Access to Information and Privacy Statistical Report for 2022–23

From: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Introduction

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

Paragraph 70(1)(d) of the ATIA assigns responsibility to the President of the Treasury Board, as the designated minister, to collect statistics and to publish a report containing a summary of those statistics on an annual basis. These statistics are used to assess the performance of the Access to Information (ATI) and Privacy programs of the Government of Canada (GC).

This report presents statistical information about the GC’s ATI and Privacy programs across all federal institutions subject to the ATIA and Privacy Act from April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023.

Each institution subject to the ATIA and the Privacy Act also tables an annual report in Parliament on the administration of each act. These reports can be found on institutions’ websites.

The complete statistical datasets for 2022–23 will be available on the GC’s Open Data Portal.

Exclusion of data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) accounted for 77.9% of ATI requests and 22.8% of personal information requests received by the GC in 2022–23 (including 85.1% of requests for personal information by foreign nationals outside Canada), the vast majority of which related to clients’ immigration applications.

Because the nature and volume of requests received by IRCC differ significantly from the overall body of requests across the ATI and Privacy system, IRCC’s data are excluded from this report.

More information about IRCC’s ATI and Privacy programs can be found in its 2022-2023 Annual Report on the Access to Information Act and 2022-2023 Annual Report on the Privacy Act.

Key observations on volume of requests and performance

Access to Information program data

With respect to requests made under the ATIA, in 2022–23, requests received, closed, and carried over continued to increase compared to previous years, totaling 52,377, 48,308 and 32,637, respectively. Pages processed decreased compared to the previous year, totaling 8,260,971.

In terms of performance, at the government-wide level, 72.3% of ATI requests were closed within legislated timelines. At the institutional level, 54.2% of institutions met the performance target of closing 90% of ATI requests within legislated timelines.

Privacy program data

With respect to requests made under the Privacy Act, in 2022–23, requests received and closed continued to increase compared to previous years, totaling 81,679 and 81,932, respectively. Requests carried over decreased compared to the previous year, totaling 36,301. Pages processed also decreased compared to the previous year, totaling 7,717,559.

In July 2022, the GC extended the right of access to all individuals, globally, to submit a request for their personal information under the Privacy Act. In 2022–23, 1,123 personal information requests were received from foreign nationals outside Canada.

In terms of performance, at the government-wide level, 72.7% of requests for personal information were closed within legislated timelines. At the institutional level, 60.8% of institutions met the performance target of closing 90% of requests for personal information within legislated timelines.

Performance and statistical summary

Tables 1 to 4 provide a summary of results against key performance indicators and key data points of the ATI and Privacy programs over the past three fiscal years, from 2020–21 to 2022–23.

Table 1: key performance indicators of the ATI program, 2020–21 to 2022–23
Key performance indicator	Result: 2020–21	Result: 2021–22	Result: 2022–23	Increase or decrease from 2021–22 to 2022–23
Percentage of ATI requests responded to within legislated timelines^{Footnote 1}	65.1%	70.7%	72.3%	1.6 percentage point increase
Percentage of institutions that respond to 90% or more of ATI requests within legislated timelines^{Footnote 2}	49.6%	55.8%	54.2%	1.6 percentage point decrease
Footnote 1 The ATIA establishes a 30-day limit for responses to ATI requests and permits extensions to the 30-day limit for limited and specific reasons. Return to footnote 1 referrer Footnote 2 The result presented in this report differ from what is published in the 2022–23 Departmental Results Report: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, as the latter includes IRCC’s data. Return to footnote 2 referrer

Table 2: key performance indicators of the Privacy program, 2020–21 to 2022–23
Key performance indicator	Result: 2020–21	Result: 2021–22	Result: 2022–23	Increase or decrease from 2021–22 to 2022–23
Percentage of personal information requests responded to within legislated timelines^{Footnote 3}	62.9%	70.0%	72.7%	2.7 percentage point increase
Percentage of institutions that respond to 90% or more of personal information requests within legislated timelines^{Footnote 4}	51.0%	64.2%	60.8%	3.4 percentage point decrease
Footnote 3 The Privacy Act establishes a 30-day limit for responses to personal information requests and permits extensions to the 30-day limit for limited and specific reasons. Return to footnote 3 referrer Footnote 4 The result presented in this report differ from what is published in the 2022–23 Departmental Results Report: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, as the latter includes IRCC’s data. Return to footnote 4 referrer

