Access to Information and Privacy Statistical Report for the 2019 to 2020 Fiscal Year

From Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Openness, transparency and accountability are guiding principles of the Government of Canada.

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

Paragraph 70(1)(d) 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. These statistics are used to assess the performance of the Government of Canada’s access to information and privacy programs.

This statistical report presents statistical information about the Government of Canada’s access to information and privacy programs globally across all federal institutions subject to the two Acts for the period of April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020. It also presents cumulative data from July 1, 1983, to March 31, 2020.

In addition, each institution subject to the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act tables an individual annual report in Parliament on the administration of each Act in their institution. These reports can be found on the institutions’ websites.

Eight institutions received the majority of access to information requests and personal information requests across the government. An annex providing detailed analysis of these institutions is included.

The complete statistical dataset for 2019‑2020 will be available in open format on the Government of Canada’s Open Data Portal.

Access to Information Act statistics for the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year

Requests under the Access to Information Act

A total of 156,222 Access to Information (ATI) requests were received in the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year, an overall increase of 26.6 percent from the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year. There was also a total of 25,916 ATI requests that were outstanding from the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year, an overall decrease of 5.3 percent from the outstanding requests of the previous fiscal year.

Of the 182,138 ATI requests that were either received in the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year or outstanding from the previous fiscal year, 82 percent were closed. This is a slight decrease from the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year: of the 150,792 ATI requests received in the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year or outstanding from the previous fiscal year, 83 percent were closed.

Table 1 shows the number of ATI requests received, closed and carried over for the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

Table 1: ATI requests received, closed and carried over, fiscal year 2019 to 2020
ATI Requests	Number of requests
Outstanding from 2018 to 2019 reporting period^{table 1 note a}	25,916
Received during 2019 to 2020 reporting period	156,222
Total	182,138
Closed during 2019 to 2020 reporting period	149,570
Carried over to 2020 to 2021 reporting period	32,568
Table 1 Notes Table 1 Note 1 Due to administrative errors, there are small inconsistencies between the statistical data for the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year and the statistical data for the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year regarding the number of requests left outstanding at the end of the 2018 to 2019 reporting period. Return to table 1 note a referrer

Figure 1 shows the number of ATI requests received, closed and carried over from fiscal year 2018 to 2019 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020

ATI requests received, closed and carried over by all government institutions, fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020. Text version below: — **Figure 1: ATI requests received, closed and carried over by all government institutions, fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020**

Figure 1: ATI requests received, closed and carried over by all government institutions, fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020
	2018 to 2019	2019 to 2020
Outstanding from previous reporting period	27,371	25,916
Received during reporting period	123,421	156,222
Closed during reporting period	125,060	149,570
Carried over to next reporting period	25,732	32,568

Five government institutions received 86.2 percent of the 156,222 requests received in the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

Figure 2 shows the proportion of ATI requests received by the five institutions that received the highest volume of requests, and all other government institutions, for the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

proportion of ATI requests received by the five institutions that received the highest volume of requests, and all other government institutions, fiscal year 2019 to 2020. Text version below: — **Figure 2: proportion of ATI requests received by the five institutions that received the highest volume of requests, and all other government institutions, fiscal year 2019 to 2020**

Figure 2: proportion of ATI requests received by the five institutions that received the highest volume of requests, and all other government institutions, fiscal year 2019 to 2020
Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada	74.8%
Canada Border Services Agency	5.3%
Royal Canadian Mounted Police	2.9%
Canada Revenue Agency	1.8%
Library and Archives of Canada	1.4%
Other institutions	13.8%

Table 2 shows the number of pages processed under the Access to Information Act by the five institutions that received the highest volume of requests, and all other government institutions, for the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

Table 2: pages processed under the *Access to Information Act* by the five institutions that received the highest volume of requests, and all other government institutions, fiscal year 2019 to 2020
Rank	Name of institution	Number of requests received	Requests received as percentage	Number of pages processed^{table 2 note a}
1	Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada	116,928	74.8	7,787,738
2	Canada Border Services Agency	8,223	5.3	1,160,704
3	Royal Canadian Mounted Police	4,512	2.9	1,186,062
4	Canada Revenue Agency	2,864	1.8	1,953,575
5	Library and Archives of Canada	2,131	1.4	289,974
Other institutions		21,564	13.8	20,222,239
Total		156,222	100	32,600,292
Table 2 Notes Table 2 Note 1 The number of pages processed for each institution represents the total processed pages for closed requests. It does not include the number of pages processed for requests that were carried over into the next reporting period. Return to table 2 note a referrer

Table 3 shows the sources of ATI requests made in the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

Table 3: sources of received ATI requests, fiscal year 2019 to 2020
Source	Number of requests	Percentage of requests
Business (private sector)	81,182	52.0
Public	43,715	28.0
Media	6,886	4.4
Organization^{table 3 note a}	7,669	4.9
Academia	5,674	3.6
Decline to identify^{table 3 note b}	11,096	7.1
Total	156,222	100
Table 3 Notes Table 3 Note 1 The category “organization” includes, associations, unions, non-for-profit and voluntary organizations, offices of members of Parliament, political parties and non-government organizations. It also includes requesters that selected “organization” when submitting their request. Return to table 3 note a referrer Table 3 Note 2 The category “decline to identify” includes requesters that selected “decline to identify” when submitting their request. It also includes instances where the requester did not select any of the available categories when submitting a hard-copy application. Return to table 3 note b referrer

Government-wide, business (private sector) accounted for 52.0 percent of ATI requests received, and the public accounted for 28.0 percent of ATI requests received.

