2023-2024 Annual Report to Parliament: Access to Information Act

I. Introduction

The purpose of the Access to Information Act (ATIA) is to provide Canadians with access to records under the control of federal institutions, except for records subject to limited and specific exemptions and exclusions.

This report reflects activities of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC), with respect to the stated legislation, for the period of April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024.

The annual report is tabled in Parliament pursuant to section 94 of the ATIA and in accordance to section 20 of the Service Fees Act. The report describes the activities of CIRNAC that support compliance with access to information legislation.

II. Organization

III. Delegation Order

Under section 95 of the ATIA, the Minister's authority may be delegated to departmental officials in order to administer the Act within CIRNAC.

During the reporting period, the delegation order signed by the Honorable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, on January 28, 2021, was in effect (Appendix A). The order delegates full authority and responsibility for the ATIA to the following positions:

• Deputy Minister
• Associate Deputy Minister
• Corporate Secretary
• ATIP Coordinator
• ATIP Deputy Directors

IV. Interpretation of the Statistical Report

CIRNAC's Statistical Report and Supplemental Report were submitted to the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) on

July 15th, 2024 (Appendix B). The Report details various aspects of the requests CIRNAC received and processed during the period of April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024.

1. Requests under the Access to Information Act

1.1 Number of requests

In 2023-2024, CIRNAC received 239 requests, representing a increase of approximately 5% compared to the 227 received in 2022-2023 (Table 1.1a). With the addition of the 179 requests that were carried over from the previous year, this reflected a total of 418 requests to be processed in the course of the reporting period. The Department completed 235 requests and carried 183 requests into the next reporting period (2024-2025).

The listing of CIRNAC's completed access to information requests can be found on the Open Canada website.

Table 1.1a 2020-2024 Number of requests received and outstanding from previous reporting period

Number of Requests	2020-2021	2021-2022	2022-2023	2023-2024
Received during reporting period	196	303	227	239
Outstanding from previous reporting period	265	215	216	179
Total	461	518	443	418

Table 1.1b 2020-2024 Number of requests closed and carried over to next reporting period

Number of Requests	2020-2021	2021-2022	2022-2023	2023-2024
Closed during reporting period	236	305	266	235
Carried over to next reporting period	225	213	177	183

1.2 Sources of requests

Of the 239 requests received during the reporting period, 95 (40%) were from individuals who identified as members of the public, followed by 61 (26%) from businesses, and 27 (11%) from academics (Table 1.2). In previous years the media and public were the main sources of requests.

Description of Table 1.2 Sources of Requests 2020 to 2024

Text alternative for Table 1.2 Sources of Requests 2020-2024

	Public	Media	Business	Organization	Academia	Decline to Identify
2020-2021	33	12	70	10	56	15
2021-2022	85	26	61	13	78	40
2022-2023	41	10	42	3	64	67
2023-2024	24	27	61	7	95	25

1.3 Channels of requests

The channels of requests serve to identify the mechanism used by the Canadian public to request records from the Department: Open Government of Canada Portal, e-mail, mail, phone or fax. The Government of Canada Online Portal was the most used mechanism to request records from the Department. (Table 1.3)

Table 1.3 Channels of requests

Channel	Number of Requests
Online	220
E-mail	15
Mail	4
In person	0
Phone	0
Fax	0
Total	239

2. Informal Requests

An informal request is defined as a request for copies of previously released access to information requests. As per Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) policies, institutions are required to publicly post titles of summaries of completed requests. Government departments do not charge any application fees for the informal requests and there are no timelines for responding to the requesters. In addition, the requesters have no statutory right of complaint to the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada (OIC).

2.1 Number of informal requests

During the 2023-2024 reporting period, CIRNAC received 277 informal requests, a decrease of 55% compared to the 617 requests received in 2022-2023. 470 requests were carried over from the previous year which meant a total of 747 informal requests were to be processed. The ATIP Office completed 628 requests and carried 119 requests into the next reporting period 2024-2025.

