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2022 to 2023 Annual Report on the Access to Information Act

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Introduction

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) is pleased to present to Parliament its annual report on the administration of the Access to Information Act (ATIA) for 2022–23 (April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023).

This report is prepared and tabled in accordance with the following:

  • section 94 of the ATIA, which requires that the head of every federal institution prepare and submit an annual report to Parliament on the administration of the act in the institution during the fiscal year
  • section 20 of the Service Fees Act, which requires that a responsible authority report annually to Parliament on the fees collected by institutions

Purpose of the Access to Information Act

The purpose of the ATIA is to enhance the accountability and transparency of federal institutions to promote an open and democratic society and to enable public debate on the conduct of those institutions. To further that purpose:

  • Part 1 extends the present laws of Canada to provide a right of access to information in records under the control of a government institution in accordance with the principles that government information should be available to the public, that necessary exceptions to the right of access should be limited and specific, and that decisions about the disclosure of government information should be reviewed independently of government
  • Part 2 sets out requirements for the proactive publication of information

Mandate of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

As the administrative arm of the Treasury Board, TBS has a dual mandate: to support the Treasury Board as a committee of ministers and to fulfill the statutory responsibilities of a central government agency. The Treasury Board’s mandate is derived from the Financial Administration Act.

To fulfill its mandate, TBS organizes its business and resources around four core responsibilities:

  • spending oversight
  • administrative leadership
  • employer
  • regulatory oversight

TBS provides advice and support to Treasury Board ministers in their role of ensuring value for money. TBS also provides oversight of the financial management functions in federal institutions.

TBS makes recommendations and provides advice to the Treasury Board on policies, directives, regulations and program expenditure proposals with respect to the management of the government’s resources. TBS is responsible for the general management of government-wide initiatives, issues and activities (as reported in the Main Estimates).

The offices of the following government officials are part of TBS:

  • the Comptroller General of Canada
  • the Chief Human Resources Officer of Canada
  • the Chief Information Officer of Canada

The Comptroller General is responsible for the comptrollership function of government and provides government-wide leadership, direction, oversight and capacity-building for financial management, internal audit, and the management of assets and acquired services.

The Chief Human Resources Officer provides government-wide leadership on people management through policies, programs and strategic engagement by centrally managing labour relations, compensation, pensions and benefits, and by contributing to the management of executives.

The Chief Information Officer provides government-wide leadership, direction, oversight and capacity-building for information management, information technology, government security (including identity management), access to information, privacy, and internal and external service delivery.

Delegation order for the Access to Information Act

Pursuant to subsection 95(1) of the ATIA, the President of the Treasury Board has delegated the powers, duties and functions for the administration of the ATIA to the following TBS officials:

  • the Secretary of the Treasury Board
  • the Assistant Secretary of Strategic Communications and Ministerial Affairs
  • the Senior Director of Ministerial Services
  • the Director of Access to Information and Privacy
  • managers of the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) office (sections 19, 23 and 27)
  • team leaders of the ATIP office (sections 19 and 23)

Certain administrative functions are also delegated to managers, team leaders and officers to accelerate the processing of requests.

The delegation order was signed on February 2, 2022, and a copy can be found in Appendix A.

Organization structure

The ATIP office is part of the Ministerial Affairs division of TBS’s Strategic Communications and Ministerial Affairs sector.

The ATIP office is responsible for:

  • implementing and managing programs and services related to TBS’s administration of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act (the acts)
  • providing advice to TBS employees as they fulfill their obligations under the acts

Outside of the administration of the acts, the ATIP office provides support in the following areas:

  • internal reviews of documents intended for publication by sectors, rather than through Part 2 of the ATIA
  • reviews of TBS-held documents related to class action lawsuits
  • training sessions on the administration of the actsfor sectors and sector officials
  • policy updates and research related to the administration of the acts
  • research and reporting on trends within the ATIP office
  • systems administration of ATIP software
  • various reports
  • privacy breach management
  • access to information and privacy advice to program sectors

The ATIP office is led by a director who is supported by three managers. Each of these managers oversees a unit that is responsible for a different functional area. The three key units include:

  • ATIP Intake and Governance Unit
  • ATIP Operations Unit
  • Privacy Policy Unit

The ATIP Intake and Governance Unit and the ATIP Operations Unit work together to process ATIP requests, and the Privacy Policy Unit supports sector officials on privacy-related matters, including the review of privacy impact assessments.

In total, 23 full-time employees at various levels administered the acts in 2022–23. The ATIP office made efforts to staff additional positions, but employee retention was an issue in 2022–23, resulting in the same number of FTEs that worked in the ATIP office during the reporting period.

Figure 1 shows the roles of the individuals and teams involved in processing ATIP requests at TBS. The ATIP office has three functional units. Sector liaison officers are not part of the ATIP office, but play an important role in processing requests because they coordinate ATIP activities in their sector.

Figure 1: roles in processing ATIP requests
Figure 1. Text version below
Figure 1 - Text version

ATIP Director

ATIP Intake and Governance Unit

Coordinates and reviews documents that must be published under Part II of the Access to Information Act.

Offers client services to individuals that have submitted ATIP requests

Liaises with sectors to obtain and retrieve documents needed to process ATIP requests.

Conducts monitoring, performance reporting and data analytics for ATIP.

8 employees and 1 student

ATIP Operations Unit

Reviews documents that are responsive to requests made under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act.

Liaises with the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to resolve complaints.

Supports the review of records through other processes such as parliamentary motions and other disclosures.

9 employees

Privacy Policy Unit

Advises and supports TBS officials to ensure compliance with the Privacy Act and related policy instruments.

Supports TBS officials to ensure that the privacy rights of individuals are respected when delivering programs and activities.

Supports the ATIP Director in their role as the delegate responsible for section 10 of the Privacy Act.

6 employees

ATIP sector liaison officers

Support the ATIP program by coordinating ATIP activities within their sector.

The TBS ATIP office works with the 19 sectors across TBS that retrieve responsive records to ATIP requests. Each sector has assigned sector liaison officers that work directly with the ATIP office to efficiently process requests.

Section 96 of the Access to Information Act allows government institutions to provide access to information services to another government institution that is presided over by the same minister. In 2022–23, the ATIP office did not provide any such services.

Statistical report

Statistical reports prepared by government institutions provide aggregate data on the application of the ATIA and the Privacy Act. This information is made public annually in a statistical report that is included with the annual reports on access to information and privacy tabled in Parliament by each institution. TBS’s statistical report on the ATIA for 2022–23 is found at Appendix B.

This year, institutions were required to report on the following additional criteria:

  • their capacity to receive requests and process records
  • open requests from previous reporting periods
  • open complaints from previous reporting periods
  • new authorities to collect or use social insurance numbers
  • privacy requests made by foreign nationals

The 2022–23 Supplemental Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act and Privacy Act is found at Appendix C.

The following sections contain:

  • highlights of TBS’s performance in 2022–23 in relation to its obligations under the ATIA
  • analyses of the notable statistical data for this year compared with previous years

Interpretation of the Statistical Report for the Access to Information Act

In this section

Part 1: requests received and carried forward

Access to Information Act requests

In 2022–23, TBS received 369 requests under the ATIA, which is a 15% decrease compared to the 435 requests received in 2021–22. This decrease is partially attributed to the ATIP office’s efforts to enhance its client services by providing requesters with informal copies of previously released records to reduce the wait for documents. This allowed the ATIP office to provide records quickly, often within a week, rather than the legislative time frames of a formal access to information request (30 days or more).