Figure 3 shows the sources of ATI requests received, for the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year and the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

sources of received ATI requests, fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020. Text version below: — **Figure 3: sources of received ATI requests, fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020**

Figure 3: sources of received ATI requests, fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020
Source	2018 to 2019	2019 to 2020
Business	48.0%	52.0%
Public	29.7%	28.0%
Media	7.0%	4.4%
Organization	4.5%	4.9%
Academia	3.1%	3.6%
Decline to identify	7.7%	7.1%

In June 2019, the Access to Information Act was amended to enable institutions to seek the Information Commissioner’s approval to decline to act on requests that are vexatious, made in bad faith, or an abuse of the right of access. In the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year, across the federal government, institutions sought the Information Commissioner’s approval to decline to act on six requests.

Table 4 shows the outcome of these proposals to the Information Commissioner to decline to act on an ATI request on the basis that the request is vexatious, made in bad faith, or an abuse of the right of access.

Table 4: proposals to decline to act, approved or declined by the Information Commissioner, and carried over, fiscal year 2019 to 2020
Decline to act on vexatious, bad faith or abuse of right of access requests	Number of requests
Outstanding from 2018 to 2019 reporting period	0
Sent during 2019 to 2020 reporting period	6
Total	6
Approved by the Information Commissioner during 2019 to 2020 reporting period	1
Declined by the Information Commissioner during 2019 to 2020 reporting period	4
Carried over to the 2020 to 2021 reporting period	1

Timeliness

Of the 149,570 ATI requests closed in the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year, 67.4 percent were closed within legislated timelines, including extensions. This is a decrease of 5.7 percent from the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year.

Table 5 shows ATI requests closed within the legislated timeline, including extensions, for the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year and the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

Table 5: status of closed ATI requests, fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020
Status of closed requests	Requests as percentage		Number of requests
Status of closed requests	2018 to 2019	2019 to 2020	2018 to 2019	2019 to 2020
Closed within legislated timeline, including extensions	73.1	67.4	91,402	100,827
Closed beyond legislated timeline, including extensions	26.9	32.6	33,658	48,743
Total	100	100	125,060	149,570

The percentage of ATI requests closed within legislated timelines has decreased by 18.5 percent over the last five fiscal years, from 85.9 percent in the 2015 to 2016 fiscal year to 67.4 percent in the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

Figure 4 shows ATI requests closed within legislated timelines, from the 2015 to 2016 fiscal year to the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

ATI requests closed within legislated timelines, from fiscal year 2015 to 2016 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020. Text version below: — **Figure 4: ATI requests closed within legislated timelines, from fiscal year 2015 to 2016 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020**

Figure 4: ATI requests closed within legislated timelines, from fiscal year 2015 to 2016 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020
	2015-2016	2016-2017	2017-2018	2018‑2019	2019‑2020
Closed within legislated timeline, including extensions	85.9%	80.7%	76.2%	73.1%	67.4%
Closed beyond legislated timeline, including extensions	14.1%	19.3%	23.8%	26.9%	32.6%

Another way to examine performance is to consider the number of institutions that meet the performance standard for ATI requests, which is to respond to 90 percent of requests within legislated timelines, including extensions. Of the 138 institutions that closed ATI requests in the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year, 84 institutions met this standard, closing at least 90 percent of requests within legislated timelines. 54 institutions did not meet this standard, principally due to workload pressures within the organization. Of the 45 institutions that did not close any requests in the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year, 42 institutions did not receive any requests and 3 institutions received requests.

