Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
Access to Information Act
and
Privacy Act
Annual Report to Parliament
April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008
PREFACE
Established in 1987, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) is a federal government institution headquartered in Moncton, New Brunswick. The Agency has regional and field offices in cities and towns across the four Atlantic provinces. These are led by regional vice-presidents located in each provincial capital, who are responsible for the delivery of ACOA programs in their province. Through its Ottawa office, ACOA ensures that Atlantic Canada’s interests are reflected in both the policies and programs developed by other departments and agencies of the federal government.
ACOA works in partnership with Atlantic Canadians to improve the economy of communities in the region and enhance the region’s competitiveness. Working with partners in government, the private sector, academia and non-governmental organizations, ACOA seeks to advance economic opportunities and innovation in order to serve the needs of businesses, organizations, individuals and communities. This work addresses the Agency’s mandate “to increase opportunity for economic development in Atlantic Canada and, more particularly, to enhance the growth of earned incomes and employment opportunities in that region.”
ACOA delivers a wide variety of programs and services for aspiring entrepreneurs, business owners and managers, non-commercial organizations, communities, as well as academic and research institutions throughout the region.
The Minister of State of ACOA is also responsible for Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation (ECBC); however, ECBC is a separate Crown corporation that reports directly to Parliament on its administration of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act.
PART I: REPORT ON THE ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT
1. INTRODUCTION
2. DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY
3. INFORMATION HOLDINGS
4. READING ROOM
5. EDUCATION AND TRAINING ACTIVITIES
6. POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
7. COMPLAINTS
8. INTERPRETATION OF THE REPORT ON THE ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT
ANNEX A – ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT DELEGATION INSTRUMENT
ANNEX B – REPORT ON THE ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT
ANNEX C – FREQUENCY OF EXEMPTIONS INVOKED AND EXCLUSIONS CITED BY SECTIONS of the Access TO INFORMATION ACT
PART II: REPORT ON THE PRIVACY ACT
1. INTRODUCTION
2. DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY
3. PRIVACY IMPACT ASSESSMENT
4. DATA MATCHING AND SHARING ACTIVITIES
5. EDUCATION AND TRAINING ACTIVITIES
6. AUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE UNDER THE PRIVACY ACT
7. POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
8. INFORMATION HOLDINGS
9. INTERPRETATION OF THE STATISTICAL REPORT ON THE PRIVACY ACT
ANNEX A – PRIVACY ACT DELEGATION INSTRUMENT
ANNEX B – STATISTICAL REPORT ON THE PRIVACY ACT
PART I: REPORT ON THE ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT
1. INTRODUCTION
The Access to Information Act (Revised Statutes of Canada, Chapter A–1, 1985) was proclaimed on July 1, 1983.
The Access to Information Act gives all individuals and corporate entities present in Canada a right of access to records under the control of federal institutions, subject to certain specific and limited exceptions.
Section 72 of the Access to Information Act requires that the head of every government institution shall prepare, for submission to Parliament, an annual report on the administration of the Act within the institution during each financial year.
This annual report is intended to describe how the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency administered its responsibilities in the operation of the Access to Information Act.
The Agency’s mandate is to increase opportunity for economic development in Atlantic Canada and, more particularly, to enhance the growth of earned incomes and employment opportunities in that region.
2. DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY
For the purpose of the Access to Information Act, the President delegated part of her signing authority to the Vice President of Finance and Corporate Services, the Corporate Secretary, and the Director/Coordinator of the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Division. A copy of the delegation instrument for the Access to Information Act is attached as Annex A.
The ATIP Division, located at ACOA’s Head Office in Moncton, New Brunswick, oversees the administration of the Act. The ATIP Director/Coordinator reports to the Corporate Secretary, who in turn reports to the Vice President of Finance and Corporate Services. The ATIP Division also includes four officers and two support staff, but was not fully staffed during this reporting period.
The administration of the legislation within the Agency is also facilitated at the branch and regional office levels. Each organizational sector has a Liaison Officer who coordinates the records retrieval process.