The number of requests that the TBS ATIP office carried forward from previous fiscal years decreased from 172 in 2021–22 to 149 in 2022–23. This decrease reflects the ATIP office’s efforts to innovate its processes and complete as many requests as possible within the 2022–23 fiscal year. Of the 149 requests that were carried forward, 61 (41%) were requests that the ATIP office had extended and the requests remained active within the legislative time frames of the request. By the end of the fiscal year, the ATIP office had carried forward 88 backlog requests from previous years, which accounted for 210,000 backlog pages that required processing.

Figure 2 shows the number of requests TBS received each year and the number of requests carried forward for 2018–19 to 2022–23.

Figure 2: access to information requests received and requests carried forward, 2018–19 to 2022–23
Figure 2. Text version below
Figure 2 - Text version
Year 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23
Received 564 380 328 435 369
Carried forward 196 154 165 172 149

Channels of requests

Pursuant to section 6 of the Access to Information Act, requests must be submitted by requesters in writing.

Requests can be submitted via the Access to Information and Personal Information Online Request Service (AORS) or by email. Requests can also be sent by mail or submitted in person.

Most requests that TBS receives are submitted electronically. In 2022–23, 252 requests were submitted via AORS and 107 requests were submitted by email. This represented 97% of the 369 requests received by TBS.

Sources of requests

Of the 369 requests received in 2022–23, the most significant portion of requesters (139) self-identified as members of the public. The second largest category of self-identification was academics, which accounted for 76 of the 369 requesters. The remaining requests were submitted by requesters who self-identified as media (61), members who declined to identify (75), businesses (16) and organizations (2).

While the most frequent source of requests were members of the public, the number of requests that originated from requesters identifying as the media increased from 10% of total requests in 2021–22 to 16% in 2022–23. Notably, the number of requests originating from academia increased from 6% of the total requests in 2021–22 to 21% in 2022–23.

Figure 3 shows the percentage of access to information requests received by source.

Figure 3: percentage of access to information requests by source, 2022–23
Figure 3. Text version below
Figure 3 - Text version
Public 139
Academia 76
Decline to identify 75
Media 61
Business (private sector) 16
Organization 2
Total 369

Types of access to information requests received by TBS in 2022–23

The ATIP office received access to information requests on a variety of topics in 2022–23. Two subjects required the most focus for the ATIP office during the fiscal year:

  • TBS policies related to the requirement of vaccination of public servants against the COVID-19 virus
  • the hybrid work model for public servants

Policy on COVID-19 Vaccination for the Core Public Administration Including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

On October 6, 2021, TBS implemented the Policy on COVID-19 Vaccination for the Core Public Administration Including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. This policy resulted in 91 requests, or 21% of all requests received in 2021–22. Continuing the trend, the ATIP office received requests related to the vaccination policy in 2022–23. However, there were fewer new requests for information on the policy, as it was suspended on June 20, 2022. In 2022–23, there were 31 requests about this policy. This accounted for 8% of the total new requests, and 18% of the pages processed.

Policy on the common hybrid work model for the public service

The ATIP office received a significant number of requests in the last four months of the fiscal year regarding the common hybrid work model for the public service policy that was announced in December 2022. This policy, commonly referred to as the “return to office policy” (RTO), resulted in 54 requests in the reporting period and over 35,000 responsive pages. To best assist the requesters, the ATIP team negotiated the informal release of previously processed RTO requests to quickly share records of public interest.

Other request trends

The TBS ATIP office continues to receive formal requests for briefing notes, lobbying communications, contracts and human resources statistics. There was also a large number of requests related to the Office of the Chief Information Office (OCIO) and the Access to Information Act reform during the reported period. The ATIA reform is still underway, and the TBS ATIP office expects to continue to receive requests about it in the next fiscal year.

Part 2: requests completed

Access to information requests completed

In 2022–23, TBS completed 392 requests, which is a decrease of 8.4% compared to the 428 requests completed in 2021–22. Though the number of requests completed declined in the fiscal year, the ATIP office processed 76,784 pages this reporting period. This is an increase of 3,864 pages compared to the 72,920 pages processed in the previous fiscal year.

Figure 4 shows the number of access to information requests TBS completed each year from 2018–19 to 2022–23.

Figure 4: access to information requests completed, 2018–19 to 2022–23
Figure 4. Text version below
Figure 4 - Text version
Year 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23
Completed 518 420 317 428 392

Disposition of requests completed

The following is a breakdown by disposition of the 392 requests completed in 2022–23:

  • 120 requests had no records
  • 68 requests were abandoned by the requester
  • 61 requests contained records that were disclosed entirely
  • 134 requests contained records that were partially disclosed
  • 6 requests contained records that were fully excluded
  • 3 requests were transferred

The 61 requests that were disclosed entirely in 2022–23 represents a proportional decrease of 4% from the 85 requests disclosed entirely in 2021–22. Similarly, the number of requests that were partially disclosed decreased by 3% from 159 in 2021–22 to 134 in 2022–23. Of the requests that fell within TBS’s mandate, for a significant proportion of them, the records were only partially disclosed because of the nature of TBS’s business, which involves Cabinet confidences, sensitive advice and recommendations to the President of the Treasury Board. The overall decrease in requests disclosed in part or in full is partially attributed to the increased number of requests without responsive records and requests that were abandoned.

Figure 5 shows the percentage of access to information requests by disposition for 2022–23.

Figure 5: percentage of requests by disposition, 2022–23
Figure 5. Text version below
Figure 5 - Text version
Disposition of requests Total %
Disclosed in part 134 34%
No records exist 120 31%
Request abandoned 68 17%
All disclosed 61 16%
All excluded 6 2%
Request transferred 3 1%
All exempted 0 0%
Neither confirmed nor denied 0 0%
Declined to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner 0 0%
Total 392 100

Note: No requests were exempted or neither confirmed nor denied and only 3 requests were transferred. As a result, those dispositions are not found in Figure 5.

Table 1: number of requests and percentage of total requests by disposition, 2020–21 to 2022–23
Disposition of requests 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23
Number of requests Percentage of total Number of requests Percentage of total Number of requests Percentage of total
All disclosed 65 21% 85 20% 61 16%
Disclosed in part 174 55% 159 37% 134 34%
All exempted 0 0% 1 0% 0 0%
All excluded 2 1% 3 1% 6 2%
No records exist 56 18% 117 27% 120 31%
Request transferred 0 0% 0 0% 3 1%
Request abandoned 20 6% 63 15% 68 17%
Neither confirm nor deny 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Total 317 100% 428 100% 392 100%

Dispositions

Consistent with previous fiscal years, a small majority of requests are disclosed in part to requesters. This means that while the records have been provided, some exemptions or exclusions have been applied. During the reporting period, the ATIP office provided responsive records to the requester 50% of the time. Approximately 48% of the requests were abandoned, transferred, or the records did not exist at TBS. In some cases, TBS was not the institution responsible for the governmental topic researched by the requester and, therefore, it did not have responsive records. Only 2% of the requests were excluded or exempted in full. These numbers demonstrate the ATIP office’s efforts to adhere to the principles of open government. As in the past fiscal year, in the instances where TBS was the relevant department and had the responsive records, 97% of the records were provided to the requesters either in full, or partially disclosed.