Text alternative for Table 2.1 Number of Informal Requests Received

Year	Number of Requests
2020-2021	111
2021-2022	157
2022-2023	617
2023-2024	277

2.2 Channels of informal requests

The channels of requests serve to identify the mechanism used by the Canadian public to make a request for previously released records: Government of Canada Online Portal, e-mail, mail, in person, phone or fax. In the course of this reporting period, the majority of requests were received by email (Table 2.2).

Table 2.2 Channels of requests

Channel	Number of Requests
Online	258
E-mail	19
Mail	0
In person	0
Phone	0
Fax	0
Total	277

2.3 Completion time of informal requests

The table 2.3 (below), reports on the number of requests/completion time for the 628 informal requests closed during the 2023-2024 reporting period. The table explains the percentage of informal requests closed during the reporting period and the number of days it took to process and close them.

Text alternative for Table 2.3 Completion time of informal requests

Days	Percentage
1 to 15 days	4%
16 to 30 days	3%
31 to 60 days	5%
61 to 120 days	7%
121 to 180 days	6%
181 to 365 days	43%
> Than 365 days	32%

2.4 Pages released informally

This section provides information on the number of informal requests closed in relation to pages released. Table 2.4 provides information on the number of informal requests that were closed during the 2023-2024 reporting period that fall under each range of pages released. Of the 628 informal requests completed, 434 were requests for copies of records previously processed through a formal access to information request.

Table 2.4 Pages released informally

Pages Released	Number of Requests	Pages Released
Less than 100	374	4,140
100 to 500	43	9,531
501 to 1000	8	5,724
1001 to 5000	8	18,294
Greater than 5000	1	5,761
Total	434	43,450

2.5 Pages re-released informally

Of the 628 informal requests completed, 194 requests were processed as re-releases. These requests were for copies of previously released records that were processed through informal requests.

2.5 Pages re-released informally

Pages Released	Number of Requests	Pages Released
Less than 100	138	3,217
100 to 500	42	7,294
501 to 1000	11	6,414
1001 to 5000	3	4,512
Greater than 5000	0	0
Total	194	21,437

4. Requests closed during the reporting period

4.1 Disposition and completion time

Of the 235 formal Access to Information requests closed during the reporting period, CIRNAC was able to fully or partially disclose records in 109 cases (46% of the requests) (Table 4.1.1).

Text alternative for Table 4.1.1 Percentage of completed files relevant to each disclosures

Dispositions	Percentage
All disclosed	7%
Disclosed in part	39%
All exempted	1%
All excluded	0%
No records exist	36%
Request transferred	4%
Request abandoned	13%

About 17% percent of requests were abandoned or transferred to the appropriate government institution (47 cases). Only 1% of all requests (2 cases) had the relevant records fully withheld under the provisions of the Act. Finally, there were no records that existed in response to 36% of the requests (85 cases) (Table 4.1.2).

Table 4.1.2 Disposition and completion time

Disposition	Completion Time (days)
	1 to 15	16 to 30	31 to 60	61 to 120	121 to 180	181 to 365	> 365	Total
All disclosed	0	5	2	6	0	1	3	17
Disclosed in part	0	1	8	14	19	19	31	92
All exempted	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2
All excluded	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
No records exist	20	30	19	9	3	4	0	85
Request transferred	2	6	0	1	1	0	0	10
Request abandoned	15	6	4	0	0	1	3	29
Neither confirmed nor denied	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Decline to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	37	48	33	30	23	25	39	235

4.2 Exemptions

The most commonly invoked exemption during the reporting period was pursuant to section 21(1) (advise and deliberations), which was cited in 144 requests (Table 4.2). The next most commonly invoked exemption applied was pursuant to section 20(1) (third party information) which was applied in 94 instances, and finally, the exemption pursuant to section 19(1) (personal information) was applied in 64 instances.

Table 4.2 Number of requests closed where exemption provisions were invoked

Section	Number of requests
13(1)(c)	9
13(1)(e)	8
14	3
14(a)	10
14(b)	1
15(1)	1
16(1)(c)	1
16(2)	6
16(2)(c)	10
18(b)	1
18(d)	2
19(1)	64
20(1)(a)	2
20(1)(b)	44
20(1)(c)	23
20(1)(d)	25
21(1)(a)	48
21(1)(b)	60
21(1)(c)	33
21(1)(d)	3
23	25
26	1

4.3 Exclusions

In 2023-2024, the Department applied 20 mandatory exclusion provisions on requests completed. The most frequent exclusion applied was section 69(1)(g) re (a), which are records containing information related to Memoranda to Cabinet (Table 4.3).