3. INFORMATION HOLDINGS
The Act requires that the Agency provide a description of its organization, program responsibilities and classes of records in the Treasury Board of Canada publication
Info Source – Sources of Federal Government Information. This document, which is updated yearly, can be accessed through public and academic libraries, constituency offices of federal Members of Parliament, as well as on the Internet at www.infosource.gc.ca/.
The Agency received an opportunity for improvement in the 2007-2008 Management Accountability Framework Assessment as it relates to the effectiveness of information management. The rating was based on a review of the Agency’s Info Source chapters. As such, the ATIP Division identified relevant tasks as priorities for the months of February and March 2008.
To that end, ACOA’s ATIP staff met with Treasury Board officials to discuss certain changes that would allow ACOA to improve its rating. Furthermore, the division created an Info Source Working Committee, which reviewed the current information in the Agency’s Info Source chapter and initiated improvements as recommended by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.
The ATIP Division will develop a fact sheet to inform Agency employees of the requirements pertaining to the Info Source publications, as required by the Access to Information Act. The fact sheet will serve to remind employees of the need to report to the ATIP Division all new information holdings and changes to existing Agency programs and activities.
4. READING ROOM
The library at ACOA’s Head Office has been designated as the public reading room for the purpose of reviewing publications and other public materials.
5. EDUCATION AND TRAINING ACTIVITIES
In June 2007, the ATIP staff provided three information sessions on
Access to Information legislation. The sessions were provided to 83 employees of ACOA’s New Brunswick regional office. The Vice-President of that office made the information sessions mandatory for all employees. The ATIP Division expects to offer information sessions for employees in Head Office and the remaining employees at the New Brunswick regional office in fiscal year 2009-2010.
During this reporting period, the employees of the ATIP Division participated in various training sessions. These included four sessions offered by the Treasury Board Secretariat via teleconference, and three sessions offered by the Canada School of Public Service and private training organizations. Two ATIP officers also attended two ATIP conferences.
ATIP employees continually sensitize and guide employees, third parties and requesters regarding the requirements of the Access to Information Act, by means of continuous dialogue. During the reporting period, the ATIP employees responded to 51 enquiries from colleagues, where advice and guidance were provided, on various subject matters pertaining to Access to Information legislation. The ATIP Division is developing fact sheets to guide ACOA employees and make them aware of the policy changes with respect to the
Access to Information Act. These will be available on ACOA’s intranet site.
6. POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
It is Agency policy to routinely release, in an informal manner, any information that does not qualify for an exemption or that is not excluded under the Access to Information Act. During the reporting period, the Agency responded to nine informal requests. The ATIP staff also reviewed records prepared to respond to 25 Parliamentary Questions during this fiscal year.
Proactive Disclosure
The verbatim of recent requests processed under the Access to Information Act by the Agency are posted on the Agency’s website. The list focuses on subjects of public interest. This web page is located at http://www.acoa-apeca.gc.ca/English/Accountability/AccessToInformation/Pages/ATIPRequests.aspx.
The Agency supports improved accessibility of government information to the public. In this regard, it was one of the first institutions to develop and implement a web page that provides public access to a database of information on projects approved for funding. The database is available at: http://pub.acoa-apeca.gc.ca/atip/e/content/default.asp.
The ATIP Division verifies all internal audit and evaluation reports before publication on the Agency’s website. During this reporting period, the Division verified four reports in preparation for publication. Since the new policy came into effect in 2006, the ATIP Division has reviewed a total of 22 reports. The reports can be viewed at http://www.acoa-apeca.gc.ca/English/Accountability/AuditsAndEvaluations/Pages/home.aspx.
Review of Selective Records
When records are transferred to Library and Archives Canada (LAC), responsibility for ATIP is also transferred. In order to facilitate the processing of requests for information, LAC requires that all federal institutions provide recommendations for access before transferring selective records for archiving; therefore, all of ACOA’s selective records are reviewed by ATIP officers prior to their transfer.
The Agency was advised of this requirement in July 2007. Since then, the ATIP Division has reviewed 45 boxes of records. At this time, there are 65 boxes of records pending review.
AccessPro Case Management
In January 2007, the Agency upgraded its case management system to AccessPro Case Management, which replaced ATIPflow. The change of system resulted in a number of issues related to the creation of reports. Ongoing system improvements and consultations with Privasoft are expected to address these issues.
