Source: http://international.gc.ca/gac-amc/publications/atip-aiprp/annual_reports-rapport_annuels/parl1415_atia_lai.aspx?lang=eng
Timestamp: 2018-01-17 15:02:55
Document Index: 257524789

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 575', 'art 4', 'art 306', 'art 134616', 'art 293', 'art 341', 'art 117', 'art 19', 'art 2']

Annual Report to Parliament on the Administration of the Access to Information Act - 2014-2015
1.3 Source of requests
We are pleased to table the Annual Report to Parliament on the administration of the Access to Information Act (ATIA or the Act) for fiscal year 2014-2015, as required under section 72 of the Act.
The Access to Information and Privacy Protection Division (ATIP Office) is responsible for the administration of the ATIA, including the processing of requests and consultations. The Director of the ATIP Office reports to the Corporate Secretary, who in turn reports to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
In 2014-2015, the ATIP Office staff fluctuated between fifty and seventy (including consultants) to fulfill the Department’s obligations under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act. As of March 31, 2015, the ATIP Office consisted of; a Director, four Deputy Directors, six Team Leaders, forty Analysts at various levels, six administrative staff, seven consultants, five students, and one Systems Administrator. The work ranges from processing complex and/or voluminous requests to more straight forward, routine requests and consultations from other government departments as well as providing advice to internal and external stakeholders and providing training to departmental staff.
Under Section 73 of the Act, the Minister’s authority is delegated to enable the Department to meet its legislated requirements as well as exercise its powers. The Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada is currently operating with two Delegation Orders (as a result of amalgamation between the former Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the former Canadian International Development Agency). Responsibility for all sections of the Act is delegated to the Deputy Ministers, to the Corporate Secretary, to the Director of the Access to Information and Privacy Protection Division, as well as to the Deputy Directors of the ATIP Office.
The Department received 871 requests for information under the Access to Information Act. 498 requests were carried over from the previous fiscal year for a total of 1,369 requests.
During the reporting period, 984 requests were completed and 385 active files were carried over to the next reporting period. Due to a multi-year initiative to focus on completing the oldest files and completing files in the shortest number of days possible, the active file “inventory” dropped to its lowest level in several years and efforts continue in this respect.
Media 477
All disclosed 90
Disclosed in part 575
Nothing disclosed (exempted) 21
Nothing disclosed (excluded) 13
No records exist 99
Request transferred 30
Abandoned by applicant 156
Treated informally 0
The exemptions most commonly used by the Department during the period were sub-sections 15(1) [international affairs] and 19(1) [personal information] as well as paragraphs 21(1)(a) [advice] and 21(1)(b) [consultations and deliberations].
During this reporting period, DFATD disclosed 78 337 pages of the 156 160 relevant pages processed.
During the reporting period, the Department claimed extensions pursuant to paragraphs 9(1)(a), 9(1)(b) and 9(1)(c): 142, 453 and 56 times, respectively.
For the reporting period, the Department collected $6,633 in fees, and waived $215 in fees.
When a request contains records that are of interest to another institution, the ATIP Office of that institution is consulted. Given its mandate and various responsibilities at the international level, DFATD plays a key role under the ATIA on behalf of other Government of Canada institutions. As well, DFATD consults with foreign organizations abroad on behalf of other federal government institutions that are processing requests the responses of which contain records originating abroad.
During the reporting period, the Department received 645 consultations from other government institutions. Most requests originated from federal institutions subject to the Access to Information Act. However, a small percentage of consultations originated from other governments in Canada and abroad.
From April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015, 86 complaints were made to the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) regarding access to information requests to the Department. The reasons for the complaints are as follows:
Refusal – Exemptions 39
Refusal – General 7
Refusal – Section 69 13
Furthermore, during FY 2014-15, 46 complaints were closed. The findings on closed complaints are as follows:
Not Well-Founded 2
Well-Founded 13
The Department takes the issue of complaints seriously and this is being addressed through numerous means including; using the ATIP Professional Development Program to recruit, train and promote employees, providing ATIP Awareness sessions throughout the Department, updating the Intranet ATIP web site, ensuring that new personnel receive appropriate training and can refer to a new online ATIP tutorial. The Division has also dedicated an officer to deal solely with complaints.
The Department monitors time to process ATI requests as well as tracks the status of requests.
Active Tasking Report (bi-weekly): Identifies all the current active taskings within the Department, and includes for each tasking the responsible area and bureau, type of tasking, summary of the request and the name of the assigned analyst. These are provided to all Assistant Deputy Ministers and Directors General in DFATD.
Quarterly Performance Report to Executive Board: Departmental overview of each area’s compliance with ATIP taskings (number of extensions requested, % of completion on time, average response time). The Executive Board consists of: the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Deputy Minister of International Trade and the Deputy Minister of International Development, two Associate Deputy Ministers, all Assistant Deputy Ministers, the heads of communications and of the Corporate Secretariat, and four senior Heads of Mission.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, pursuant to section 73 of the Access to Information Act, hereby designates the persons holding the positions set out in the schedule hereto, or the persons acting in those positions, to exercise the powers and perform the duties and functions of the Minister of Foreign Affairs as the head of a Government institution under the Act. This designation replaces the designation dated March 11, 1998.