Exemptions

The Access to Information Act exempts certain information from being disclosed. In 2022–23, 134 requests contained information that was subject to exemptions, and this information was not disclosed. A request may have multiple exemptions applied. Most requests were subject to exemptions because the records requested contained the following information:

  • information related to the internal decision-making processes of government (134 requests) (section 21 of the act)
  • personal information (81 requests) (section 19 of the act)
  • third-party business information (59 requests) (section 20 of the act)
  • law enforcement and security information (41 requests) (section 16 of the act)

Every year, the ATIP office receives enquiries from the public about how to obtain information under the ATIA or the Privacy Act, and about where to send their requests. TBS redirects many of these enquiries to other federal government institutions, and occasionally, to provincial Freedom of Information and Privacy offices. They are not counted as requests for the purposes of this report.

Exclusions

Many TBS documents are classified as Cabinet confidences because TBS provides administrative support to the Treasury Board Cabinet committee and provides a central agency challenge function for cabinet submissions of other government institutions. Records that are publicly available (for example, government publications and records in libraries or museums) are also excluded.

A request may have multiple exclusions applied, resulting in a greater number of exclusions invoked than redacted requests. In 2022–23, a total of 46 requests contained information that was subject to exclusions:

  • confidences of the former Queen’s Privy Council, and current King’s Privy Council (108 requests) (section 69 of the act)
  • published material (2 requests) (subsection 68(a) of the act)

Pages processed and disclosed

TBS completed 392 requests in 2022–23, which involved processing 76,784 pages and 14 data sets. This represents a 6% (4,364 pages) increase in the number of pages processed compared to 2021–22. In 2022–23, 80 of the 392 completed requests involved processing more than 100 pages. In 2022–23, 4 of the completed requests involved processing more than 5,000 pages per request, representing a 50% increase compared to 2021–22. These requests represented 26% of the pages the ATIP office received.

Figure 6 shows, for 2018–19 to 2022–23, the number of access to information requests TBS completed and the number of pages processed.

Figure 6: access to information requests completed and pages processed, 2018–19 to 2022–23
Figure 6. Text version below
Figure 6 - Text version
Year 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23
Number of pages 46,241 39,174 65,676 72,420 76,784
Request completed 518 420 317 428 392

Figure 7 shows the average number of pages processed for each completed request. The number of pages processed per request increased 16% from 2021–22 to 2022–23 and is 30% higher than the five-year average of 151 pages processed per request.

Figure 7: average number of pages processed per completed request, 2018–18 to 2022–23
Figure 7. Text version below
Figure 7 - Text version
Year 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23
Completed 89 93 207 169 196

Complexity

As a central agency involved in implementing government-wide policies, TBS records frequently require consultation with other federal institutions before disclosure because these records contain information originating from or of interest to those institutions. Of the 195 requests that were fully or partially disclosed, 74 (or 38%) required formal consultation with other institutions. In addition to the formal consultation process, an additional 81 requests involved information about other federal institutions that resulted in 1,339 informal notifications to government departments before disclosure. The informal notification process is one mechanism implemented by TBS ATIP to help limit inter-institutional consultations as advocated by the Office of the Information Commissioner and the Directive on Access to Information requests. The informal notification process reduces the administrative burden of consultations on other federal institutions and ensures that TBS ATIP provides Canadians with expeditious access to government records

Format of information released

The ATIP office continues to provide clients with access to government records in electronic formats. In 2022–23, TBS released information exclusively in electronic formats for all 196 requests for which records were disclosed. This is consistent with 2021–22 when information was also released exclusively in electronic formats.

Requests for translation

Consistent with previous fiscal years, TBS did not receive nor did it process any requests in 2022–23 that required translation of responsive records.

Part 3: on-time compliance rate, completion times and extensions

On-time compliance rate

The on-time compliance rate is the percentage of requests responded to within their legislative timelines, including requests for which the institution invoked legislative extensions.

In 2022–23, TBS’s ATIP office achieved a 81.4% on-time compliance rate. This compliance rate represents a decline of 8.8% from last year’s compliance rate of 90.2%. Several factors contributed to this rate, such as:

  • the increased complexity of records requiring processing and review prior to disclosure
  • the TBS ATIP office’s efforts to incrementally reduce the number of requests from its oldest reporting period(s) in its backlog, which has an impact on compliance rates due to the reporting of the completion of a late request upon closure
  • the additional responsibilities of the ATIP office beyond its legislative requirements under Parts 1 and 2 of the ATIA

Figure 8 shows the impact of the increasing average number of pages processed for completed requests on the on-time compliance rate and on the percentage of completed requests that require an extension.

Figure 8: average number of pages processed per completed request, percentage of completed requests that required an extension, and on time compliance rate, 2018–19 to 2022–23
Figure 8. Text version below
Figure 8 - Text version
Year 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23
Average number of pages processed per completed request 89 93 207 169 196
Percentage of requests that required an extension 70% 74% 83% 44% 37%
Percentage of requests completed within legislated timelines (on-time compliance rate) 97% 91% 81% 90% 81%

Deemed refusals

In 2022–23, TBS closed 73 requests that exceeded the legislated deadline and were deemed refusals. This represents a 73.8% increase compared to the 42 requests that were deemed refusals and that were closed in 2021–22. In 2022–23, 37 requests—or 51% of all late requests—were closed beyond legislative timelines due to the office’s workload.

Time it takes to complete requests

Of the 392 requests closed this year, 58% were closed within 30 days, which is an increase of 4% from last year’s rate of 54%. This change is partially attributed to the fact that TBS received a similar number of requests for which records did not exist. Additionally, there were 307 requests that did not necessitate additional consultation with other federal institutions or third parties. The ATIP office was therefore able to address these requests within 15 to 30 days of receipt. The number of requests that took more than 120 days increased by 11% from 74 in 2021–22 to 82 in 2022–23.

Figure 9 shows the amount of time that it took to complete access to information requests in 2022–23.

Figure 9: requests completed by time it takes to complete request, 2022–23
Figure 9. Text version below
Figure 9 - Text version
Completion time 1 day to 15 days 16 to 30 days 31 to 60 days 61 to 120 days 121 to 180 days 181 to 365 days More than 365 days
Requests Completed 50 178 44 38 28 18 36
Table 2: requests completed by time it takes to complete request, 2020–21 to 2022–23
Time to complete request 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23
Number of requests Percentage of total Number of requests Percentage of total Number of requests Percentage of total
1 day to 15 days 28 9% 58 14% 50 13%
16 to 30 days 85 27% 174 41% 178 45%
31 to 60 days 40 13% 36 8% 44 11%
61 to 120 days 72 23% 86 20% 38 10%
121 to 180 days 42 13% 26 6% 28 7%
181 to 365 days 29 9% 24 6% 18 5%
More than 365 days 21 7% 24 6% 36 9%
Total 317 100% 428 100% 392 100%

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Reasons for extensions

The legislation sets timelines for responding to access to information requests and allows for extensions in any of the following cases:

  • when complying with the timeline would result in interference with the unit’s operations due to the volume of pages identified that require review
  • when a consultation with other institutions is required
  • when a third-party consultation is required

In 2022–23, TBS invoked extensions for 144 completed requests, or 37% of all requests completed. Extensions were primarily invoked to consult with other government institutions, legal services or third parties. In some cases, extensions were invoked because there was a large volume of records and complying with the original time limit would have unreasonably interfered with operations.

