central PIBs describe personal information about members of the general public and employees (current and former) from all or several government institutions and are maintained by central government departments and agencies.

Privacy Act Requests Since 1983

Please note that the statistics reflect adjustments made throughout the years.

Disposition of Privacy Act Requests Completed Since 1983

Figure 9: Disposition of Privacy Act Requests Completed Since 1983 – Text version

This table identifies the numbers of Privacy Act Requests received and the dispositions of the completed requests since 1983. Data is shown in percentages.

Figure 9: Disposition of Privacy Act Requests Completed Since 1983

Disposition of Requests Completed	Requests as Percentage
Disclosed in part	36.2%
All disclosed	46.3%
Unable to process	11.6%
Abandoned	4.8%
Withheld entirely	1.1%

In the preceding figure:

“Withheld entirely” includes categories “all exempted” and “all excluded”

“Unable to process” includes the categories “no records exist”, “transferred” and “requests that could not be processed (1983-2011)”.

Disposition of Requests Completed	Requests as Percentage	Number of Requests
All disclosed	46.28%	627,402
Disclosed in part	36.18%	490,412
Abandoned	4.80%	65,024
Transferred Table note *	2.37%	32,188
No records exist Table note **	1.81%	24,587
All exempted	1.01%	13,721
All excluded	0.05%	625
Requests that could not be processed (1983–2011 Footnote 17)	7.50%	101,665
Total	100.00	1,355,624

Time Required to Complete Privacy Act Requests Since 1983

Completion Time (including requests for which extensions were required)	Requests as Percentage	Number of Requests
0 to 30 days	59.76%	810,086
31 to 60 days	18.13%	245,727
61 days or more	22.12%	299,811
Total	100.00%	1,355,624

Cost of Operations Relating to Privacy Act Requests Since 1983

Description of Cost of Operations	Amount
Requests completed	1,355,624
Cost of operations Table note *	$424,306,774.12
Average cost per completed request	$313.00

Cost of Operations ^{Footnote 7} Relating to the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act 1983‒2014

Figure 10: Cost of Operations Relating to the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act 1983–2014 – Text version

This graph compares the costs of operations relating to the administration of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act in institutions for the period between 1983 and 2014.

Figure 10: Cost of Operations Relating to the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act 1983–2014

Access to Information Act Costs	669,927,278.70 $
Privacy Act Costs	424,074,345.12 $
Requests completed	447,489