Disclosure of Project Proponent Identity
It was the Agency’s policy to maintain the confidentiality of all project proponents until a funding agreement was concluded. As recommended by the Information Commissioner, the ATIP Division is now requesting representations from unsuccessful applicants under the Atlantic Innovation Fund prior to the disclosure of their identity. The applicant’s identity is exempted when the representation supports the exemption pursuant to Section 20 of the Act.
7. COMPLAINTS
Two complaints were filed against ACOA with the Office of the Information Commissioner during fiscal year 2007-2008. These, added to seven ongoing complaints, brought the caseload to nine active complaint files. Of these, one was determined to be well-founded and was resolved when the Agency released the information requested. This complaint pertained to the application of Section 19 and paragraphs 20(1)(c) and (d) of the Act. Remedial action was taken by the Agency to resolve the remaining eight complaints. These complaint files will be closed once the Office of the Information Commissioner provides its findings.
8. INTERPRETATION OF THE REPORT ON THE ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT
The following is provided to assist the reader in the interpretation of the information reported in Annex B.
I: REQUESTS PROCESSED
The Agency’s caseload for 2007-2008 consisted of 64 requests. During this reporting period, 47 new requests were received. This represents a decrease of 22 requests (32%) over last year. A total of 17 requests were carried forward from the previous reporting period.
Businesses were the predominant access client group. During the reporting period, 15 (32%) of the requests were received from this group. The breakdown of requesters is as follow:
| Media |
12 |
| Academic |
0 |
| Business * |
15 |
| Organization |
13 |
| Public |
7 |
* This category includes known Information Brokers.
During 2007-2008, the Agency responded to 35 consultations from other governmental institutions; 33 were received during the fiscal year. The Agency initiated 60 consultations with other governmental institutions and forwarded documents to the Privy Council Office for certification of Cabinet confidences on 14 occasions. The Agency also sent 197 third-party notices, pursuant to Section 27 of the Act, as well as 39 notices pursuant to Section 28 of the Act.
II: DISPOSITION OF REQUESTS COMPLETED
Of the 54 requests completed during 2007-2008, the Agency granted access, in whole or in part, to the records on 43 occasions. Responses to these 43 requests involved the page-by-page review of approximately 12,000 pages of records. Of the remaining 11 requests:
- one was transferred to the federal department with greater interest;
- three were unable to be processed as no records existed;
- five were abandoned by the requester; and
- two were composed of records exempted in their entirety.
III and IV: EXEMPTIONS INVOKED AND EXCLUSIONS CITED
As was the case in previous years, the two major exemptions invoked were related to the mandatory provisions on personal information (Section 19) and third-party information (Section 20). Refer to Annex C for statistics on the frequency of exemptions invoked, and exclusions cited for the last three reporting periods.
V and VI: COMPLETION TIME AND EXTENSIONS
The table below provides details on the completion time for the 53 requests processed by ACOA during 2007-2008. The one request that was transferred to another federal department was not accounted for in the completion time data.
- 16 within 30 days or less (30%)
- 12 within 31 to 60 days (23%)
- 12 within 61 to 120 days (23%)
- 13 within 121 days or more (24%)
The Agency responded to 30 requests (56%) within the legislated time limits. This represents an increase of 10% in the Agency’s overall performance in this area over last year. It is important to note that most requests processed by the Agency require third-party consultations pursuant to Section 27 of the Act. It was determined that over 50% of the third parties do not respond within the period allowed, resulting in the Agency not being able to respond to the requests within the legislated time frame.
Extensions beyond the prescribed time limit of 30 days were required in 55 instances where the Agency had to search through a large number of records, to consult with other government institutions, and to notify third parties pursuant to Section 27 of the Act.
- 9(1)(a) – searching time: 5
- 9(1)(b) – consultation: 23
- 9(1)(c) – notice to third parties: 27
VII: TRANSLATION
The translation of information requested under the Act was not required during this fiscal year.
VIII: METHOD OF ACCESS
Where access was granted during the past three fiscal years, the Agency provided copies of records, in whole or in part, to the requesters. The Agency responded to several requests via e-mail to provide records in electronic format as requested.
