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2021-2022 Annual Report on the Access to Information Act

1. INTRODUCTION

The Access to Information Act (hereinafter the act) gives Canadian citizens, permanent residents and any individual or corporation present in Canada the right of access to records under the control of a government institution, subject to limited and specific exceptions. The act further provides that decisions on the non-disclosure of information can be reviewed independently of government.

This report is prepared in accordance with section 94 of the act, which requires that the head of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) prepare, for tabling in Parliament, an annual report on the administration of the act. This report will be published on the Agency’s website.

ACOA’s mandate is to create opportunities for economic growth in Atlantic Canada by helping businesses become more competitive, innovative and productive, by working with diverse communities to develop and diversify local economies, and by championing the strengths of Atlantic Canada. Additional information is available on ACOA’s website (https://www.canada.ca/en/atlantic-canada-opportunities.html).

2. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

The Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Directorate oversees the administration of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act. It consists of a director (ATIP coordinator), an ATIP analyst and a support staff member located at ACOA’s head office in Moncton, N.B. The ATIP Directorate is responsible for processing all access and privacy requests, and for the development, coordination and implementation of effective policies, guidelines and procedures to manage the Agency’s compliance with the ATIP acts.

The ATIP Directorate also reviews various documents before publication to ensure that they do not contain information that would be subject to exemption or exclusion under the acts. During this reporting period, the ATIP Directorate reviewed records prepared in response to 101 written parliamentary questions.

The administration of the legislation within ACOA is also facilitated at the branch and regional levels. Each sector and corporate branch has a liaison officer (generally reporting to the deputy minister or an assistant deputy minister) who coordinates the records-retrieval process. In addition, a casual employee was hired to assist during the heavier workload periods in 2021-2022.

3. DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY

For the purpose of the Access to Information Act, the President delegated full authority to the Vice-President, Finance and Corporate Services and Corporate Secretary, and partial authority to the ATIP Coordinator.

A copy of the signed delegation instrument for the Access to Information Act is attached as Annex A.

4. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE STATISTICAL REPORT

The following information is provided to assist the reader in interpreting the information reported in Annex B and Annex C.

Number of requests received and closed

The Agency received 25 requests in 2021-2022, a decrease of 47 percent over the previous period.

A total of 27 requests were closed, which included 4 outstanding requests from 2020-2021. Two requests were carried over to the next reporting period.

The following table shows the trend in the number of requests, by source, over the last 10 fiscal years.

Exemptions and exclusions

As in the last 10 fiscal years, the three major exemptions invoked were those related to the sections of the act pertaining to personal information (section 19), third-party information (section 20) and the operations of government (section 21).

In 2021-2022, paragraph 68(a) of the act was invoked to exclude information already in the public domain in response to one request.

Records relevant to two requests contained or referred to Cabinet confidences; therefore, these records were excluded under section 69 of the act.

Complexities

Records were retrieved in response to 19 of the 27 access requests closed in 2021‑2022. No relevant records existed for the other 8 requests. Records were disclosed in full for 3 requests, disclosed in part for 14 requests, and entirely excluded for one request. One request was abandoned by the requester. The processing of these requests included the review of 5,344 pages of records, of which 2,133 pages were disclosed in part or in their entirety. Electronic copies of the records were provided in response to all requests.

The following table provides additional information regarding the pages disclosed.

Ten requests required that the Agency initiate consultations, as described below.

• 6 notices to third parties pursuant to section 27 of the act
• 4 consultations with other government institutions

Extensions

The statutory time limit to respond to requests was extended 16 times, as follows:

Extensions were taken pursuant to paragraphs:

• 9(1)(a) – where the request was for a large number of records, the request required a search through a large number of records and/or meeting the original time limit would unreasonably interfere with the operations of the Agency;
• 9(1)(b) – where consultations were necessary and could not be completed within the original time limit; and/or
• 9(1)(c) – where notice of the request and of the Agency’s intention to disclose information must be given to third parties pursuant to subsection 27(1) of the act.

Legislated timelines

All requests closed in 2021-2022 were closed within the legislated timelines. The following table provides details on the response times for the past 10 years:

Fees

The Access to Information Act authorizes the collection of a $5 application fee. The Service Fees Act requires a responsible authority to report annually to Parliament on the fees collected by the institution. Fees totalling $100 were collected through the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s Access to Information and Privacy Online Request Service to cover the application fee for 20 requests closed in 2021-2022. The fees related to seven requests transferred to the Agency were collected by other government institutions.

In accordance with the Interim Directive on the Administration of the Access to Information Act, issued on May 5, 2016, and the changes to the Access to Information Act that came into force on June 21, 2019, ACOA waives all fees prescribed by the act and regulations other than the $5 application fee set out in paragraph 7(1)(a) of the regulations.