Figure 10 shows the extensions invoked for access to information requests completed in 2022–23.

Figure 10: types of extensions invoked as a percentage of all extensions invoked, 2022–23
Figure 10. Text version below
Figure 10 - Text version
Type of extension 9(1)(b)
consultation		 9(1)(a)
interference with operations/workload		 9(1)(c)
third-party notice
Number of extensions invoked 139 54 35

Note: Each request can qualify for multiple extension types, which may result in a greater number of extensions invoked than the number of requests that were extended.

Length of extensions

In 2022–23, TBS closed 144 requests for which extensions had been invoked.

Figure 11 illustrates the different types of extensions invoked for access to information requests completed in 2022–23.

Figure 11: Extensions invoked for ATI requests by type, 2022-2023
Figure 11. Text version below
Figure 11 - Text version
Length of extensions Volume and interference Consultation Third-party notification
30 days or less 27 34 3
31 to 60 days 13 30 28
61 to 120 days 7 46 2
121 to 180 days 1 18 1
181 to 365 days 2 8 1
365 days or more 4 3 0

Part 4: informal requests

In order to submit a formal request under the ATIA, requesters must pay a $5 fee. The institution receiving the request is required by law to provide a response within 30 calendar days of receipt, and requesters have a right to file a complaint with the Office of the Information Commissioner if they are unsatisfied with how their request was processed.

As part of providing Canadians with relevant information on an informal and timely basis, and in the spirit of transparency and open government, TBS processes informal requests for information. Informal requests at TBS are predominantly re-releases of completed formal requests. Unlike formal requests, informal requests:

  • are not covered under the ATIA
  • do not require an application fee
  • do not have legislative deadlines
  • do not provide requesters with a right to file a complaint with the Office of the Information Commissioner

Informal requests received

In 2022–23, TBS received a total of 984 informal requests.

This number represents an increase of 1,071% in informal requests received compared to the 84 informal requests received in 2021–22. This represents almost three times the combined number of requests received between 2019–20 to 2021–22. This significant increase in informal requests can be attributed to repeated requests from academia looking to compile previously released requests.

The spike in informal requests is an outlier, as it represents one requester who made a request for 896 previously released packages. Without this extraneous statistic, the total received would be 88 requests, which is similar to the previous fiscal year. However, the ATIP office expects that the number of informal requests will continue to rise into future years, owing to the publication of ATI summaries and their maintenance online for up to ten years, and the push for transparency and open government.

Figure 12 shows the number of informal requests received from 2019–20 to 2022–23.

Figure 12: informal requests received, 2019–20 to 2022–23
Figure 12. Text version below
Figure 12 - Text version
Year 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23
Completed 211 50 84 984

Informal requests completed

While informal requests are not subject to the same legislated time frames as formal requests made under the act, TBS strives to complete informal requests as quickly as possible. In 2022–23, TBS was able to complete 18% of informal requests within 30 days, and 83% of informal requests within 60 days.

In 2022–23 TBS completed 971 informal requests. This number represents an increase of 967% in informal requests completed compared to the 91 informal requests completed in 2021–22.

Figure 13 shows the number of informal requests completed from 2019–20 to 2022–23.

Figure 13: informal requests completed, 2019–20 to 2022–23
Figure 13. Text version below
Figure 13 - Text version
Year 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23
Completed 213 63 91 971

Informal pages released

TBS released 120,056 pages in response to informal requests in 2022–23. ATIP professionals do not have to review information that was previously released.

This number represents an increase of 790% compared to the 13,491 pages released in 2021–22. With the significant increase in the number of informal requests received, the effort to respond to informal requests was significantly greater in 2022–23 compared to 2021–22.

Figure 14 shows the number of pages released for informal requests completed from 2019–20 to 2022–23.

Figure 14: pages released for completed informal requests, 2019–20 to 2022–23
Figure 14. Text version below
Figure 14 - Text version
Year 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23
Completed 24,646 3,575 13,491 120,056

Part 5: consultations from other government institutions and organizations

Consultation requests received and carried forward

TBS received 186 consultation requests from other government institutions in 2022–23, in addition to 14 consultation requests from the previous fiscal year. This represents a 11% increase in the number of consultation requests received compared to the 167 received in 2021–22.

While the number of consultation requests received from other federal institutions increased in 2022–23 relative to the previous fiscal year, TBS continues to receive significantly fewer consultation requests compared to the years before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is likely that the number of consultations diminished during the first years of the pandemic, owing to new workload constraints and priorities. It can be further attributed to the Information Commissioner advocating for limiting consultations.

TBS had an additional 12 consultation requests that totaled 1,020 pages, which remained active at the end of 2022–23 and which will be carried forward to 2023–24.

Figure 15 shows, for 2018–19 to 2022–23, the number of consultation requests TBS received each year. The number of consultation requests has not returned to the levels observed before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Figure 15: consultation requests received, 2018–19 to 2022–23
Figure 15. Text version below
Figure 15 - Text version
Year 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23
Completed 301 381 146 166 186

Consultation requests completed and pages processed

TBS completed 188 consultation requests in 2022–23 and processed 12,564 pages for these requests. This number of pages represents a 77% increase compared to the 7,084 pages processed in 2021–22.

Figure 16 shows, for 2018–19 to 2022–23, the number of consultation requests TBS completed each year and the number of pages processed. While TBS has received fewer consultation requests, the number of pages processed for consultation requests has surpassed the levels observed before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The increase in pages processed likely represents a trend towards high volume requests among many institutions. Since Bill C-58 (2019) requires government departments to prioritize consultation requests with the same level of attention as its own requests, the TBS ATIP office has worked diligently to respond within requested time frames.

Figure 16 shows the consultation requests completed and the pages processed from 2018 -2019 to 2022-2023.

Figure 16: consultation requests completed and pages processed, 2018–19 to 2022–23
Figure 16. Text version below
Figure 16 - Text version
Year 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23
Consultation requests completed 272 385 149 186 188
Pages processed 9,126 12,233 4,398 7,084 12,564

Completion time for consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions and other organizations

Of the 188 consultation requests completed this year, 73% were completed within 30 days and 94% were completed within 60 days.

Figure 17 shows the number of consultation requests completed by the time it took to complete the request.

Figure 17: consultation requests completed by time to complete request, 2022–23
Figure 17. Text version below
Figure 17 - Text version
Completion time 1 day to 15 days 16 to 30 days 31 to 60 days 61 to 120 days 121 to 180 days 181 to 365 days More than 365 days
Requests completed 44 94 37 11 2 0 0

Part 6: consultations on Cabinet confidences

Consultations with legal services

As the administrative arm of the Treasury Board, TBS provides support to Treasury Board ministers. As such, the requests TBS receives often contain information that is subject to Cabinet confidence and that requires consultation with TBS’s legal services unit in accordance with the Policy on Access to Information.

In 2022–23, TBS consulted with its legal services unit on 49 requests to evaluate information that could be subject to Cabinet confidence. This number of consultations is a 69% increase compared to the 29 Cabinet confidence consultations conducted in 2021–22.

Figure 18 shows the number of consultations on Cabinet confidences completed by completion time.

