Annual Report to Parliament on the Administration of the Access to Information Act - April 1, 2017 - March 31, 2018

Annual Report to Parliament on the Administration of the Access to Information Act - April 1, 2017 – March 31, 2018 (PDF Version, 1,240 KB)

Note: Some of the content is wider than usual.

1. Introduction

The Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) presents to Parliament its Annual Report on the Administration of the Access to Information Act (the “Act”) for fiscal year 2017–2018 (April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018). This report is prepared and tabled in accordance with section 72 of the Act.

The purpose of the Act is to provide a right of access to information in records under the control of a government institution. The Act maintains that government information should be made available to the public, which necessary exceptions to the right of access should be limited and specific, and that decisions on the disclosure of government information should be reviewed independently of government.

In accordance with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) requirements, this report provides an overview of the activities of AAFC in administering its responsibilities under the Act. This report should be considered along with AAFC's 2017–2018 Annual Report to Parliament on the Administration of the Privacy Act, which is tabled separately.

AAFC's Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Office is the focal point for access to information and privacy matters within the Department. For fiscal year 2017–2018, AAFC responded to all access to information requests within the prescribed deadlines.

2. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's mandate

Raison d'être

For generations, agriculture has made significant contributions to Canada's economy, food supply, environment and culture. On July 1, 1867, the federal Department of Agriculture was created and the first Minister of Agriculture was appointed. Today, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada provides leadership in the growth, development and sustainability of the Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector. AAFC supports the industry through initiatives that promote innovation and competitiveness and that proactively manage risk. The Department's goal is to position agriculture, agri-food and agri-based product industries to realize their full potential by seizing new opportunities in the growing domestic and global marketplace.

Our vision

Driving innovation and ingenuity to build a world-leading agricultural and food economy for the benefit of all Canadians.

Our mission

Provides leadership in the growth and development of a competitive, innovative and sustainable Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector.

Responsibilities

AAFC provides information, research and technology, and policies and programs to help Canada's agriculture, agri-food and agri-based products sector compete in markets at home and abroad, manage risk and embrace innovation. The Department's activities extend from the farmer to the consumer, from the farm to global markets, through all phases of sustainably producing, processing and marketing agriculture and agri-food products. In this regard, and since agriculture is a shared responsibility, AAFC works closely with provincial and territorial governments.

The Department is responsible for ensuring collaboration among the organizations within the AAFC portfolio. In other words, it ensures coherent policy and program development and effective co-operation in meeting challenges on cross-portfolio issues. The portfolio organizations consist of the Canadian Dairy Commission, the Canadian Grain Commission, Farm Credit Canada, the Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal and the Farm Products Council of Canada. AAFC also includes the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency, a special operating agency that regulates and supervises pari-mutuel betting on horse racing at racetracks across Canada.

3. Access to Information and Privacy Office structure

The ATIP Office is the focal point for access to information and privacy matters within AAFC. Key responsibilities include:

• Developing, coordinating and implementing policies, guidelines and procedures to ensure departmental compliance with the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act;
• Ensuring timely processing of all ATIP requests and proactively disclosing summaries of closed access requests on AAFC's website;
• Providing senior management and all departmental staff with advice and guidance on ATIP-related matters and offering training and awareness sessions to promote a consistent approach across the Department;
• Representing AAFC in its discussions and negotiations with external stakeholders, including other government departments (OGDs), third parties, TBS, the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada, and the general public;
• Conducting Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA);
• Preparing annual reports to Parliament and maintaining the Department's Info Source chapter;
• Developing and updating personal information banks (PIBs); and
• Processing requests on behalf of the following portfolio organizations: Canadian Dairy Commission, Canadian Grain Commission and Farm Products Council of Canada.

The ATIP Office reports to the Director General (DG), Communications Services, under the direction of the Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM) of the Public Affairs Branch (PAB). The ADM, PAB provides senior management support and leadership.

The team comprises of access and privacy policy analysts who play a key compliance and risk mitigation role for the Department. Ten positions are attributed to the Office:

• Director/Coordinator (1)
• ATIP Team Leaders (2)
• Privacy Policy Analysts (1)
• Senior ATIP Policy Analyst (1)
• ATIP Analysts (3)
• Junior Analyst (1)
• Administrative Supports (1)

The cost of administering the ATIP Office (for both access to information and privacy matters) during the reporting period was $1,011,444. This represents 7.79 FTEs or $768,508 in salaries and $242,936 for professional services.

The ATIP Office is supported by a designated network of 17 offices of primary interest (OPIs) - holders of the relevant information identified in an access request. OPIs are responsible for coordinating branch-specific request activities and providing guidance to colleagues on the administrative processes related to the Act. OPIs and their DGs review and recommend on the relevant information to be released prior to ATIP review and final approval. The ATIP Office continuously searches for new ways to streamline the processing of requests.

