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2025-2026 Annual Report on the Privacy Act

About this publication

© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, 2026.

Catalogue Number AC2-15/2E-PDF

ISSN 2817-3716

1. INTRODUCTION

The Privacy Act gives individuals the right to access their personal information held by federal institutions listed in the schedule of the act and to request corrections to that information. The act also imposes obligations on those institutions to respect privacy rights by limiting the collection, use and disclosure of personal information.

This report is prepared in accordance with section 72 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.

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. ACOA did not have any wholly owned subsidiaries at any time during the reporting period.

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 an administrative specialist 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 110 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.

The Agency did not enter into any service agreements with another government institution under section 73.1 of the act during the reporting period.

3. DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY

For the purpose of the Privacy Act, the President delegated full authority to her Chief of Staff and partial authority to the ATIP Coordinator.

A copy of the signed delegation instrument for the Privacy Act is attached as Annex A.

4. PERFORMANCE 2025-2026

As can be seen from the statistical reports in Annex B and Annex C, the Agency received two requests under the Privacy Act in 2025-2026. One request was closed in 16 days and within the legislated timeline. The other request was carried over to the next reporting period and has since been closed within the legislated timeline. There were no active complaints as of the end of 2025-2026.

The cost of administering the Privacy Act in 2025-2026 was $45,123, which comprised a portion of salary costs as well as operations and maintenance costs.

The following table shows the trend in the number of requests closed in the last 10 fiscal years.

The Agency did not receive any requests for consultations from other federal departments or provincial governments in 2025-2026.

5. TRAINING AND AWARENESS

Mandatory ATIP training for staff was introduced in 2025-2026. By the end of the fiscal year, 258 employees had successfully completed the training. Many informal briefings were provided to Agency employees who requested information on the requirements of the act during the reporting period. These training and awareness activities support increased knowledge of and compliance with ATIP requirements across the organization.

ACOA employees who have functional responsibility for the administration of the act maintain their knowledge by ensuring that additional in-depth training is taken on an ongoing basis.

6. POLICIES, GUIDELINES, PROCEDURES AND INITIATIVES

The Agency did not implement any new or revised policies, guidelines, procedures or initiatives related to privacy during the reporting period.

7. COMPLAINTS

One complaint was filed with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner pertaining to an alleged privacy breach. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner did not find any wrongdoing and concluded its investigation without issuing a report.

8. MATERIAL PRIVACY BREACHES

No material privacy breaches were reported to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s Privacy and Responsible Data Division during the reporting period.

9. PRIVACY IMPACT ASSESSMENTS

ACOA completed a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) pertaining to a modernized digital platform designed to improve client access to services and streamline internal workflows. ACOA’s PIA summaries can be found on its Transparency page.

10. PUBLIC INTEREST DISCLOSURES

The Agency did not disclose personal information considered to be in the public interest pursuant to paragraph 8(2)(m) of the Privacy Act during the reporting period.

11. MONITORING

Given the limited number of privacy requests received, no monitoring was conducted during the reporting period.

ANNEX A

ANNEX B

Statistical Report on the Privacy Act

Name of institution: Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

Reporting period: April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026

Section 1 – Requests Under the Privacy Act

1.1 Number of requests received

1.2 Channels of requests

Section 2 – Informal requests

2.1  Number of informal requests

2.2 Completion time of informal requests

2.3 Pages released informally

Section 3 – Requests Closed During the Reporting Period

3.1 Disposition and completion time

3.2 Exemptions

3.3 Exclusions

3.4 Format of information released

3.5 Complexity

3.5.1 Relevant pages processed and disclosed for paper, e-record and dataset form

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

3.5.3 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for audio and video formats

3.5.4 Relevant minutes processed per request disposition for audio and video formats

3.5.5 Other complexities

3.6 Closed requests

3.6.1 Number of requests closed within legislated timelines

3.7 Deemed refusals

3.7.1 Reasons for not meeting legislative timelines

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

Section 4 – Disclosures Under Subsections 8(2) and 8(5)

Section 5 – Requests for Correction of Personal Information and Notations

Section 6 – Extensions

6.1 Reasons for extensions

6.2 Length of extensions

Section 7 – Consultations Received From Other Institutions and Organizations

7.1 Consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions and other 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 – Complaints and Investigations Notices Received

Section 10 – Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) and Personal Information Banks (PIB)

10.1 Programs and activities

10.2 Privacy Impact Assessments

10.3 Privacy Protocols

10.4 Institution-specific and Central Personal Information Banks

10.5 Info Source page

Section 11 – Social Inusurance Number

Section 12 – Privacy Breaches

12.1 Material Privacy Breaches reported

12.2 Non-material Privacy Breaches

Section 13 – Privacy Training

Section 14 – Resources Related to the Privacy Act

14.1 Allocated Costs

14.2 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, 2025 to March 31, 2026

Section 1: Requests Carried Over and Active Complaints Under the Access to Information Act

1.1 Requests carried over to next reporting period, broken down by reporting period received

1.2 Active complaints with the Information Commissioner of Canada, broken down by reporting period received

Section 2: Requests Carried Over and Active Complaints Under the Privacy Act

2.1 Requests carried over to next reporting period, broken down by reporting period received

2.2 Active complaints with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, broken down by reporting period received

Section 3: Universal Access under the Privacy Act