Table 6 shows the number of institutions that closed at least 90 percent of ATI requests within legislated timelines, from the 2015 to 2016 fiscal year to the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

Table 6: number of institutions that closed at least 90 percent of ATI requests within legislated timelines, from fiscal year 2015 to 2016 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020
Number of institutions	2015 to 2016	2016 to 2017	2017 to 2018	2018 to 2019	2019 to 2020
Number of institutions that closed at least 90 percent of requests within legislated timelines	85	90	85	74	84
Number of institutions that closed fewer than 90 percent of requests within legislated timelines	68	64	55	59	54
Number of institutions that did not close any requests	22	22	41	48	45
Total	175	176	181	181	183

Figure 5 shows the percentage of reporting institutions that closed at least 90 percent of ATI requests within legislated timelines, from the 2015 to 2016 fiscal year to the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

percentage of institutions that closed at least 90 percent of ATI requests within legislated timelines, from fiscal year 2015 to 2016 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020. Text version below: — **Figure 5: percentage of institutions that closed at least 90 percent of ATI requests within legislated timelines, from fiscal year 2015 to 2016 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020**

Figure 5: percentage of institutions that closed at least 90 percent of ATI requests within legislated timelines, from fiscal year 2015 to 2016 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020
	2015-2016	2016-2017	2017-2018	2018‑2019	2019‑2020
Percentage of institutions that met the standard	55.6%	58.4%	60.7%	55.6%	60.9%
Percentage of institutions that did not meet the standard	44.4%	41.6%	39.3%	44.4%	39.1%

Table 7 shows the disposition of ATI requests, and the time required to close these requests, for the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

Table 7: disposition and time required to close ATI requests, fiscal year 2019 to 2020
Disposition of requests (including requests for which extensions were required)	Closure time^{Table 7 note a}
	1 to 15 days	16 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	1,495	19,520	10,106	4,343	766	579	251	37,060
Disclosed in part	1,395	41,400	28,400	12,705	3,882	3,926	2,880	94,588
All exempted	159	267	116	127	44	59	69	841
All excluded	115	87	43	57	23	10	8	343
No records exist	1,541	3,121	1,072	460	113	80	96	6,483
Request transferred	367	34	1	3	3	0	0	408
Request abandoned^{Table 7 note b}	5,461	1,296	1,044	330	153	182	1,116	9,582
Neither confirmed nor denied^{Table 7 note c}	97	100	20	20	4	6	17	264
Decline to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1
Total number of requests	10,630	65,825	40,802	18,046	4,988	4,842	4,437	149,570
Total as percentage	7.1	44.0	27.3	12.1	3.3	3.2	3.0	100
Table 7 Notes Table 7 Note 1 The number of days to close requests or consultations refers to calendar days. Return to Table 7 note a referrer Table 7 Note 2 An abandoned request is a request that has been formally withdrawn by the requester, or the requester did not respond to a notice indicating that the request will be closed if they do not respond within a specified time period. Return to Table 7 note b referrer Table 7 Note 3 The category “neither confirmed nor denied” relate to requests for which subsection 10(2) of the Access to Information Act was invoked: “The head of a government institution may but is not required to indicate under subsection 10(1) whether a record exists.” Return to Table 7 note c referrer

Figure 6 shows the time required to close ATI requests from fiscal year 2015 to 2016 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020.

Time required to close ATI requests from fiscal year 2015 to 2016 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020. Text version below: — **Figure 6: Time required to close ATI requests from fiscal year 2015 to 2016 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020**

Figure 6: Time required to close ATI requests from fiscal year 2015 to 2016 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020
	2015 to 2016	2016 to 2017	2017 to 2018	2018 to 2019	2019 to 2020
0 to 30 days	64.1%	64.5%	55.4%	55.8%	51.1%
31 to 60 days	21.3%	18.0%	22.6%	24.6%	27.3%
61 to 120 days	7.5%	9.5%	11.1%	8.0%	12.1%
121 days or more	7.1%	8.0%	10.9%	11.7%	9.5%

Table 8 shows the principal reason that ATI requests were closed beyond the legislated timeline for fiscal year 2019 to 2020.

Table 8: Principal reason that ATI requests were closed beyond the legislated timeline for fiscal year 2019 to 2020
Principal reason	Total number of requests closed beyond the legislated timeline including extensions
Workload	46,283
External consultation	736
Internal consultation	461
Other^{Table 8 note a}	1,263
Total	48,743
Table 8 Notes Table 8 Note 1 Other reasons include the unavailability of key officials, difficulties in obtaining relevant records, labour disputes and lengthy power outages. Return to Table 8 note a referrer Note: Requests that were neither closed in the initial 30-day legislated timeline nor within the timeframe covered by an extension.

Of the 48,743 ATI requests closed beyond the legislated timeline, 89.9 percent were past the timeline with no extension taken. This is an increase of 4.5 percent from the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year.

Table 9 shows the number of ATI requests that were closed beyond the legislated timeline in fiscal year 2019 to 2020, by number of days past the timeline.

Table 9: number of days past deadline for ATI requests closed beyond the legislated timeline including extensions, fiscal year 2019 to 2020
Number of days past legislated timeline	Number of requests past legislated timeline where no extension was taken	Number of requests past legislated timeline where an extension was taken	Total requests closed beyond the legislated timeline including extensions	Total as percentage
1 to 15 days	24,150	1,417	25,567	52.5
16 to 30 days	3,206	401	3,607	7.4
31 to 60 days	4,484	461	4,945	10.1
61 to 120 days	4,375	551	4,926	10.1
121 to 180 days	2,154	362	2,516	5.2
181 to 365 days	2,839	606	3,445	7.1
More than 365 days	2,591	1,146	3,737	7.7
Total	43,799	4,944	48,743	100

Disposition

Records were disclosed either in full or in part for 88 percent of closed ATI requests. This is an increase of 4 percent from the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year.