IX: FEES
The Access to Information Act authorizes fees for certain activities related to the processing of formal requests under the Act. In addition to a $5 application fee, search, preparation and reproduction charges may also apply. The current fee structure is specified in the Access to Information Regulations. No fees are imposed for reviewing records, overhead or shipping costs. Moreover, in accordance with Section 11 of the Act, no fees are charged for the first five hours required to search for records or to prepare any part of these records for disclosure.
In accordance with Treasury Board guidelines, the Agency routinely waives fees under $25. For fees over $25, the Agency examines fee waiver requests on a case-by-case basis. In considering such requests, the Agency has taken into account costs in processing each access application, and the degree of public benefit to be derived from the release of the accessible information. For this fiscal year, reproduction fees were not collected.
The Agency waived the application fees for four requests that were determined to be in the public interest and returned the fee to two requesters who abandoned their requests. A total of $240 was collected in the reporting period for application fees. ACOA waived all other applicable fees totalling $2,823 in the public interest.
X: COSTS
In 2007-2008, the direct cost of administering the Access to Information Act, including the cost of providing information and training sessions, totalled $342,255. This amount represents $317,868 in salary costs for 5.54 person-years and $24,387 for administration costs.
ANNEX A
|
ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT DELEGATION INSTRUMENT |
|
Section of the Access to Information Act |
Vice-President, Finance and Corporate Services |
Corporate Secretary |
Coordinator, Access to Information and Privacy |
| 7(a) Notice where access requested |
X |
X |
X |
| 8(1) Transfer to/transfer from institution |
X |
X |
X |
| 9 Extension of time limits |
X |
X |
X |
| 11(2), (3), (4), (5), (6) Additional fees |
X |
X |
X |
| 12(2)(3) Language of access and alternative format |
X |
X |
X |
| 13 Information obtained in confidence |
X |
X |
|
| 14 Federal-Provincial affairs |
X |
X |
|
| 15(1) International affairs and defence |
X |
X |
|
| 16 Law enforcement and investigations |
X |
X |
|
| 17 Safety of individuals |
X |
X |
|
| 18 Economic interests of Canada |
X |
X |
|
| 19 Personal information |
X |
X |
|
| 20 Third-party information |
X |
X |
|
| 21 Advice |
X |
X |
|
| 22 Testing procedures |
X |
X |
|
| 23 Solicitor/client privilege |
X |
X |
|
| 24 Statutory prohibitions |
X |
X |
|
| 25 Severance |
X |
X |
X |
| 26 Information to be published |
X |
X |
|
| 27(1)(4) Third-party notification |
X |
X |
X |
| 28(1)(2)(4) Third-party notification |
X |
X |
X |
| 29(1) Disclosure on recommendation of Information Commissioner |
X |
X |
|
| 33 Advise Information Commissioner of third-party involvement |
X |
X |
X |
| 35(2) Right to make representations |
X |
X |
X |
| 37(4) Access to be given complainant |
X |
X |
X |
| 43(1) Notice to third parties (application to Federal Court for review) |
X |
X |
X |
| 44(2) Notice to applicant (application to Federal Court by third party) |
X |
X |
X |
| 52(2)&(3) Special rules for hearings |
X |
X |
X |
| 69 Excluded information |
X |
X |
|
Approved on: December 14, 2006
ANNEX B
ANNEX C
Frequency of exemptions invoked and exclusions cited, by sections of the
Access to Information Act
(Please note that the section is only reported once for each request)
|
Section |
Description of the Section |
Frequency |
|
|
2007-2008 |
2006-2007 |
2005-2006 |
| 13(1)(a) |
Information obtained in confidence from a foreign state government |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| 13(1)(c) |
Information obtained in confidence from a provincial government |
1 |
3 |
2 |
|
14 |
Federal-provincial affairs |
0 |
3 |
5 |
| 14(a) |
Federal-provincial consultations or deliberations |
2 |
1 |
4 |
| 14(b) |
Strategy to tactics adopted by the Government of Canada relating to fed-prov |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| 16(1)(a) |
Law enforcement and investigations |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| 16(1)(c) |
Law enforcement and investigations |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| 16(2) |
Law enforcement and investigations - Security |
2 |
10 |
23 |
| 18(b) |
Economic interests of Canada - Prejudice the competitive position of a government institution |
5 |
0 |
1 |
| 18(d) |
Economic interests of Canada - Material injurious to the financial interests |
2 |
0 |