Table 4.3 Number of requests closed where exclusion provisions were applied

Section	Number of requests
68(a)	2
68.1	2
68.2(a)	2
69(1)	1
69(1)(a)	1
69(1)(c)	1
69(1)(g) re (a)	5
69(1)(g) re (b)	2
69(1)(g) re (c)	1
69(1)(g) re (e)	3

4.4 Format of information released

Over the course of this reporting period, the majority of responses were provided to the requesters electronically through E-post Connect or through e-mail. On 2 (two) occasions, records were provided with paper copies through standard mail (Table 4.4).

Table 4.4 Format of information released

Paper	Electronic				Other
	E-Record	Data Set	Video	Audio
2	107	0	0	0	0

4.5 Complexity

The following sections outline several factors affecting the complexity of requests that were completed throughout 2023-2024.

4.5.1 Relevant pages processed and disclosed

Of the 235 requests closed, 140 requests generated 83,528 pages processed. The total amount of pages disclosed was 24,281 during the reporting period (Table 4.5.1).

Table 4.5.1 Relevant pages processed and disclosed

Number of Pages Processed	Number of Pages Disclosed	Number of Requests
83,528	24,281	140

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

Of the 140 requests, 84 requests (60%) required the processing of 100 pages or less. 44 requests contained 101-1000 pages accounting for the processing of 15,232 pages. 4 (four) requests, containing greater than 5000 pages, accounted for the processing of 51,317 records.

Table 4.5.2 Relevant pages processed per request disposition by size of requests.

Dispositions	< 100 pages		101-500 pages		501-1000 pages		1001-5000 pages		> 5000 pages
	Requests	Pages	Requests	Pages	Requests	Pages	Requests	Pages	Requests	Pages
All disclosed	15	369	2	298	0	0	0	0	0	0
Disclosed in part	42	1,434	28	6,046	12	8,162	8	15,075	2	13,944
All exempted	1	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5700
All excluded	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Abandoned	26	83	1	160	1	566	0	0	1	31,673
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
Total	84	1,904	31	6,504	13	8,728	8	15,075	4	51,317

4.5.3 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for audio formats

No audio files were provided to the CIRNAC ATIP office in response to an ATIA request.

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

No audio files were provided to the CIRNAC ATIP office in response to an ATIA request.

4.5.5 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for video formats

No video files were provided to the CIRNAC ATIP office in response to an ATIA request.

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

No video files were provided to the CIRNAC ATIP office in response to an ATIA request.

4.5.7 Other complexities

During the reporting period, the Department consulted other federal institutions 42 times and non federal government organizations 6 times. The most frequently consulted institutions included Public Safety, Fisheries and Oceans, and Privy Council Office. Consultations with third parties were required in 114 instances with First Nations, organizations, and businesses. More than one institution can be consulted per request. Other complexities included requests with high profile subject matter, requests for contents of a database, and instances where records needed to be retrieved from other regions (Table 4.5.7).

Table 4.5.7 Other complexities

Disposition	Consultation required	Legal advice sought	Other	Total
All disclosed	5	0	10	15
Disclosed in part	45	8	38	91
All exempted	2	0	0	2
All excluded	0	0	0	0
Abandoned	3	0	10	13
Neither confirmed nor denied	0	0	0	0
Declined to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner	0	0	0	0
Total	55	8	58	121

4.6 Closed Requests

4.6.1 Number of requests closed within legislated timelines

The following section reports the number and percentage of requests closed within legislated timelines, with or without extensions, during the current reporting period. Overall, 142 files were closed within legislative timelines, representing 60% compliance. The results from 2023-2024 demonstrate a decrease in compliance rates down from 67% achieved in the previous fiscal year.