Table 10 shows the disposition of closed ATI requests for fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020.

Table 10: disposition of closed ATI requests, fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020
Disposition of closed requests	Requests as percentage		Number of requests
Disposition of closed requests	2018 to 2019	2019 to 2020	2018 to 2019	2019 to 2020
All disclosed	27.0	24.8	33,709	37,060
Disclosed in part	57.1	63.2	71,353	94,588
All exempted	0.7	0.6	925	841
All excluded	0.4	0.2	483	343
No records exist	5.3	4.3	6,590	6,483
Request transferred	0.4	0.3	486	408
Request abandoned	9.0	6.4	11,243	9,582
Neither confirmed nor denied	0.2	0.2	271	264
Decline to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner	N/A	0.0	N/A	1
Total	100	100	125,060	149,570

Figure 7 shows the disposition of closed ATI requests in fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020.

disposition of closed ATI requests, fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020. Text version below: — **Figure 7: disposition of closed ATI requests, fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020**

Figure 7: disposition of closed ATI requests, fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020
	2018‑19	2019‑20
All disclosed	27.0%	24.8%
Disclosed in part	57.1%	63.2%
All exempted	0.7%	0.6%
All excluded	0.4%	0.2%
No records exist	5.3%	4.3%
Request transferred	0.4%	0.3%
Request abandoned	9.0%	6.4%
Neither confirmed nor denied	0.2%	0.2%
Decline to act with the approval of the Information Commisioner	0.0%	0.0%

Complexity

In the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year, government institutions processed about 32.6 million pages for closed ATI requests, an increase of about 17 million pages over the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year. The increase is largely attributable to one institution closing three ATI requests on the same subject involving nearly 15 million pages in total.

Government institutions undertook consultations with parties outside the federal government in 6.4 percent of all closed ATI requests. This is a decrease of 2 percent from the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year.

Table 11 shows the number of relevant pages processed and disclosed in response to ATI requests closed in fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020.

Table 11: relevant pages processed and disclosed in response to ATI requests closed in fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020
	Number of pages processed		Number of pages disclosed		Number of requests^{Table 11 note a}
	2018 to 2019	2019 to 2020	2018 to 2019	2019 to 2020	2018 to 2019	2019 to 2020
Total	15,553,195	32,600,292^{Table 11 note b}	10,791,635	13,271,901	117,713	142,678
Table 11 Notes Table 11 Note 1 The total number of requests for each reporting period reflects the total number of requests closed in each period with the exception of those categorized as “no records exist,” “request transferred” or “neither confirmed nor denied.” Return to Table 11 note a referrer Table 11 Note 2 The number of pages increased significantly from the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year due to one institution processing three requests on the same subject involving nearly 15 million pages in total. Return to Table 11 note b referrer

Figure 8 shows the number of pages processed in response to closed ATI requests from fiscal year 2015 to 2016 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020.

number of pages processed in response to closed ATI requests, from fiscal year 2015 to 2016 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020. Text version below: — **Figure 8: number of pages processed in response to closed ATI requests, from fiscal year 2015 to 2016 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020**

Figure 8: number of pages processed in response to closed ATI requests, from fiscal year 2015 to 2016 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020
	2015-2016	2016-2017	2017-2018	2018‑2019	2019‑2020
Total number of pages processed	9,025,729	16,047,246	27,535,336	15,553,195	32,600,292

Note: The number of pages processed rose significantly in the 2017 to 2018 fiscal year due to 1 request of approximately 14.8 million pages. The number of pages once again rose significantly in the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year due to one institution closing three requests on the same subject involving nearly 15 million pages in total.

Table 12 shows the number of complex ATI requests closed in fiscal year 2019 to 2020, by disposition.

Table 12: complex ATI requests closed in fiscal year 2019 to 2020, by disposition
Disposition	Consultation required	Assessment of fees	Legal advice sought	Other^{table 12 note 1}	Total
All disclosed	1,410	3	36	326	1,775
Disclosed in part	7,577	6	378	1,042	9,003
All exempted	100	1	22	27	150
All excluded	146	0	14	9	169
Request abandoned	279	7	17	101	404
Neither confirmed nor denied	6	0	3	6	15
Total	9,518	17	470	1,511	11,516
Table 12 Notes Table 12 Note 1 Other considerations include requests for the contents of a database, requests to process audio or video recordings, high-profile subject matter, instances in which records are located in another region or country, and instances in which the records are in a language other than English or French. Return to Table 12 note 1 referrer

Extensions

49.3 percent of all extensions taken for closed requests cited paragraph 9(1)(a) of the Access to Information Act as a reason for the extension, relating to interference with government operations. 19.1 percent of all extensions taken for closed requests were for 30 days or less; 93.3 percent were for 120 days or less.