Table 3: key data points of the ATI program, 2020–21 to 2022–23
Data point	Result: 2020–21	Result: 2021–22	Result: 2022–23	Increase or decrease from 2021–22 to 2022–23
Number of requests received	38,117	45,334	52,377	15.5% increase
Number of requests closed	30,989	40,889	48,308	18.1% increase
Number of requests carried over	24,088	28,585	32,637	14.2% increase
Number of extensions taken on closed requests	9,746	15,198	16,747	10.2% increase
Percentage of requests closed with information disclosed	63.4%	66.8%	68.7%	1.9 percentage point increase
Number of consultations received	4,759	6,513	6,402	1.7% decrease
Number of consultations closed	4,696	6,498	6,612	1.8% increase
Number of pages processed for closed requests	7,628,868	8,752,652	8,260,971	5.6% decrease
Total cost of ATI program operations	$77,723,116	$83,202,144	$95,694,045	15% increase

Table 4: key data points of the Privacy program, 2020–21 to 2022–23
Data point	Result: 2020–21	Result: 2021–22	Result: 2022–23	Increase or decrease from 2021–22 to 2022–23
Number of requests received	55,137	68,096	81,679^{Footnote 5}	19.9% increase^{Footnote 6}
Number of requests closed	49,178	66,696	81,932	22.8% increase
Number of requests carried over	34,751	36,535	36,301	0.6% decrease
Number of extensions taken on closed requests	7,398	15,462	13,879	10.2% decrease
Percentage of requests closed with information disclosed	74.8%	73.3%	69.6%	3.7 percentage point decrease
Number of consultations received	219	196	177	9.7% decrease
Number of consultations closed	197	214	171	20.1% decrease
Number of pages processed for closed requests	6,178,716	8,532,891	7,717,559	9.6% decrease
Number of reported material privacy breaches^{Footnote 7}	244	427	305	28.6% decrease
Total cost of Privacy program operations	$60,051,005	$67,509,390	$73,346,139	8.6% increase
Footnote 5 In 2022–23, 1,123 personal information requests were received from foreign nationals outside Canada due to the implementation of Privacy Act Extension Order No. 3, which extended the right of access to all individuals, globally, to submit a request for their personal information under the Privacy Act. Return to footnote 5 referrer Footnote 6 8.3% of the increase of 13,583 requests from 2021–22 to 2022–23 is due to the implementation of Privacy Act Extension Order No. 3. Return to footnote 6 referrer Footnote 7 A privacy breach involves improper or unauthorized collection, use, disclosure, retention, or disposal of personal information. A breach is deemed a material privacy breach if it involves sensitive personal information and could reasonably be expected to cause serious injury or harm to the individual. Return to footnote 7 referrer

Trend analysis

This section provides a trend analysis of results against key performance indicators and key data points of the ATI and Privacy programs over the past 10 fiscal years, from 2013–14 to 2022–23. For material privacy breaches, historical data presented in this report is available from 2019–20 to 2022–23.

Each radio button below corresponds to a trend graph of one or more of the key performance indicators and key data points. To view a graph, select one of the radio buttons.

Trend analysis of Access to Information program data

Figure 1 - Text version

	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Percentage of ATI requests responded to within legislated timelines	85.9%	86.0%	81.9%	79.3%	79.1%	78.4%	76.3%	65.1%	70.7%	72.3%
Percentage of institutions that respond to 90% or more of ATI requests within legislated timelines	61.5%	60.6%	55.9%	58.8%	61.2%	56.1%	61.3%	49.6%	55.8%	54.2%

Figure 2 - Text version

	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
ATI requests received during reporting period	30,666	34,056	33,727	41,152	42,021	41,034	39,294	38,117	45,334	52,377
ATI requests closed during reporting period	30,967	33,412	32,474	38,175	38,684	41,165	37,977	30,989	40,889	48,308
ATI requests carried over to next reporting period	8,006	8,102	9,319	11,828	15,118	14,734	16,235	24,088	28,585	32,637

Figure 3 - Text version

	2013–14 or earlier	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Open ATI requests that are within legislated timelines as of March 31, 2023	2	1	6	4	12	21	76	123	549	7,192
Open ATI requests that are beyond legislated timelines as of March 31, 2023	30	31	69	265	559	940	2,353	4,156	6,332	9,920