Consultations

In 2021-2022, the Agency responded to 51 consultations received from other federal government institutions and provincial governments. These consultations involved the review of 2,139 pages and were completed within the required timelines.

Costs

In 2021-2022, the total cost of administering the Access to Information Act was $275,444. This amount includes $274,415 in salary costs and $1,029 in operations and maintenance costs.

5. TRAINING AND AWARENESS ACTIVITIES

Awareness sessions on the requirements of the Access to Information Act are made available to all employees of the Agency upon request. In 2021-2022, three training sessions were held, with the total number of participants estimated at 30. Many informal briefings were also provided to Agency employees who requested information on the requirements of the act during the reporting period.

6. POLICIES, GUIDELINES, PROCEDURES AND INITIATIVES

The Agency did not implement any new or revised access to information policies, guidelines or procedures during the reporting period.

7. COMPLAINTS AND AUDITS

Requesters may register a complaint with the Office of the Information Commissioner regarding any matter related to the processing of their request.

One complaint related to the exemptions applied to relevant records in response to a request that was initiated in 2020-2021 and is still ongoing.

Two complaints filed in 2021-2022 were closed during the reporting period. Both were ruled not well founded by the Office of the Information Commissioner.

No audits were conducted during the reporting period.

8. MONITORING

No monitoring was conducted during the reporting period.

9. IMPACTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The telework measures taken by the Agency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic did not have an impact on the organization’s ability to fulfill its responsibilities under the Access to Information Act.

ANNEX A

ANNEX B

Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act

Name of Institutions: Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

Reporting period: April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022

Section 1 – Requests Under the Access to Information Act

1.1  Number of requests

1.2  Sources of requests

1.3  Channels of requests

Section 2 – Informal requests

2.1 Number of informal requests

2.2 Channels of informal requests

2.3 Completion time of informal requests

2.4 Pages released informally

2.5 Pages re-released informally

Section 3 – Applications to the Information Commissioner on Declining to Act on Requests

Section 4 – Requests Closed During the Reporting Period

4.1  Disposition and completion time

4.2 Exemptions

* I.A.:  International Affairs    Def.:  Defence of Canada    S.A.:  Subversive Activities

4.3 Exclusions

4.4  Format of information released

4.5  Complexity

4.5.1  Relevant pages processed and disclosed for paper and e-record formats

4.5.2  Relevant pages processed per request disposition for paper and e-record formats by size of requests

4.5.3 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for audio formats

4.5.4 Relevant minutes processed per request disposition for audio formats by size of requests

4.5.5 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for video formats

4.5.6 Relevant minutes processed per request disposition for video formats by size of requests

4.5.7  Other complexities

4.6  Closed requests

4.6.1  Number of requests closed within legislated timelines

4.7  Deemed refusals

4.7.1  Reasons for not meeting legislated timelines

4.7.2  Requests closed beyond legislated timelines (including any extension taken)

4.8  Requests for translation

Section 5 – Extensions

5.1  Reasons for extensions and disposition of requests

5.2  Length of extensions

Section 6 – Fees

Section 7 – Consultations Received From Other Institutions and Organizations

7.1  Consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions and organizations

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

7.3  Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other organizations outside the Government of Canada

Section 8: Completion Time of Consultations on Cabinet Confidences

8.1  Requests with Legal Services

8.2  Requests with Privy Council Office

Section 9 –Investigations and Reports of finding

9.1 Investigations

9.2 Investigations and Reports finding

Section10 – Court Action

10.1 Court actions on complaints

10.2 Court actions on third party notifications under paragraph 28(1)(b)

Section 11 – Resources Related to the Access to Information Act

11.1  Allocated Costs

11.2 Human Resources

ANNEX C

Supplemental Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act and Privacy Act

Name of institution: Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

Reporting period: April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022

Section 1 – Capacity to Receive Requests under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act

Enter the number of weeks your institution was able to receive ATIP requests through the different channels.

Section 2 – Capacity to Process Records under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act

2.1 Enter the number of weeks your institution was able to process paper records in different classification levels.

2.2 Enter the number of weeks your institution was able to process electronic records in different classification levels.

Section 3 – Open Requests and Complaints Under the Access to Information Act

3.1 Enter the number of open requests that are outstanding from previous reporting periods.

3.2 Enter the number of open complaints with the Information Commissioner of Canada that are outstanding from previous reporting periods.

Section 4 – Open Requests and Complaints Under the Privacy Act

4.1 Enter the number of open requests that are outstanding from previous reporting periods.

4.2 Enter the number of open complaints with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada that are outstanding from previous reporting periods.

Section 5 – Social Insurance Number (SIN)