Table 13 shows the number of ATI requests that were closed in fiscal year 2019 to 2020 where extensions were invoked, by length of the extension.

Table 13: ATI requests closed in fiscal year 2019 to 2020 with reasons for and length of extensions
Length of extensions^{Table 13 note a}	9(1)(a) - Interference with operations	9(1)(b) - Consultation		9(1)(c) - Third-party notice	Total
Length of extensions^{Table 13 note a}	9(1)(a) - Interference with operations	Section 69^{Table 13 note b}	Other^{Table 13 note c}	9(1)(c) - Third-party notice	Total
30 days or less	2,879	59	1,023	113	4,074
31 to 60 days	3,243	174	4,271	1,824	9,512
61 to 120 days	3,795	534	1,676	290	6,295
121 to 180 days	274	120	379	56	829
181 to 365 days	241	36	141	32	450
365 days or more	74	10	55	13	152
Total	10,506	933	7,545	2,328	21,312
Table 13 Notes Table 13 Note 1 The timelines associated with extensions begin at the end of the initial 30-day response period. Return to Table 13 note a referrer Table 13 Note 2 Section 69 of the Access to Information Act states that the act does not apply to confidences of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada. Return to Table 13 note b referrer Table 13 Note 3 “Other” includes consultations with one or more of the following: other federal government institutions, provincial and municipal governments, foreign states, international organizations of states, Aboriginal governments, non-governmental organizations or individuals. Return to Table 13 note c referrer

Consultations

The number of ATI requests for consultation between federal government institutions in the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year increased by 5.1 percent from the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year. The number of pages to review decreased by 16.2 percent.

Table 14 shows the number of ATI requests for consultation in fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020 between government institutions and the number of pages reviewed in connection with those requests.

Table 14: number of ATI requests for consultation and number of pages reviewed in connection with those requests, fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020
Consultations	Number of requests for consultations		Number of pages to review
Consultations	2018 to 2019	2019 to 2020	2018 to 2019	2019 to 2020
Received during reporting period	9,692	10,187	480,689	402,943
Outstanding from the previous reporting period	1,434	1,759	271,251	227,884
Total	11,126	11,946	751,940	630,827
Closed during the reporting period	9,356	9,980	490,453	435,841
Pending at the end of the reporting period	1,766	1,966	261,416	195,021

Table 15 shows, by recommendation, the number of ATI requests for consultation that were closed within particular timeframes in fiscal year 2019 to 2020.

Table 15: requests for consultation between government institutions closed within particular timeframes in fiscal year 2019 to 2020, by recommendation
Recommendation	Number of days required to close consultation requests
Recommendation	1 to 15 days	16 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	2,494	1,689	981	410	90	49	10	5,723
Disclose in part	602	833	840	520	154	152	110	3,211
Exempt entirely	58	37	31	18	5	1	2	152
Exclude entirely	16	9	2	5	1	0	1	34
Consult other institution^{Table 15 note a}	61	47	45	25	3	3	5	189
Other	297	78	73	109	34	62	18	671
Total	3,528	2,693	1,972	1,087	287	267	146	9,980
Table 15 Notes Table 15 Note 1 “Consult other institution” refers to a government institution’s recommendation that the institution that consulted them contact additional government institutions subject to the Access to Information Act. Return to Table 15 note a referrer

Exemptions^{Footnote 1}

The tables that follow show the number of ATI requests closed in fiscal year 2019 to 2020 in which specific exemptions under the Access to Information Act were invoked.

Table 16a: exemptions for information obtained in confidence
Provision	Number of requests
13(1)(a)	7,845
13(1)(b)	246
13(1)(c)	660
13(1)(d)	248
13(1)(e)	33

Table 16b: exemptions for federal-provincial affairs
Provision	Number of requests
14	546
14(a)	356
14(b)	151

Table 16c: exemptions for international affairs and defence
Provision	Number of requests
15(1)	12,550
15(1) International Affairs	1,160
15(1) Defence	418
15(1) Subversive activities	2,055

Table 16d: exemptions for law enforcement and investigations
Provision	Number of requests
16(1)(a)(i)	1,025
16(1)(a)(ii)	413
16(1)(a)(iii)	454
16(1)(b)	845
16(1)(c)	26,229
16(1)(d)	62
16(2)	1,463
16(2)(a)	21
16(2)(b)	12
16(2)(c)	2,723
16(3)	2
16.1(1)(a)	9
16.1(1)(b)	15
16.1(1)(c)	24
16.1(1)(d)	22
16.2(1)	10
16.3	8
16.31	0
16.4(1)(a)	1
16.4(1)(b)	0
16.5	16
16.6	8