Table 4.6.1 Requests closed within legislated timelines

Number of requests closed within legislated timelines	142
Percentage of requests closed within legislated timelines (%)	60.43

4.7 Deemed refusals

4.7.1 Reasons for not meeting legislated timelines

During the reporting period, CIRNAC did not respond within the statutory timelines on 93 occasions. The majority of deemed refusals (late) were a result of challenges in the Departments ability to retrieve records and process requests with existing resource levels. Other challenges experienced by the ATIP Office included: finding and hiring staff at junior levels for the Developmental Program meeting the basic requirements; large volume of records for a few files; and a large volume of files received in a short time frame, which contributed to surges in workload that was not manageable with existing resources. This was exasperated by unpredictable Information Commissioner Orders that necessitated the reassignment of senior analysts and sector specialists. Additionally, external consultations with Indigenous organizations and other institutions create additional pressures. All of these factors affected the workload and overall performance for the Department.

Table 4.7.1 Reasons for not meeting legislated timelines

Number of requests closed past the legislated timelines	Principal Reasons
	Interference with Operations / Workload	External Consultation	Internal Consultation	Other
93	70	12	0	11

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

Requests closed beyond legislated timelines include files where an extension was requested. For the current reporting period, the total number of closed requests that were deemed refusals (late) was broken down by the number of days that elapsed past the legislated timelines. During this reporting period, 39 requests had no extensions applied and 54 requests applied extensions pursuant to section 9(1) of the Act and were closed beyond the legislated timelines.

Table 4.7.2 Requests closed beyond legislated timelines (including any extension 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
1 to 15 days	5	3
16 to 30 days	5	3
31 to 60 days	6	9
61 to 120 days	7	4
121 to 180 days	3	3
181 to 365 days	6	6
More than 365 days	7	26
Total	39	54

4.8 Requests for translation

During the reporting period, there were no instances where a requester asked for responsive records to be translated to another official language.

6. Fees

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

In accordance with the changes to the ATIA that came into force on June 21, 2019, CIRNAC may only charge an application fee of $5, as set out in paragraph 7(1)(a) of the Regulations. Pursuant to section 11 of the ATIA, institutions can waive this application fee as deemed appropriate.

In November 2023, CIRNAC made the decision to eliminate the $5 fee for all applicants when submitting a formal request under the ATIA for the purpose of advancing Indigenous Reconciliation. As of December 1, 2023 this took effect meaning that all requests submitted to our department through the ATIP Online request portal no longer required payment.

With respect to fees collected under the ATIA, the information below is reported in accordance with the requirements of section 20 of the Service Fees Act.

Under the authority of the ATIA, prior to the decision to eliminate all application fees, the Department collected a $5 application fee for 168 requests, a total of $840 (Table 5). 71 requests had applicable fees waived and a total of $355 was not collected.

Text alternative for Table 6. Fees collected and waived

Fees Collected	Fees Waived
$840.00	$355.00

7. Consultations Received from other Institutions and Organizations

The Access to Information and Privacy Office, communicates with other departments to inquire on their service standards in order to ensure legislative timelines are met.

7.1 Consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions and organizations

The Department received 69 consultations for a total of 5,885 pages, and 2 (two) consultations from other organizations with another 232 pages to review. 7 (seven) files from the previous year were carried over, for a total of 78 consultations to be processed in 2023-2024 (Table 7.1). A total of 69 consultations were completed, which included the review of 4,063 pages.

Consultation received from Other Government of Canada institutions are other government institutions subject to the Act. Other organizations includes provincial governments, territories, and municipalities in addition to consultations received from other countries.

Table 7.1a Consultation received and carried over from the previous reporting period from other Government of Canada institutions and organizations

Consultations	Other Government of Canada Institutions	Pages to Review	Other Organizations	Pages to Review
Received during reporting period	69	5,885	2	232
Outstanding from the previous reporting period	7	1,501	0	0
Total	76	7,386	2	232

Table 7.1b Consultation received from other Government of Canada institutions and organizations closed and carried over to next reporting period

Consultations	Other Government of Canada Institutions	Pages to Review	Other Organizations	Pages to Review
Closed during the reporting period	68	4,032	1	31
Carried over to next reporting period	8	3,354	1	201

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

In 2023-2024, of the 68 consultations completed, 45 consultations or 66% were recommended by the Department for full disclosure (Table 7.2). 39 consultations or 57%, were completed within 60 days of their receipt. There were 12 occurrences (17%) where the Department required longer than 120 days to provide a response to their request.