Figure 4 - Text version

	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
9(1)(a) - Interference with operations (ATIA)	5,844	5,005	5,071	5,378	6,919	7,184	6,313	5,205	9,261	10,366
9(1)(b) - Consultation - Cabinet Confidence (ATIA)	964	791	780	895	1,011	1,135	927	386	683	689
9(1)(b) - Consultation - Other (ATIA)	4,500	3,499	4,024	5,026	4,741	5,132	4,164	2,467	3,041	3,479
9(1)(c) - Third-party notice (ATIA)	1,686	1,867	1,677	1,907	2,038	2,288	2,319	1,688	2,213	2,213

Figure 5 - Text version

	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Percentage of ATI requests with information fully or partially disclosed	65.0%	67.4%	66.5%	67.8%	66.4%	69.6%	67.1%	63.4%	66.8%	68.7%
Percentage of ATI requests with information not disclosed	35.0%	32.6%	33.5%	32.2%	33.6%	30.4%	32.9%	36.6%	33.2%	31.3%

Figure 6 - Text version

	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Consultations received during reporting period	8,770	7,702	7,839	8,300	9,064	9,394	9,869	4,759	6,513	6,402
Consultations closed during reporting period	9,201	7,649	7,853	7,922	8,605	9,068	9,643	4,696	6,498	6,612

Figure 7 - Text version

	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Pages processed	11,817,160	8,305,188	6,880,556	13,212,719	23,822,962	9,494,607	24,812,554	7,628,868	8,752,652	8,260,971

Figure 8 - Text version

	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Cost of institutions’ operations	$59,654,787	$64,308,923	$61,906,740	$61,404,105	$65,585,102	$68,526,010	$71,664,483	$77,723,116	$83,202,144	$95,694,045

Trend analysis of Privacy program data

Figure 9 - Text version

	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Percentage of personal information requests responded to within legislated timelines	75.8%	81.2%	78.9%	81.9%	78.4%	80.7%	85.2%	62.9%	70.0%	72.7%
Percentage of institutions that respond to 90% or more of personal information requests within legislated timelines	64.8%	68.8%	71.1%	73.6%	79.3%	72.6%	66.3%	51.0%	64.2%	60.8%

Figure 10 - Text version

	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Personal information requests received during reporting period	46,302	53,608	55,541	57,885	54,599	58,911	62,578	55,137	68,096	81,679
Personal information requests closed during reporting period	45,614	50,554	55,002	53,905	48,876	58,028	58,881	49,178	66,696	81,932
Personal information requests carried over to next reporting period	10,399	13,567	13,830	18,456	24,192	25,046	28,826	34,751	36,535	36,301

Figure 11 - Text version

	2013–14 or earlier	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Open personal information requests that are within legislated timelines as of March 31, 2023	-	-	-	1	-	1	2	5	16	6,439
Open personal information requests that are beyond legislated timelines as of March 31, 2023	1	89	90	955	2,821	3,108	3,413	3,602	5,097	10,665

Figure 12 - Text version

	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
15(a)(i): Interference with operations (Privacy Act)	X	5,408	7,414	4,339	5,939	6,594	11,441	7,243	15,267	13,671
15(a)(ii): Consultation (Privacy Act)	X	925	665	707	317	255	316	144	192	176
15(b): Translation purposes or conversion (Privacy Act)	X	16	23	14	10	10	20	11	3	32

Figure 13 - Text version

	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Percentage of personal information requests with information fully or partially disclosed	78.2%	72.8%	69.2%	66.2%	71.8%	72.8%	75.0%	74.8%	73.3%	69.6%
Percentage of personal information requests with information not disclosed	21.8%	27.2%	30.8%	33.8%	28.2%	27.2%	25.0%	25.2%	26.7%	30.4%

Figure 14 - Text version

	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Consultations received during reporting period	1,094	880	857	529	457	361	331	219	196	177
Consultations closed during reporting period	1,073	894	861	517	457	369	336	197	214	171

Figure 15 - Text version

	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Pages processed	6,835,955	6,733,140	7,594,670	7,468,952	8,250,595	8,141,008	8,297,697	6,178,716	8,532,891	7,717,559

Figure 16 - Text version

	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Reported material privacy breaches	317	244	427	305

Figure 17 - Text version

	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Cost of institutions’ operations	$31,688,104	$35,577,129	$39,599,396	$38,169,706	$40,401,188	$45,571,458	$51,695,588	$60,051,005	$67,509,390	$73,346,139

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Date modified:: 2023-12-20

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