Table 16e: exemptions for safety of individuals
Provision	Number of requests
17	33,990

Table 16f: exemptions for economic interests of Canada
Provision	Number of requests
18(a)	145
18(b)	454
18(c)	11
18(d)	229
18.1(1)(a)	34
18.1(1)(b)	35
18.1(1)(c)	9
18.1(1)(d)	8

Table 16g: exemptions for personal information
Provision	Number of requests
19(1)	62,033

Table 16h: exemptions for third-party information
Provision	Number of requests
20(1)(a)	114
20(1)(b)	2,384
20(1)(b.1)	73
20(1)(c)	2,077
20(1)(d)	523
20.1	6
20.2	0
20.4	0

Table 16i: exemptions for operations of government
Provision	Number of requests
21(1)(a)	3,516
21(1)(b)	3,988
21(1)(c)	855
21(1)(d)	390

Table 16j: exemptions for testing procedures, tests and audits
Provision	Number of requests
22	221
22.1(1)	41

Table 16k: exemptions for solicitor-client privilege
Provision	Number of requests
23	2,040

Table 16l: exemptions for protected information (patents and trade-marks)
Provision	Number of requests
23.1	18

Table 16m: exemptions for statutory prohibitions
Provision	Number of requests
24(1)	2,205

Table 16n: exemptions for information to be published
Provision	Number of requests
26	112

Exclusions^{Footnote 2}

The tables that follow show the number of ATI requests closed in fiscal year 2019 to 2020 in which specific exclusions under the Access to Information Act were invoked.

Table 17a: exclusions for non-application (Act does not apply to certain materials)
Provision	Number of requests
68(a)	453
68(b)	19
68(c)	14
68.1	64
68.2(a)	1
68.2(b)	0

Table 17b: exclusions for Cabinet confidences
Provision	Number of requests
69(1)	78
69(1)(a)	201
69(1)(b)	12
69(1)(c)	67
69(1)(d)	140
69(1)(e)	312
69(1)(f)	45
69(1)(g) re (a)	1,017
69(1)(g) re (b)	27
69(1)(g) re (c)	636
69(1)(g) re (d)	304
69(1)(g) re (e)	528
69(1)(g) re (f)	291

Table 17c: exclusions for certificate under the *Canada Evidence Act*
Provision	Number of requests
69.1(1)	3

Fees and costs

The annual cost to administer the Government of Canada’s access to information program increased by 5.4 percent to about $78.5 million in the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year, with the average cost per closed request declining by 11.9 percent to about $525 per request.

Table 18 shows the fees and costs associated with administering the Access to Information Act for the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year and the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

Table 18: fees and costs of *Access to Information Act* operations, fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020
Description	Amount
Description	2018 to 2019	2019 to 2020
Cost of institutions’ operations^{Table 18 note a}	$73,373,705	$77,469,191
Cost of ATIP Online Request Service^{Table 18 noteb}	$1,079,623	$987,919
Total	$74,453,328	$78,457,110
Requests closed	125,060	149,570
Average cost per closed request^{Table 18 note c}	$595.34	$524.55
Pages processed	15,553,195	32,600,292
Average cost per processed page	$4.79	$2.41
Number of requests in which fees were collected	116,443	148,791
Fees collected	$582,473	$743,955
Average fees collected per request	$5.00	$5.00
Number of requests in which fees were waived or refunded	7,093	5,584
Fees waived or refunded	$40,968	$35,319
Average fees waived or refunded per request	$5.78	$6.33
Table 18 Notes Table 18 Note 1 Cost of operations includes salaries, overtime, goods and services, contracts and all other expenses specific to access to information and privacy offices. Cost of operations does not include costs associated with time spent by business areas searching for and reviewing records. Return to Table 18 note a referrer Table 18 Note 2 The 2018 to 2019 fiscal year is the first year in which the cost of the ATIP Online Request Service (AORS) is reported. Return to Table 18 note b referrer Table 18 Note 3 This calculation uses the cost of operations in the reporting period to obtain the average cost per closed request. Because the cost of operations also includes the processing costs of some requests that will be carried over into the next reporting period, the average cost per closed request is an approximation. Return to Table 18 note c referrer

Informal requests for government information

An informal request is a request for information made to a government institution subject to the Access to Information Act that is either not made or not processed under the Act.

Informal requests include:

formal requests that are discontinued in favour of providing information informally, in consultation with the requester
requests where the information sought is already publicly available online
requests where the response involves re-releasing information that was made available in response to previously closed formal requests, summaries of which are found online.

Informal requests do not include:

responses to parliamentary questions or media enquiries
requests made internally within a government institution to share information between sectors

Unlike in the case of formal requests:

fees cannot be charged for informal requests
there are no deadlines for responding to informal requests
requesters have no statutory right of complaint to the Information Commissioner

In the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year, 58.4 percent of informal requests were closed within 30 days. This is a decrease of 1.2 percent from the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year.