1 |
| 19(1) |
Personal information as defined in the Privacy Act |
19 |
33 |
57 |
| 20(1)(a) |
Third-party information - Trade secrets of a third party |
2 |
3 |
1 |
| 20(1)(b) |
Third-party confidential information |
15 |
29 |
50 |
| 20(1)(c) |
Third-party information - Financial loss or gain, or could prejudice the competitive position of a third party |
13 |
19 |
39 |
| 20(1)(d) |
Third-party information - Interference with negotiations of a third party |
17 |
25 |
48 |
| 21(1)(a) |
Advice or recommendations by or for the government or Minister of the Crown |
10 |
13 |
19 |
| 21(1)(b) |
Account of consultations or deliberations of government or Minister of the Crown |
16 |
24 |
36 |
| 21(1)(c) |
Positions or plans for negotiations carried by or on behalf of the Government of Canada |
11 |
26 |
42 |
| 21(1)(d) |
Plans relating to the management of personnel or administration of a government institution not yet put into operation |
3 |
4 |
8 |
|
23 |
Solicitor-client privilege |
4 |
4 |
4 |
|
24 |
Statutory prohibitions against disclosure |
2 |
2 |
1 |
|
26 |
Refusal of access where information to be published |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| 68(a) |
Act does not apply to certain materials - Materials published or available for purchase by the public |
3 |
9 |
4 |
| 69(1)(a) |
Confidences of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada - Memoranda |
2 |
2 |
0 |
| 69(1)(c) |
Confidences of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada - Agenda and Records of Cabinet Deliberations |
2 |
1 |
0 |
| 69(1)(e) |
Confidences of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada - Records to brief ministers |
2 |
0 |
1 |
| 69(1)(g) |
Confidences of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada - Records containing information re (a) to (f) |
6 |
5 |
2 |
1. INTRODUCTION
The Privacy Act (Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, c. P-21) was proclaimed on July 1, 1983.
The Privacy Act gives individuals the right to access and request correction to personal information about themselves held by federal institutions listed in the schedule of the Act. This law also imposes obligations on those institutions to respect privacy rights by limiting the collection, use and disclosure of personal information.
Section 72 of the Privacy Act requires that the head of every government institution shall prepare, for submission to Parliament, an annual report on the administration of the Act within the institution during each financial year.
This annual report is intended to describe how the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency administered its responsibilities in the operation of the Privacy Act.
The Agency’s mandate is to increase opportunity for economic development in Atlantic Canada and, more particularly, to enhance the growth of earned incomes and employment opportunities in that region.
2. DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY
For the purpose of the Privacy Act, the President delegated part of her signing authority to the Vice President of Finance and Corporate Services, the Corporate Secretary, and the Director/Coordinator of the ATIP Division. A copy of the delegation instrument for the Privacy legislation is attached as Annex A.
The ATIP Division, located in ACOA’s Head Office in Moncton, New Brunswick, oversees the administration of the Privacy Act. The ATIP Director/Coordinator reports to the Corporate Secretary, who in turn reports to the Vice President of Finance and Corporate Services. The ATIP Division also includes four officers and two support staff, but was not fully staff during this reporting period.
The administration of the legislation within the Agency is also facilitated at the branch and regional office levels. Each organizational sector has a Liaison Officer who coordinates the records retrieval process.
3. PRIVACY IMPACT ASSESSMENT
There were no requirements for new Preliminary Privacy Impact Assessments (PPIAs) or Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) during this reporting year. No other PPIAs or PIAs have been completed or forwarded to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner by the Agency.
4. DATA MATCHING AND SHARING ACTIVITIES
The Agency was not involved in any new data matching or sharing activities during 2007-2008.
As required, data matching with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is carried out to identify individuals in order to collect a debt owing to Her Majesty in right of Canada pursuant to paragraph 8(2)(l) of the Privacy Act. This is done between the Agency’s recovery officials and CRA officials.