4. Delegation of authority

Section 73 of the Access to Information Act provides for the Minister of AAFC to delegate the powers, duties and functions designated by the Act.

The ATIP Office reports to the Director General, Communications Services, PAB, where it remains wholly separate from the activities of the Branch. The delegation of authority for the administration of the Access to information Act includes the DG and the ATIP Director/Coordinator. Both positions have full delegated authority to approve exemptions and final release packages under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act, in accordance with the delegation of authority instrument approved by the Minister in June 2016. Certain administrative functions are also delegated to the ATIP Team Leaders to enhance efficiency in request processing.

The Assistant Deputy Minister, Public Affairs Branch, is also recognized in this instrument.

The delegation of authority instrument for the administration of the Access to Information Act is appended hereto at Annexes A and B.

5. Access to Information Act Statistical Report

• AAFC's detailed Statistical Report on the Act for April 1, 2017, to March 31, 2018, is attached at Annex C. In comparing this statistical report with that of the previous reporting period (April 1, 2016, to March 31, 2017), it was noted that AAFC received nearly as many requests during this reporting period and showed an increase in terms of the number of pages reviewed.

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Trends in the Processing of Access to Information Requests

Year	Outstanding	Received	Completed	Carried Forward
2014-2015	28	220	166	82
2015-2016	82	119	142	59
2016-2017	59	222	245	36
2017-2018	36	166	184	18

The following charts are highlights of the Statistical Report:

Access requests received and completed

• AAFC received 166 new requests for information under the Act.
• Thirty-six requests were carried forward from the previous reporting period.
• Two hundred and two requests were completed.
• As part of the completed requests, 140,036 pages were reviewed.
• Of the 140,036 pages, 61,390 were released entirely or in part.
• Eighteen ongoing requests were carried forward to the next reporting period (April 1, 2018, to March 31, 2019) and remain within the statutory time frames.

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Trends for Relevant Pages Processed and Disclosed

Year	Pages Processed	Pages Disclosed
2014-2015	23,422	16,182
2015-2016	47,969	29,038
2016-2017	76,540	48,983
2017-2018	140,036	61,390

During the previous reporting period, most information requests were related to Carbon pricing; Revision of Canada's Food Guide and Marijuana/cannabis as a commercial crop.

Exemptions invoked

• The appended statistical reports provide details regarding the types of exemptions and exclusions applied to information contained in records for completed requests. The three exemptions most commonly used by AAFC during the reporting period were subsection 19(1) (personal information), section 20 (confidential third-party information) and section 21 (operations of government, advice, etc.).

Extensions

• The Act allows extensions beyond the 30-day statutory time frame for specific reasons. During the reporting period, 52 of the 202 closed requests required time extensions of 31 days or more to consult with third parties or OGDs, or required extensions owing to the volume of relevant records requiring review.

Informal requests

• The ATIP Office also responds to informal requests for information from the public. Informal requests are generally requests for previously released records under a formal access request.
• A total of 153 informal requests were received and responded to during this reporting period which represents an increase of more than 50%; 109 were closed within 15 days of receipt, 25 were closed within 16 to 30 days and 19 were closed within 31 to 120 days.
• AAFC has been receiving an increasing number of informal requests since 2009–2010, when the Department began posting summaries of closed access requests on their website, in accordance with TBS requirements.

Consultations

• AAFC must also respond to consultations pursuant to the Act from other government institutions in order to provide those institutions with recommendations regarding the release of information related to AAFC.
• For this reporting period, AAFC received 96 consultation requests from other institutions. Four consultation requests were carried forward to the next fiscal year.
• Eighty-one of the 96 consultation requests were completed within 30 days of receipt.
• The number of pages reviewed by AAFC for other institutions totalled 3,436.

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Trends in Number of Pages to Review for Consultations

Year	Outstanding	Received	Completed	Carried Forward
2014-2015	218	5,580	5,577	221
2015-2016	221	2,401	2,622	0
2016-2017	0	2,526	2,374	152
2017-2018	236	3,200	2,975	461

In summary

AAFC received 415 requests during the reporting period (166 access requests, 153 informal requests and 96 consultation requests). This represents a 14% increase in total requests received over the previous reporting period (364 requests received), and an 84% increase in the number of pages reviewed over the previous year.

Summaries of AAFC's completed access to information requests may be found on the Government of Canada's Open Government web pages.

6. Access complaints, investigations and audits

The Act provides a system of review to help ensure federal institutions comply with their obligations. Under this system of review, a requester may file a complaint with the Information Commissioner of Canada, who will investigate the matter on behalf of the requester. After the complaint investigation is carried out, the Commissioner issues a finding on the matter and determines whether an institution handled the request properly.