Table 19 shows the time required to close informal requests in the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

Table 19: time required to close informal requests, fiscal year 2019 to 2020
	1 to 15 days	16 to 30 days	31 to 60 days	61 to 120 days	121 to 180 days	181 to 365 days	More than 365 days	Total
	Closure time
Number of requests	7,541	3,135	2,245	1,641	547	1,255	1,930	18,294

Access to Information Act requests since 1983

The statistics that follow reflect the best available data since 1983. The categories have been adjusted in some cases in order to compare data across the years.

Table 20 shows the number of ATI requests received and closed since 1983.

Table 20: number of ATI requests since 1983
ATI Requests	Number of requests
Requests received	1,259,174
Requests closed	1,221,486

Figure 9 shows the disposition of ATI requests closed since 1983.

disposition of closed Access to Information Act requests since 1983. Text version below: — **Figure 9: disposition of closed ATI requests since 1983**

Figure 9: disposition of closed ATI requests since 1983
Disposition of closed requests	Requests as percentage
All disclosed	26%
Disclosed in part	53%
Unable to process	17%
Withheld entirely	2%
Other	2%
Decline to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner	0%

Notes:

“Unable to process” includes the categories “no records exist,”^{Footnote 3} “abandoned”^{Footnote 4} and “requests that could not be processed.”^{Footnote 5}
“Withheld entirely” includes the categories “all exempted” and “all excluded.”
“Other” includes the categories “transferred,” “neither confirmed nor denied” and “treated informally.”
In June 2019, the Access to Information Act was amended to enable institutions to seek the Information Commissioner’s approval to decline to act on requests that are vexatious, made in bad faith, or an abuse of the right of access. In the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year, one request was closed with the disposition ‘Decline to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner’.

Table 21 shows the disposition of ATI requests closed since 1983.

Table 21: disposition of closed ATI requests since 1983
Disposition of closed requests	Requests as percentage	Number of requests
Disclosed in part	52.5	641,779
All disclosed	25.7	313,794
All exempted	1.5	18,151
All excluded	0.5	6,449
No records exist	4.6	56,653
Abandoned	5.1	61,958
Transferred	1.0	12,147
Neither confirmed nor denied	0.1	1,791
Decline to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner	0	1
Treated informally^{table 21 note a}	1.2	14,057
Requests that could not be processed^{table 21 note a}	7.8	94,706
Total	100	1,221,486
Table 21 Notes Table 21 Note 1 The number of requests has remained constant since the 2013 to 2014 fiscal year. Return to table 21 note a referrer

Table 22 shows ATI requests closed since 1983, by the number of days required to close them.

Table 22: time required to close ATI requests since 1983
Closure time (including requests for which extensions were required)	Requests as percentage	Number of requests
0 to 30 days	58.7	716,540
31 to 60 days	20.6	251,480
61 days or more	20.8	253,466
Total	100	1,221,486

Table 23 shows the fees and costs associated with administering the Access to Information Act since 1983.

Table 23: fees and costs of *Access to Information Act* since 1983
Descriptions	Amount
Requests closed	1,221,486
Cost of operations^{Table 23 note a}	$1,349,384,830.17
Average cost per closed request^{Table 23 note b}	$1,104.71
Fees collected	$9,116,879.02
Average fees collected per closed request^{Table 23 note c}	$7.46
Fees waived or refunded	$3,727,433.94
Average fees waived or refunded per closed request^{Table 23 note d}	$3.05
Table 23 Notes Table 23 Note 1 This amount is adjusted to the rate of inflation. Before the 2018 to 2019 reporting period, the cost of operations was not adjusted to the rate of inflation. Return to Table 23 note a referrer Table 23 Note 2 This calculation uses the cost of operations to obtain the average cost per closed request since 1983. Because the cost of operations also included the processing costs of some requests that were carried over to the next reporting period, the average cost per closed request is an approximation. Return to Table 23 note b referrer Table 23 Note 3 This calculation uses the amount of fees collected to obtain the average fees collected per closed request since 1983. However, in actuality, fees would not have been collected for every closed request. Return to Table 23 note c referrer Table 23 Note 4 This calculation uses the amount of fees waived or refunded since 1983 to obtain the average fees waived or refunded per closed request. However, in actuality, fees would not have been waived for every closed request. Return to Table 23 note d referrer

Figure 10 shows ATI requests received and cost of Access to Information Act operations, from the 1983 to 1984 fiscal year to the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

ATI requests received and cost of Access to Information Act operations, from fiscal year 1983 to 1984 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020. Text version below: — **Figure 10: ATI requests received and cost of *Access to Information Act* operations, from fiscal year 1983 to 1984 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020**