Figure 18: consultations on Cabinet confidences completed, by time to complete the requests, 2022–23
Figure 18. Text version below
Figure 18 - Text version
Completion time 1 day to 15 days 16 to 30 days 31 to 60 days 61 to 120 days 121 to 180 days 181 to 365 days More than 365 days
Requests completed 35 10 2 2 0 0 0

Consultations with the Privy Council Office

No requests processed by TBS in 2022–23 required consultation on Cabinet confidence with the Privy Council Office.

Part 7: complaints and investigations

Complaints received

Requesters can file a complaint with the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) if they are not satisfied with how their request was processed.

In 2022–23, TBS was notified of 36 complaints received by the OIC, a 17% increase compared to the 30 complaints received in 2021–22. Of the 36 complaints, 20 required representations. This is reflected in more detail in the next section.

Table 3 shows the types of complaints about TBS received by the OIC in 2022–23.

Table 3: complaints received by type, 2022–23
Complaint type Number of complaints
Time limits 5
Delay: deemed refusal 9
Refusal: exemptions 6
Refusal: exclusion 3
Refusal: missing records 9
Miscellaneous 4
Total 36

Complaint representations

The complaints process has many stages. Initially, the OIC contacts institutions to collect and review the processing file. During an investigation, the OIC must provide institutions with an opportunity to provide representations.

In 2022–23, the OIC asked TBS to provide legal representations for 20 requests, which is an increase from the 14 representations provided to the OIC in 2021–22. TBS has been working closely with the OIC on an additional 16 complaints, but TBS was not asked to provide representations on these complaints in 2022–23.

The OIC provided letters notifying TBS that it had ceased 4 of its investigations.

A detailed table with the statistics on complaint representations is provided in Appendix B.

Complaints closed

The OIC issued findings for a total of 29 complaint investigations during the reporting period. Of the 29 complaint investigation findings issued in 2022–23, the OIC issued recommendations to TBS in two of its findings before concluding that the complaints were resolved.

On June 21, 2019, Bill C-58: An Act to amend the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act received royal assent. The Act gave the OIC the power to make binding orders in relation to access to information requests, including ordering the release of government records for complaints filed after royal assent. TBS received 11 orders in 2022–23. These are the first orders received by TBS since the change in the law, which introduced new workload challenges for the ATIP office in the 2022–23 reporting year as the office began to adapt to meet this new work stream requirement.

Table 4 shows the complaint findings issued by the OIC in 2022–23.

Table 4: complaint findings issued by the OIC, 2022–23
Complaint type Complaint decision
Not well founded Well founded Discontinued
Time limits 2 0 3
Delay: deemed refusal 1 4 5
Refusal: exemptions 1 1 4
Refusal: exclusion 2 1 1
Refusal: missing records 2 0 1
Miscellaneous 0 0 0

Part 8: court actions

There were no court cases against TBS in relation to the ATIA or the Privacy Act in 2022–23.

Part 9: fees

The Service Fees Act requires that a responsible authority report annually to Parliament on the fees collected by the institution.

With respect to the $5 application fee to make a request under the ATIA, the total revenue collected was $1,235. In accordance with the changes to the ATIA that came into force on June 21, 2019, TBS may only charge an application fee of $5, as set out in paragraph 7(1)(a) of the Access to Information Regulations. Pursuant to the Directive on Access to Information Requests issued on July 13, 2022, institutions can waive this application fee as appropriate. In 2022–23 TBS waived $605 in application fees.

Part 10: resources related to the Access to Information Act

Costs

In 2022–23, TBS’s total cost for administering the ATIA was $1,579,019. The ATIP office incurred $1,463,468 in salary costs, $79,990 in professional service contracts and $35,561 in other administrative costs (software licenses, office equipment and supplies, training).

These costs do not include resources expended by TBS’s program areas to meet the requirements of the Act, nor do they take into account the costs associated with consultations with other government institutions. Notably, the costs associated with the administration of the Act pertain only to costs incurred for the administration of Part 1, and not the costs associated with proactive disclosure.

Human resources

In 2022–23, there were 19.920 full-time equivalents in the ATIP office performing work associated with the application of the ATIA.

Part 2 of the Access to Information Act

The ATIP office proactively publishes information for:

  • the President of the Treasury Board
  • the deputy heads at TBS:
    • the Secretary
    • the Comptroller General of Canada
    • the Chief Human Resources Officer of Canada
    • the Chief Information Officer of Canada

The ATIP office leads the publication of certain requirements for proactive publication of information under Part 2 of the ATIA, except for information about contracts and reclassification. This work includes:

  • creating procedural guides on proactive publication
  • providing training to TBS staff
  • coordinating with the web team
  • translating, editing and reviewing all documents before publication

The following information is published by the ATIP office as part of proactive publication.

Transition binders

In 2022–23, there was one transition binder consisting of a total of 274 pages published for:

  • Secretary of the Treasury Board

The transition binder was partially released and had to be redacted to protect:

  • advice or recommendations
  • consultations or deliberations
  • confidences of the King’s Privy Council

There was one additional transition binder consisting of 548 pages that was not yet completed at the end of the 2022–23 fiscal year. It was published on June 27, 2023. It was created for the appointment on February 27, 2023 of the new Chief Human Resources Officer. This binder will be reflected in next year’s report.

Memoranda titles

In 2022–23, 295 memoranda titles were published, but some titles required redactions. Severances were applied to protect instances of:

  • information related to the economic interests of Canada
  • internal government decision-making
  • personal information
  • privileged solicitor–client information

Parliamentary committee appearance binders

In 2022–23, TBS published nine parliamentary committee appearance binders, which required the processing of 1,767 pages. The publication of appearance binders requires detailed review, consultation and coordination within TBS. Of the nine binders, six were fully disclosed. The remaining three had to be redacted to protect:

  • consultations or deliberations
  • advice or recommendations

Question period notes

In 2022–23, two question period notes consisting of 11 pages were published for the President of the Treasury Board.

Travel and hospitality

In 2022–23, publications relating to travel and hospitality were released online each month. In total, 69 travel expenses were published and 21 hospitality expenses were published.

Access to information request summaries

Finally, in accordance with the Directive on Access to Information Requests, the ATIP office publishes monthly summaries of completed access to information requests. A total of 287 summaries were published in 2022–23.

Education, training and awareness

In 2022–23, the ATIP office continued to provide regular advice and guidance to sector officials. The office also expanded outreach activities and formal training sessions provided to TBS employees. The ATIP office was formally consulted on 142 initiatives in 2022–23, in addition to the regular support to sectors processing ATIP requests. Furthermore, 8 separate sessions on access and privacy legislation related to ATIP requests were provided to 565 employees. Some of the sessions were tailored to the needs of specific teams and sectors.

The ATIP office continued to apply its ATIP sector liaison officer engagement strategy in 2022–23. The strategy aims to promote awareness and provide tools to sector officials to increase the efficiency of the ATIP process. Under this strategy, the ATIP office developed several tutorial videos to help sector officials prepare responses to the ATIP office. The ATIP office also held quarterly information sessions with ATIP coordinators throughout TBS and information management officials to promote awareness of ATIP activities. These sessions ensured the broad distribution of ATIP-related tools and were delivered to 200 participants.