Director, Access to Information and Privacy Protection Division
Deputy Directors, Access to Information and Privacy Protection Division
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, pursuant to section 73 of the Access to Information Act, hereby designates the persons holding the positions in the Canadian International Development Agency 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 of Foreign Affairs as the head of a government institution under the Act. This designation replaces the designation dated August 11, 1993.
Canadian International Development Agency Delegation Schedule (Access to Information Act)
Section(s) of Privacy Act: 7(a), 7(b), 8(1), 9, 11(2)(3)(4)(5)(6), 27(1), 27(4), 28(1)(b), 28(2), 28(4), 35(2), 43(1), 44(2)
Received during reporting period 871
Outstanding from previous reporting period 498
Closed during reporting period 984
Carried over to next reporting period 385
Business (Private Sector) 78
Table 7: Source of requests
All disclosed 3 47 21 14 3 1 1 90
Disclosed in part 4 43 66 131 57 102 172 575
All exempted 1 4 5 7 3 0 1 21
All excluded 0 2 2 3 3 3 0 13
No records exist 6 67 12 8 4 2 0 99
Request transferred 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 30
Request abandoned 88 37 8 4 3 7 9 156
13(1)(a) 186
13(1)(b) 71
13(1)(c) 18
15(1) - Def.* 30
16(1)(c) 16
16(2)(c) 51
16.1(1)(b) 2
18(a) 9
18(d) 11
18.1(1)(b) 11
20(1)(b) 144
20(1)(c) 152
20(1)(d) 44
21(1)(a) 343
21(1)(b) 365
21(1)(c) 95
69(1)(a) 23
69(1)(d) 27
69(1)(e) 29
69(1)(f) 5
69(1)(g)re (a) 86
69(1)(g)re (c) 31
69(1)(g)re (d) 27
69(1)(g)re (e) 30
69(1)(g)re (f) 5
All disclosed 76 4 10
Disclosed in part 306 249 20
All disclosed 3643 3028 90
Disclosed in part 134616 75309 575
All exempted 4494 0 21
All excluded 519 0 13
Request abandoned 12888 0 156
All disclosed 84 886 5 371 0 0 1 1771 0 0
Disclosed in part 293 7394 221 34141 36 13482 24 20161 1 131
All exempted 12 0 5 0 4 0 0 0 0 0
All excluded 11 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Request abandoned 142 0 4 0 5 0 5 0 0 0
Disclosed in part 341 7 4 22 374
All exempted 6 0 0 0 6
All excluded 9 0 0 0 9
Request abandoned 14 6 0 1 21
1 to 15 days 20 25 45
16 to 30 days 10 22 32
31 to 60 days 8 28 36
61 to 120 days 7 28 35
121 to 180 days 11 35 46
181 to 365 days 20 66 86
More than 365 days 24 103 127
All disclosed 6 1 22 1
Disclosed in part 117 58 327 54
All exempted 5 2 9 0
All excluded 2 3 6 0
No records exist 5 0 8 0
Request abandoned 7 2 15 1
30 days or less 77 1 80 2
31 to 60 days 27 3 139 29
61 to 120 days 25 29 113 18
121 to 180 days 6 33 34 7
181 to 365 days 4 0 21 0
365 days or more 3 0 0 0
Application 946 $4,730 32 $160
Search 2 $1,675 1 $50
Preparation 2 $228 1 $5
Total 950 $6,633 34 $215
Received during reporting period 645 45489 60 947
Outstanding from the previous reporting period 101 29157 7 130
Closed during the reporting period 607 61588 51 901
Pending at the end of the reporting period 139 13058 16 176
Disclose entirely 33 61 59 22 3 4 0 182
Disclose in part 19 51 103 87 28 17 1 306
Exempt entirely 3 0 3 1 0 0 0 7
Consult other institution 15 11 10 6 5 4 0 51
Other 32 7 12 6 2 0 2 61
Disclose entirely 10 2 7 2 0 0 0 21
Disclose in part 2 2 7 12 4 0 27
Exempt entirely 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2
1 to 15 19 119 2 9 0 0 0 0 0 0
16 to 30 13 177 3 28 0 0 0 0 0 0
31 to 60 30 340 4 83 0 0 0 0 0 0
61 to 120 10 103 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
121 to 180 2 38 1 97 0 0 0 0 0 0
181 to 365 4 48 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
31 to 60 4 21 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
61 to 120 2 3 2 59 0 0 0 0 0 0
121 to 180 1 0 3 167 0 0 0 0 0 0
181 to 365 2 57 1 96 0 0 0 0 0 0
Salaries $3,229,894
Overtime $4,496
Goods and Services $1,498,068
Professional services contracts $1,343,289
Other $154,779
Total $4,732,458
Full-time employees 38.57
Part-time and casual employees 13.45
Consultants and agency personnel 6.28
Students 4.48