Figure 10: ATI requests received and cost of *Access to Information Act* operations, from fiscal year 1983 to 1984 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020
Year	Cost of operations (inflation adjusted)^{Figure 10 note *}	ATI requests received
1983-1984	$5.95	1,513
1984-1985	$8.14	2,229
1985-1986	$9.08	3,606
1986-1987	$8.31	5,450
1987-1988	$7.91	7,301
1988-1989	$10.42	8,853
1989-1990	$12.78	10,234
1990-1991	$11.84	11,093
1991-1992	$10.66	10,387
1992-1993	$15.54	9,729
1993-1994	$13.73	10,422
1994-1995	$15.75	12,861
1995-1996	$18.25	13,124
1996-1997	$18.89	12,476
1997-1998	$18.24	12,206
1998-1999	$21.43	14,340
1999-2000	$25.17	19,294
2000-2001	$30.87	20,789
2001-2002	$32.39	21,265
2002-2003	$34.48	22,977
2003-2004	$32.18	25,234
2004-2005	$34.47	25,207
2005-2006	$41.17	27,269
2006-2007	$42.36	29,182
2007-2008	$53.86	31,487
2008-2009	$57.94	34,041
2009-2010	$56.37	35,154
2010-2011	$61.79	41,641
2011-2012	$67.11	43,194
2012-2013	$65.98	55,145
2013-2014	$69.05	60,105
2014-2015	$73.10	68,193
2015-2016	$69.54	75,387
2016-2017	$68.95	91,880
2017-2018	$73.29	106,255
2018‑2019	$74.90	123,421
2019‑2020	$77.47	156,222
Figure 10 Note Figure 10 Note * Note: cost of operations in million dollars Figure 10 note * referrer

Privacy Act statistics for the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year

Requests under the Privacy Act

A total of 78,541 personal information requests under the Privacy Act were received in the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year, an increase of 5.3 percent from the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year. There was also a total of 27,346 personal information requests that were outstanding from the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year, an overall decrease of 1 percent from the outstanding requests from the previous fiscal year.

Of the 105,887 personal information requests that were either received in the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year or outstanding from the previous period, 70.1 percent were closed. This is a decrease of 3.2 percent from the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year: of the 102,137 requests that were either received in the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year or outstanding from the previous period, 73.3 percent were closed.

Table 24 shows the number of personal information requests received, closed and carried over for the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

Table 24: personal information requests received, closed and carried over, fiscal year 2019 to 2020
Personal information requests	Number of requests
Outstanding from 2018 to 2019 reporting period^{table 24 note a}	27,346
Received during 2019 to 2020 reporting period	78,541
Total	105,887
Closed during 2019 to 2020 reporting period	74,230
Carried over to 2020 to 2021 reporting period	31,657
Table 24 Notes Table 24 Note 1 Due to administrative errors, there are small inconsistencies between the statistical data for the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year and the statistical data for the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year regarding the number of requests left outstanding at the end of the 2018 to 2019 reporting period. Return to table 24 note a referrer

Figure 11 shows the number of personal information requests received, closed and carried over from the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year to 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

personal information requests received, closed and carried over, fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020. Text version below: — **Figure 11: personal information requests received, closed and carried over, fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020**

Figure 11: personal information requests received, closed and carried over, fiscal year 2018 to 2019 and fiscal year 2019 to 2020
	2018 to 2019	2019 to 2020
Outstanding from previous reporting period	27,571	27,346
Received during reporting period	74,566	78,541
Closed during reporting period	74,874	74,230
Carried over to next reporting period	27,263	31,657

Five government institutions received 75.1 percent of the 78,541 personal information requests received in the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

Figure 12 shows the proportion of personal informationrequests received by the five institutions that received the highest volume of requests, and all other government institutions, for the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

proportion of personal information requests received by the five institutions that received the highest volume of requests, and all other government institutions, fiscal year 2019 to 2020. Text version below: — **Figure 12: proportion of personal information requests received by the five institutions that received the highest volume of requests, and all other government institutions, fiscal year 2019 to 2020**

Table 25 shows the number of pages processed under the Privacy Act by the five institutions that received the highest volume of requests, and all other government institutions, for the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year.

Table 25: pages processed under the *Privacy Act* by the five institutions that received the highest volume of requests, and all other government institutions, fiscal year 2019 to 2020
Rank	Name of institution	Number of requests received	Requests received as percentage	Pages processed^{table 25 note a}
1	Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada	15,963	20.3	984,436
2	Employment and Social Development Canada	15,405	19.6	1,259,755
3	Canada Border Services Agency	14,102	18.0	547,551
4	Correctional Service of Canada	7,063	9.0	446,986
5	National Defence	6,475	8.2	2,381,632
Other institutions		19,533	24.9	3,661,773
Total		78,541	100	9,282,133
Table 25 Notes Table 25 Note 1 The number of pages processed per government institution represents the total processed pages for closed requests. This does not include the number of pages processed for requests that were carried over into the next reporting period. Return to table 25 note a referrer