For International Right to Know Day and Data Privacy Day, the ATIP office conducted sessions to promote principles related to access to information and privacy. Forty-five percent of the ATIP office also attended the annual Canadian Access and Privacy Association (CAPA) conference, which promotes transparency of government and knowledge and understanding of access and privacy laws in Canada.

Table 5 outlines specific training initiatives conducted by the ATIP office in 2022–23.

Table 5: training initiatives conducted, 2022–23
Initiative Sector Description Responsible unit Participants
Privacy training session

Corporate Services Sector

Training on sound practices in the management of personal information

Privacy Policy Unit (PPU)

 25
ATIP training session

Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer – Employee Relations and Total Compensation

Joint ATI and Privacy introductory session

ATIP office

 200
Individual access to the Online Privacy Training presentation

Multiple TBS sector employees

Online self-paced presentation on the Privacy Act and related policies

PPU

 62
Data Privacy Day

All sectors

Promotion of Data Privacy Day via internal communications to TBS employees

PPU

n/a
ATIP training session

Office of the Comptroller General

Intake and Governance Unit

 35
ATIP training session

Office of the Comptroller General

Intake and Governance Unit

 21
ATIP training session

Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer – Employee Relations and Total Compensation

Intake and Governance Unit

 197

Table 6 outlines specific training provided to the ATIP office access to information and privacy practitioners in 2022–23.

Table 6: Specific training provided to the ATIP office, 2022–23
Initiative Description Provider Participants
CAPA Conference

Promotion of knowledge and understanding of ATI and Privacy laws and experiences in Canada

Canadian Access and Privacy Association

 10
The Access to Information and Privacy Community Development Office training on section 21 of the ATIA

Training on section 21 of the ATIA

The Access to Information and Privacy Community Development Office

 6
Association of Access to Information and Privacy Professionals – Module A

Introductory training module for new ATIP professionals

The Association of Access to Information and Privacy Professionals

 7
ATIP introduction to Lean Management

Training on processes and efficiency

Lean Agility

 23
ATIP Introduction to Time Management

Training on effective time management

Lean Agility

 23
Coaching and Professional Development

Individual and group coaching sessions on work responsibilities and pressures

Charron Training

 23

Monitoring

The ATIP office produces a variety of regular and ad hoc reports to monitor TBS’s compliance with the ATIA and the Privacy Act. In 2022–23, the ATIP office increased its emphasis on data analytics to identify emerging trends and promote procedural efficiencies. The ATIP office developed individualized sector performance reports to create awareness within sectors of their performance on their ATIP obligations. The ATIP office also worked closely with sectors that experience high volumes of ATIP requests to coordinate and expedite responses from those sectors. This new engagement with sectors is intended to support the sharing of existing compliance data, which were shared weekly with program areas and senior management in previous years.

Technology and innovation

The ATIP office continues to prioritize the digital transformation that was advanced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the implementation of Microsoft 365 and SharePoint across the government, the ATIP office continues to find ways to leverage these tools to create new and effective processes and methods of communication. These technological innovations and integrations are expected to continue into the 2023–24 fiscal year.

Access to Information initiatives with the Office of the Chief Information Officer

As the President of the Treasury Board is the Minister responsible for the ATIA, the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) at TBS leads the development of digital tools used by ATIP offices across the Government of Canada. As such, the ATIP office often liaises with OCIO for operational support.

Access to Information and Personal Information Online Request Service (AORS)

The AORS has been one of the primary ways that Canadians can digitally submit requests. In summer 2022, the AORS was expanded to send secure digital response packages to clients. This made the TBS ATIP office more efficient in its registration of requests and continued client service for requesters.

Government of Canada procurement of new ATIP software

In collaboration with Public Services and Procurement Canada, OCIO has been leading the procurement process for new ATIP software over the past several years. The process concluded with the awarding of contracts in the summer of 2022. In support of this process over the last four fiscal years, the ATIP office has regularly provided access to resources with the expertise required to:

  • evaluate vendor submissions
  • articulate the business requirements of ATIP offices across the Government of Canada

Since the contract has been awarded, the ATIP office has worked collaboratively with OCIO and the vendor to phase out the current ATIP software. The new software application is expected to be implemented by the TBS ATIP office in the 2023–24 fiscal year.

The ATIP office has put in place many procedural efficiencies, and it is seeking to recruit additional staff to support its operations and provide exceptional support to requesters and to departmental program areas seeking to leverage the skill sets and advice of the ATIP office.

Conclusion

The 2022–23 fiscal year was a productive year for the TBS ATIP office. In addition to processing requests of additional complexity, it strove to process more pages than it had the previous year. The ATIP office is client service-focused and will continue to make efforts to reduce its backlog of requests as much as possible while trying to maintain on-time compliance for the requests that are active in its queue. The TBS ATIP office is aware that subjects of significant interest to Canadians may result in ATIP requests that have responsive records that are complex in nature and may necessitate multiple consultations with other government departments. Combined with the increased volume of pages that were retrieved for ATIP requests, the ATIP office is also supporting departmental programs and sharing its expertise in support of other initiatives that fall outside of the requirements of the ATIA and Privacy Act.

Appendix A: Delegation Order – Access to Information Act

I, undersigned, President of the Treasury Board, pursuant to section 95 of the Access to Information Act hereby designate the ATIP Advisors, the Access to Information and Privacy Team Leader, the Access to Information and Privacy Manager, the Access to Information and Privacy Director of Ministerial Services, the Assistant Secretary, Strategic Communications and Ministerial Services and the Secretary, or person occupying those positions on an acting basis, to exercise signing authorities or perform any of the President’s powers, duties or function as head of institution that are specified in the attached Schedule A. This designation replaces all previous delegation orders.

Original signed by

The Honourable Mona Fortier
President of the Treasury Board
Date: 2022-02-02

Schedule A: sections of the Access to Information Act to be delegated

Position Powers, duties or functions
Secretary

Full authority
Assistant Secretary, Strategic Communications and Ministerial Affairs

Full authority
Senior Director, Ministerial Services

Full authority except:

Paragraph: 35(2)(b)

Subsection: 37(1)
Director, Access to Information and Privacy

Full authority except:

Paragraph: 35(2)(b)

Subsection: 37(1)
Manager, Access to Information and Privacy

Sections: 7, 9, 19, 23, 27
Team Leader, Access to Information and Privacy

Sections: 7, 9, 19, 23
Access to Information and Privacy Officers

Paragraph: 7(a)

Appendix B. Statistical report on the Access to Information Act

In this section

Name of Institution: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Reporting period: 2022-04-01 to 2023-03-31

Section 1: requests under the Access to Information Act

1.1 Number of requests received

Number of requests
Received during reporting period 369
Outstanding from previous reporting periods 172
Outstanding from previous reporting period 107
Outstanding from more than one reporting period 65
Total 541
Closed during reporting period 392
Carried over to next reporting period 149
Carried over within legislated timeline 61
Carried over beyond legislated timeline 88

1.2 Sources of requests

Source Number of requests
Media 61
Academia 76
Business (private sector) 16
Organization 2
Public 139
Decline to identify 75
Total 369

1.3 Channels of requests

Channel Number of requests
Online 252
Email 107
Mail 9
In person 0
Phone 1
Fax 0
Total 369

Section 2: informal requests

2.1 Number of informal requests

Number of requests
Received during reporting period 984
Outstanding from previous reporting periods 1
Outstanding from previous reporting period 1
Outstanding from more than one reporting period 0
Total 985
Closed during reporting period 971
Carried over to next reporting period 14