AAFC received six new complaints, during the reporting period, relating to exemptions invoked on records, extensions to the original 30-day time frame and potential missing records. Two complaints, received in the previous reporting period, remain outstanding,

• AAFC's ATIP Office worked collaboratively with the Office of the Information Commissioner to close five complaint investigations. These investigations related to matters such as exemptions invoked on records, extensions to the original 30-day time frame and potential missing records. Of the five complaints closed, the Commissioner deemed that:
  • Two were resolved – well founded;
  • Three were resolved – not well founded; and
  • Two were discontinued.

In all seven cases, no further action was recommended by the Information Commissioner as a result of the investigations. Five complaints have been carried forward to the 2017-2018 reporting period. These complaints remain under investigation by the Office of the Information Commissioner.

No audits in relation to AAFC's obligations under the Act were carried out during the reporting period.

7. Access to Information and Privacy training and education

During the reporting period, the ATIP Office continued with its access to information training program. Ten formal, awareness sessions were held, with some 100 employees in attendance. Training highlights include:

• An overview of the access to information administrative processes;
• A definition of employee roles and responsibilities in relation to fulfilling AAFC's responsibilities under the Act;
• The principles of the duty to assist; and
• An overview of exemptions and exclusions.

Other training and awareness efforts

• The ATIP Office has improved its training material for executives and senior officials in order to provide a high-level look at the access to information issues faced by clients, employees and the Department as a whole.

• The ATIP Office has created training material for all new administrative assistant stating within the AAFC, which provides a look at the fundamentals of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act.
• Ongoing advice to employees at all levels upon request, to ensure fulfillment of AAFC's access to information obligations.

8. Policies, guidelines, procedures and engagement

The ATIP Office has worked on open government initiatives with other branches of the Department. Our involvement entailed promoting access to government data and information for all citizens and protecting personal information.

The ATIP's Office reviewed written questions to Parliament and Audit reports for Access to Information Act considerations prior to disclosure or publication.

9. Monitoring timelines

AAFC uses an automated system to monitor the timely processing of ATIP requests. The workflow case management tool tracks all actions and due dates, stores relevant records requiring review, maintains audit logs, promotes the use of standard templates, allows extensive search capability to facilitate analysis, and generates progress and statistical reports.

The ATIP requests progress report is shared weekly with branch OPIs, the Departmental Management Committee and staff of the Minister's Office (the latter for information only). This report and related discussions serve to remind branches of their impending due dates for records retrieval and flags:

• New requests received;
• The lead branch responsible;
• Request- and action-specific due dates;
• Requests due in the coming 2 weeks; and
• Areas where advice and direction can be provided by the ATIP Office.

Senior management is kept apprised of the Access to Information activities through a weekly report that is prepared by the ATIP Office and shared with various governance bodies.

10. Closing

In closing, AAFC is fully committed to both the spirit and the intent of the Act to ensure openness and transparency within the Department and with the Canadian public.

Delegation of authority instrument - Annexes A and B

Annex A - Access to Information Act Designation Order - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, pursuant to section 73 of the Access to Information Act, hereby designates the persons of the Department holding the positions set out in the schedule hereto, or the persons occupying on an acting basis those positions, to exercise the powers and perform the duties and functions of the Minister as the head of a government institution under the sections of the Act set out in the schedule opposite each position. This Designation Order supersedes all previous Designation Orders.

Date: June 22, 2016

Lawrence MacAulay, PC, MP
Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food

Annex B - Delegation of authority instrument for the administration of the Access to Information Act

Statistical report on the Access to Information Act - Annex C

Part 1: Requests Under the Access to Information Act

1.1 Number of requests

1.2 Sources of requests

1.3 Informal requests - Completion Time

Part 2: Requests Closed During the Reporting Period

2.1 Disposition and completion time

2.2 Exemptions

2.2 Exclusions

2.4 Format of information released

2.5 Complexity

2.5.1 Relevant pages processed and disclosed

2.5.2 Relevant pages processed and disclosed by size of requests

2.5.3 Other complexities

2.6 Deemed refusals

2.6.1 Reasons for not meeting statutory deadline

2.6.2 Number of days past deadline

2.7 Requests for translation

Part 3: Extensions

3.1 Reasons for extensions and disposition of requests

3.2 Length of extensions

Part 4: Fees

Part 5: Consultations Received From Other Institutions and Organizations

5.1 Consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions and organizations

5.2 Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions

5.3 Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other organizations

Part 6: Completion Time of Consultations on Cabinet Confidences

6.1 Requests with Legal Services

6.2 Requests with Privy Council Office

Part 7: Complaints and Investigations

Part 8: Court Action

Part 9: Resources Related to the Access to Information Act

9.1 Costs

9.2 Human Resources