Internal data sharing activities are also carried out for recovery purposes, in order to collect a debt owing to Her Majesty in right of Canada. This is done between program officers, recovery officers and legal services, as required.
The Agency may also undertake external sharing activities when a client’s file is referred to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) or Justice Canada regarding a possible criminal offence. This sharing is between the program officer responsible for the file, the Agency’s legal services and the RCMP.
For income tax purposes the Agency shares with CRA the Social Insurance Numbers of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Board members, and the Atlantic Innovation Fund Advisory Board members and Peer Reviewers.
5. EDUCATION AND TRAINING ACTIVITIES
Three ATIP employees took the half-day Privacy Impact Assessment training offered by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat in October 2007. The training was offered by teleconference.
In June 2007, the ATIP staff provided three information sessions on the administration of the Privacy Act to 83 employees of ACOA’s New Brunswick regional office. The Vice-President of that office made the information sessions mandatory for all employees. The ATIP Division intends to offer information sessions to the remaining employees from that region and to Head Office employees in fiscal year 2009-2010.
The ATIP staff sensitize and guide the Agency’s employees, third parties and requesters on the requirements of the Privacy legislation, by means of continuous dialogue. During this reporting period, the Division was consulted on 12 occasions for advice and guidance on matters relating to the Privacy legislation. A log of each request for advice is kept by the ATIP Division for reference purpose.
The Division is developing fact sheets to raise awareness of the Privacy legislation. The following fact sheets will be posted on the Agency’s intranet site during the next fiscal year.
- Preventing Identity Theft
- Privacy in the Workplace
- Faxing Personal Information
- How to Access your Personal Information and Lodge a Complaint
- Privacy Breach Checklist
- Social Networking and Privacy
The ATIP Division will also develop a fact sheet to inform Agency employees of the requirements pertaining to the Info Source publications as they relate to the Privacy Act. The fact sheet will serve to remind employees of the limits to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information and of the need to consult with the ATIP Division prior to implementing a new program or activity that involves personal information.
6. AUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE UNDER THE PRIVACY ACT
During this reporting year, the Agency disclosed personal information related to one of its employees pursuant to paragraph 8(2)(m)(ii). It did not disclose personal information pursuant to paragraphs 8(2)(e), 8(2)(f) and 8(2)(g) during 2007-2008.
7. POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
There were no significant changes to the Agency’s privacy procedures during this fiscal year.
The ATIP Division drafted internal guidelines on privacy breaches, based on the guidelines developed by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. The intent of this document is to provide guidance to Agency employees in order to prevent such incidents and to identify appropriate actions in the event of a privacy breach. This document is currently under review by the Departmental Security Officer.
8. INFORMATION HOLDINGS
The Info Source publications entitled Info Source – Sources of Federal Government Information and Sources of Federal Employee Information contain a list of Personal Information Banks held by the Agency.
These publications can be found in public and academic libraries, constituency offices of federal Members of Parliament, and on the Internet at www.infosource.gc.ca.
The Agency received a rating of “opportunity for improvement” in the 2007-2008 Management Accountability Framework (MAF) Assessment for its effectiveness of information management. The rating was based on the Treasury Board portfolio’s review of the Agency’s content in the Info Source publications. Further to a meeting with Treasury Board officials, it was determined that significant amounts of personal information under the control of the Agency had not been appropriately identified and described in accordance with the Privacy Act. As such, the ATIP Division identified this task as a priority for the months of February and March 2008. The Agency expects a higher rating in the next round of assessment.
9. INTERPRETATION OF THE STATISTICAL REPORT ON THE PRIVACY ACT
The following information is provided to assist the reader in the interpretation of the information reported in Annex B.
I: REQUESTS PROCESSED
In light of its legislative mandate, the Agency collects a limited amount of personal information. The Agency’s caseload for 2007 2008 consisted of one request under the Privacy Act. During this reporting period, no requests were carried forward from the previous year.
II: DISPOSITION OF REQUESTS COMPLETED
In order to respond to the request received, a page-by-page review of approximately 109 pages of records was completed. The records requested were disclosed in part to the requester.