2.2 Channels of informal requests

Channel Number of requests
Online 18
Email 965
Mail 1
In person 0
Phone 0
Fax 0
Total 984

2.3 Completion time of informal requests

Completion time
1 day to 15 days 16 to 30 days 31 to 60 days 61 to 120 days 121 to 180 days 181 to 365 days More than 365 days Total
179 102 526 163 1 0 0 971

2.4 Pages released informally

Less than 100 pages released 101 to 500 pages released 501 to 1,000 pages released 1,000 to 5,000 pages released More than 5,000 pages released
Number of requests Pages released Number of requests Pages released Number of requests Pages released Number of requests Pages released Number of requests Pages released
773 12,914 137 32,847 41 29,857 20 44,438 0 0

Section 3: applications to the Information Commissioner on declining to act on requests

Number of requests
Outstanding from previous reporting period 0
Sent during reporting period 0
Total 0
Approved by the Information Commissioner during reporting period 0
Declined by the Information Commissioner during reporting period 0
Withdrawn during reporting period 0
Carried over to next reporting period 0

Section 4: requests closed during the reporting period

4.1 Disposition and completion time

Disposition of request Completion time
1 day to 15 days 16 to 30 days 31 to 60 days 61 to 120 days 121 to 180 days 181 to 365 days More than 365 days Total
All disclosed 1 34 13 11 1 1 0 61
Disclosed in part 2 19 23 26 27 17 20 134
All exempted 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
All excluded 0 0 5 0 0 0 1 6
No records exist 2 115 3 0 0 0 0 120
Request transferred 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
Request abandoned 42 10 0 1 0 0 15 68
Neither confirmed nor denied 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Declined to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 50 178 44 38 28 18 2 392

4.2 Exceptions

Section Number of requests
13(1)(a) 3
13(1)(b) 0
13(1)(c) 2
13(1)(d) 0
13(1)(e) 0
14 0
14(a) 1
14(b) 0
15(1) 0
15(1) – I.A.Footnote * 5
15(1) – Def.Footnote * 12
15(1) – S.A.Footnote * 13
16(1)(a)(i) 0
16(1)(a)(ii) 0
16(1)(a)(iii) 0
16(1)(b) 0
16(1)(c) 0
16(1)(d) 0
16(2) 0
16(2)(a) 0
16(2)(b) 0
16(2)(c) 41
16(3) 0
16.1(1)(a) 0
16.1(1)(b) 0
16.1(1)(c) 0
16.1(1)(d) 0
16.2(1) 0
16.3 0
16.4(1)(a) 0
16.4(1)(b) 0
16.5 0
16.6 0
17 0
18(a) 11
18(b) 3
18(c) 0
18(d) 1
18.1(1)(a) 0
18.1(1)(b) 0
18.1(1)(c) 0
18.1(1)(d) 0
19(1) 81
20(1)(a) 0
20(1)(b) 25
20(1)(b.1) 0
20(1)(c) 30
20(1)(d) 4
20.1 0
20.2 0
20.4 0
21(1)(a) 56
21(1)(b) 55
21(1)(c) 14
21(1)(d) 9
22 1
22.1(1) 0
23 27
23.1 0
24(1) 0
26 0

4.3 Exclusions

Section Number of requests
68(a) 2
68(b) 0
68(c) 0
68.1 0
68.2(a) 0
68.2(b) 0
69(1) 4
69(1)(a) 11
69(1)(b) 0
69(1)(c) 4
69(1)(d) 3
69(1)(e) 5
69(1)(f) 1
69(1)(g) re (a) 34
69(1)(g) re (b) 0
69(1)(g) re (c) 19
69(1)(g) re (d) 7
69(1)(g) re (e) 14
69(1)(g) re (f) 6
69.1(1) 0

4.4 Format of information released

Paper Electronic record Electronic data set Video Audio Other
0 182 14 0 0 0

4.5 Complexity

4.5.1 Relevant pages processed and disclosed for paper and electronic record formats
Number of pages processed Number of pages disclosed Number of requests
92,490 38,859 269

4.5.2 Relevant pages processed per request disposition for paper and electronic record formats by size of request

Disposition Less than 100 pages processed 101 to 500 pages processed 501 to 1,000
pages processed		 1,001 to 5,000 pages processed More than 5,000 pages processed
Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed
All disclosed 55 1,037 3 386 1 515 2 3,183 0 0
Disclosed in part 71 2,194 37 8,767 14 10,136 9 16,662 3 21,035
All exempted 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
All excluded 5 69 0 0 1 961 0 0 0 0
Request abandoned 58 231 3 449 2 1,115 4 10,044 1 15,706
Neither confirmed nor denied 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Declined to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
All disclosed 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Total 189 3,531 43 9,602 18 12,727 15 29,889 4 21,035
4.5.3 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for audio formats
Number of minutes processed Number of minutes disclosed Number of requests
0 0 0
4.5.4 Relevant minutes processed per request disposition for audio formats by size of requests
Disposition Less than 60 minutes processed 60 to 120 minutes processed More than 120 minutes processed
Number of requests Minutes processed Number of requests Minutes processed Number of requests Minutes processed
All disclosed 0 0 0 0 0 0
Disclosed in part 0 0 0 0 0 0
All exempted 0 0 0 0 0 0
All excluded 0 0 0 0 0 0
Request abandoned 0 0 0 0 0 0
Neither confirmed nor denied 0 0 0 0 0 0
Declined to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 0 0 0 0 0 0
4.5.5 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for video formats
Number of minutes processed Number of minutes disclosed Number of requests
0 0 0
4.5.6 Relevant minutes processed per request disposition for video formats by size of requests
Disposition Less than 60 minutes processed 60 to 120 minutes processed More than 120 minutes processed
Number of requests Minutes processed Number of requests Minutes processed Number of requests Minutes processed
All disclosed 0 0 0 0 0 0
Disclosed in part 0 0 0 0 0 0
All exempted 0 0 0 0 0 0
All excluded 0 0 0 0 0 0
Request abandoned 0 0 0 0 0 0
Neither confirmed nor denied 0 0 0 0 0 0
Declined to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 0 0 0 0 0 0
4.5.7 Other complexities
Disposition Consultation required Legal advice sought Other Total
All disclosed 10 1 16 27
Disclosed in part 64 11 30 105
All exempted 0 0 0 0
All excluded 1 0 0 1
Request abandoned 10 0 1 11
Neither confirmed nor denied 0 1 0 1
Declined to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner 0 0 0 0
Total 85 0 47 145

4.6 Closed requests

4.6.1 Number of requests closed within legislated timelines
Requests closed within legislated timelines
Number of requests closed within legislated timelines 319
Percentage of requests closed within legislated timelines 81,38 %

4.7 Deemed refusals

4.7.1 Reasons for not meeting legislated timelines
Number of requests closed past the legislated timelines Principal reason
Interference with operations or workload External consultation Internal consultation Other
73 37 18 5 13
4.7.2 Request closed beyond legislated timelines (including any extensions taken)
Number of days past legislated timelines Number of requests past legislated timeline where no extension was taken Number of requests past legislated timeline where an extension was taken Total
1 day to 15 days 2 4 6
16 to 30 days 7 3 10
31 to 60 days 3 3 6
61 to 120 days 4 9 13
121 to 180 days 1 3 4
181 to 365 days 5 2 7
More than 365 days 1 26 27
Total 23 50 73