III and IV: EXEMPTIONS INVOKED AND EXCLUSIONS CITED
No exemptions or exclusions were invoked pursuant to the Privacy Act in response to the privacy request processed during the reporting period; however, paragraph 21(1)(b) of the Access to Information Act was invoked to protect deliberations between government officials.
V and VI: COMPLETION TIME AND EXTENSIONS
The completion time for the privacy request was within the legislated time frame. A 30-day extension was invoked pursuant to paragraph 15(a)(ii) of the Act as consultations were necessary to comply with the request and could not reasonably be completed within the original time limit.
VII: TRANSLATION
The translation of information requested was not required during this fiscal year.
VIII: METHOD OF ACCESS
The Agency provided copies of severed records in response to this privacy request.
IX: CORRECTIONS AND NOTATION
The Agency did not receive any requests for corrections during this fiscal year.
X: COSTS
The cost of administering the Privacy Act, including training sessions, totalled $18,002, consisting of $16,719 in salary costs for 0.29 person-years and $1,283 in administration costs.
ANNEX A
|
PRIVACY ACT DELEGATION INSTRUMENT |
| Section of the Privacy Act |
Vice-President, Finance and Corporate Services |
Corporate Secretary |
Coordinator, Access to Information and Privacy |
| 8(2)(j) Disclose personal information for research purposes |
X |
X |
X |
| 8(2)(m) Disclose personal information in the public interest or in the interest of the individual |
X |
X |
X |
| 8(4) Retain copy of 8(2)(e) requests and disclosed records |
X |
X |
X |
| 8(5) Notify Privacy Commissioner of 8(2)(m) disclosures |
X |
X |
X |
| 9(1) Retain record of use |
X |
X |
X |
| 9(4) Notify Privacy Commissioner of consistent use and amend index |
X |
X |
X |
| 10 Include personal information in personal information banks |
X |
X |
X |
| 14 Respond to request for access within 30 days; give access or give notice |
X |
X |
X |
| 15 Extend time limit for responding to request for access |
X |
X |
X |
| 17(2)(b) Decide whether to translate requested information |
X |
X |
X |
| 18(2) May refuse to disclose information contained in an exempt bank |
X |
|
|
| 19(1) Shall refuse to disclose information obtained in confidence from another government |
X |
|
|
| 19(2) May disclose any information referred to in 19(1) if the other government consents to the disclosure or makes the information public |
X |
|
|
| 20 May refuse to disclose information injurious to the conduct of federal-provincial affairs |
X |
|
|
| 21 May refuse to disclose information injurious to international affairs or defence |
X |
|
|
| 22 May refuse to disclose information prepared by an investigative body, information injurious to the enforcement of a law, or information injurious to the security of penal institutions |
X |
|
|
| 23 May refuse to disclose information prepared by an investigative body for security clearances |
X |
|
|
| 24 May refuse to disclose information collected by the Canadian Penitentiary Service, the National Parole Service or the National Parole Board while individual was under sentence if conditions in section are met. |
X |
|
|
| 25 May refuse to disclose information which could threaten the safety of individuals |
X |
|
|
| 26 May refuse to disclose information about another individual, and shall refuse to disclose such information where disclosure is prohibited under Section 8 |
X |
|
|
| 27 May refuse to disclose information subject to solicitor-client privilege |
X |
|
|
| 28 May refuse to disclose information relating to the individual’s physical or mental health where disclosure is contrary to the best interests of the individual |
X |
|
|
| 31 Receive notice of investigation by the Privacy Commissioner |
X |
X |
X |
| 33(2) Right to make representations to the Privacy Commissioner during an investigation |
X |
X |
X |
| 35(1) Receive Privacy Commissioner’s report of findings of the investigation and give notice of action taken |
X |
X |
X |
| 35(4) Give complainant access to information after 35(1)(b) notice |
X |
X |
X |
| 36(3) Receive Privacy Commissioner’s report of findings of investigation of exempt bank |
X |
X |
X |
| 37(3) Receive report of Privacy Commissioner’s findings after compliance investigation |
X |
X |
X |
| 51(2)(b) Request that Section 51 hearing be held in the National Capital Region |
X |
X |
X |
| 51(3) Request and be given right to make representations in Section 51 hearings |
X |
X |
X |
Approved on: June 25, 2003
ANNEX B