4.8 Requests for translation

Translation requests Accepted Refused Total
English to French 0 0 0
French to English 0 0 0
Total 0 0 0

Section 5: extensions

5.1 Reason for extensions and disposition of requests

Disposition of requests where an extension was taken 9(1)(a) Interference with operations/workload Principal reason 9(1)(c) third-party notice
Section 69 Other
All disclosed 5 2 17 2
Disclosed in part 37 13 84 27
All exempted 0 0 0 0
All excluded 1 2 5 1
Request abandoned 11 1 15 5
No records exist 0 0 0 0
Declined to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner 0 0 0 0
Total 54 18 121 35

5.2 Length of extensions

Disposition of requests where an extension was taken 9(1)(a) Interference with operations/workload Principal reason 9(1)(c) third-party notice
Section 69 Other
30 days or less 27 8 26 3
31 to 60 days 13 3 27 28
61 to 120 days 7 3 43 2
121 to 180 days 1 4 14 1
181 to 365 days 2 0 8 1
365 days or more 4 0 3 0
Total 54 18 121 35

Section 6: fees

Fee type Fee collected Fee waived Fee refunded
Number of requests Amount Number of Requests Amount Number of Requests Amount
Application 247 $1,235.00 121 $605.00 1 $5.00
Other fees 0 $0.00 0 $0.00 0 $0.00
Total 247 $1,235.00 121 $605.00 1 $5.00

Section 7: consultations received from other institutions and organizations

7.1 Consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions and other organizations

Consultations Other Government of Canada institutions Number of pages to review Other organizations Number of pages to review
Received during the reporting period 184 10,111 2 60
Outstanding from the previous reporting period 13 3,289 1 124
Total 197 13,400 3 184
Closed during the reporting period 185 12,380 3 184
Carried over within negotiated timelines 12 1,020 0 0
Carried over beyond negotiated timelines 0 0 0 0

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

Recommendations Number of days required to complete consultation requests
1 day to 15 days 16 to 30 days 31 to 60 days 61 to 120 days 121 to 180 days 181 to 365 days More than 365 days Total
Disclosed entirely 36 62 22 4 0 0 0 124
Disclosed in part 4 28 15 7 1 0 0 55
Exempt entirely 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 3
Exclude entirely 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Consult other institution 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2
Other 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Total 42 93 37 11 2 0 0 185

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

Recommendations Number of days required to complete consultation requests
1 day to 15 days 16 to 30 days 31 to 60 days 61 to 120 days 121 to 180 days 181 to 365 days More than 365 days Total
Disclosed entirely 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 3
Disclosed in part 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Exempt entirely 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Exclude entirely 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Consult other institution 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 3

Section 8: completion time of consultations on Cabinet confidences

8.1 Requests with legal services

Number of days Fewer than 100 pages processed 101 to 500 pages processed 501 to 1,000 pages processed 1,001 to 5,000 pages processed More than 5,000 pages processed
Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed
1 to 15 26 154 9 973 0 0 0 0 0 0
16 to 30 7 77 3 509 0 0 0 0 0 0
31 to 60 1 56 1 129 0 0 0 0 0 0
61 to 120 1 5 1 39 0 0 0 0 0 0
121 to 180 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
181 to 365 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More than 365 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 35 292 14 1650 0 0 0 0 0 0

8.2 Requests with the Privy Council Office

Number of days Fewer than 100 pages processed 101 to 500 pages processed 501 to 1,000 pages processed 1,001 to 5,000 pages processed More than 5,000 pages processed
Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed
1 to 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
16 to 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
31 to 60 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
61 to 120 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
121 to 180 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
181 to 365 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More than 365 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Section 9: investigations and reports of finding

9.1 Investigations

Section 32 notice of intention to investigate Subsection 30(5) ceased to investigate Section 35 formal representations
36 4 20

9.2 Investigations and reports of finding

Section 37(1) initial reports Section 37(2) final reports
Received Containing recommendations issued by the Information Commissioner Containing orders issued by the Information Commissioner Received Containing recommendations issued by the Information Commissioner Containing orders issued by the Information Commissioner
5 1 4 6 2 4

Section 10: court action

10.1 Court actions on complaints

Section 41
Complainant (1) Institution (2) Third party (3) Privacy Commissioner (4) Total
0 0 0 0 0

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

Section 44 – under paragraph 28(1)(b)
0

Section 11: resources related to the Access to Information Act

11.1 Allocated costs

Expenditures Amount
Salaries $1,452,231
Overtime $11,237
Goods and services $115,551
Professional services contracts $79,990
Other $35,561
Total $1,579,019

11.2 Human resources

Resources Person years dedicated to privacy activities
Full-time employees 18.530
Part-time and casual employees 0.550
Regional staff 0.000
Consultants and agency personnel 0.000
Students 0.840
Total 19.920

Appendix C: supplemental statistical report on the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act

In this section

Name of institution: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Reporting period: 2022-04-01 to 2023-03-31

Section 1: capacity to receive requests under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act

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

Number of weeks
Able to receive requests by mail 52
Able to receive requests by email 52
Able to receive requests through the digital request service 52

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.

No capacity Partial capacity Full capacity Total
Unclassified paper records 0 0 52 52
Protected B paper records 0 0 52 52
Secret and top secret paper records 0 0 52 52

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

No capacity Partial capacity Full capacity Total
Unclassified electronic records 0 0 52 52
Protected B electronic records 0 0 52 52
Secret and top secret electronic records 0 0 52 52

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.

Fiscal year open request was received Open request within legislated timeline as of March 31, 2023 Open request beyond legislated timeline as of March 31, 2023 Total
Received in 2022–23 58 37 95
Received in 2021–22 1 23 24
Received in 2020–21 2 10 12
Received in 2019–20 0 10 10
Received in 2018–19 0 1 1
Received in 2017–18 0 7 7
Received in 2016–17 or earlier 0 0 0
Total 61 88 149

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

Fiscal year open complaints were received by institution Number of open complaints
Received in 2022–23 18
Received in 2021–22 0
Received in 2020–21 1
Received in 2019–20 0
Received in 2018–19 1
Received in 2017–18 0
Received in 2016–17 or earlier 0
Total 20

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.

Fiscal year open request was received Open request within legislated timeline as of March 31, 2023 Open request beyond legislated timeline as of March 31, 2023 Total
Received in 2022–23 16 1 17
Received in 2021–22 0 0 0
Received in 2020–21 0 1 1
Received in 2019–20 0 0 0
Received in 2018–19 0 0 0
Received in 2017–18 0 0 0
Received in 2016–17 or earlier 0 0 0
Total 16 2 18

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

Fiscal year open complaints were received by institution Number of open complaints
Received in 2022–23 0
Received in 2021–22 0
Received in 2020–21 0
Received in 2019–20 1
Received in 2018–19 1
Received in 2017–18 0
Received in 2016–17 or earlier 0
Total 2

Section 5: social insurance number

Did your institution receive authority for a new collection or new consistent use of the social insurance number in 2022–23? No

Section 6: universal access under the Privacy Act

How many requests were received from confirmed foreign nationals outside of Canada in 2022–23? 3

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