Text alternative for Table 7.2 Consultation and completion time for consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions

	1 to 15	16 to 30	31 to 60	61 to 120	121 to 180	181 to 365	> 365
Disclose entirely	6	9	13	7	8	2	0
Disclose in part	2	3	2	7	1	1	0
Exempt entirely	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
Exclude entirely	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Consult other institution	1	1	1	2	0	0	0
Other	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

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

In 2023-2024, the Department received 2 (two) new consultation requests from other organizations and 1 (one) consultation was closed in the course of the same period. This request was recommended to be partially disclosed.

Text alternative for Table 7.3 Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other organizations

	1 to 15	16 to 30	31 to 60	61 to 120	121 to 180	181 to 365	> 365
Disclose entirely	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Disclose in part	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Exempt entirely	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Exclude entirely	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Consult other institution	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

V. Monitoring Compliance

The ATIP Office does weekly, monthly, quarterly and ad hoc reporting on all aspects of ATIP Operations and compliance with all levels of staff. During the reporting period there were weekly meetings with Minister's Office, Deputy Minister's Office, Parliamentary Affairs and Communications in order to present the incoming and outgoing requests. Monthly statistical reporting of ATIP Operations is completed and presented to the Corporate Secretary, as well as quarterly reporting on compliance for sectors. The Director of ATIP meets on an ad hoc basis to discuss non-compliance with the sector heads. The System Administrator is responsible for all reporting functions including the time taken to process access to information requests and Operations Unit compliance.

All levels of analysts prepare consultations with other government departments, however a Team Leader will review and send the consultation only when there is an intention to disclose in order to limit inter-institutional consultations. Discretion is appropriately exercised and reviewed by a Team Leader each time a consultation is required.

When a request is received by the Intake Unit, a search is done to ensure that the request is unique or novel. Duplicate or similar requests, are offered informally to improve access. For frequently requested types of information, the Intake Unit maintains an evergreen list of topics and subjects for ease of reference. This process repeated for each request received to reduce the workload of the Operations unit and sectors, thereby easing the burden on the Department as a whole and improving access for the public.

The ATIP Office has included contracts, information sharing agreements and information sharing arrangements in its process for publishing of programs and activities, and the information holdings related to programs and activities, of government institutions (InfoSource).

Due to limited resources there is no centralized oversight monitoring of the accuracy and completeness of proactively published information pursuant to Part 2 of the Act.

VI. Training and Awareness

During the reporting period, the ATIP Office provided ATIP 101 and 102 training sessions consisting of ATIP awareness and information and specific ATIP Liaison Officer training, respectively. These training sessions provide general ATIP information such as purpose of the Access to Information and Privacy Acts, history, as well as general applications of the Acts. Included is departmental specific information such as most commonly applied exemptions and information on working effectively with our Indigenous partners. The ATIP Liaison Officer training addresses common practices and processes for each sector, compliance and internal service standards. In addition to these training sessions, the ATIP Office meets bi-yearly with our Liaison Officers for a Town Hall session in order to establish open and transparent communication with our internal partners. This past fiscal year, a total of 170 CIRNAC staff were trained in ATIP 101 and 102 sessions.

Ad hoc training sessions are often done by ATIP Team Leaders and the Deputy Directors with all levels of staff, including but not limited to, senior management, Deputy Minister's and Minister's offices. These sessions range from ATIP awareness sessions, informal briefings on the Acts or a topic of interest related to ATIP. One-on-one training sessions are also done with senior management and the Director and Deputy Directors. These types of training and awareness is to ensure consistency with the application of the Acts and create open and transparent dialogue within the Department.

VII. Policies, Guidelines, and Procedures

The ATIP Office strives to update their internal policies and procedures in order to comply with new Treasury Board of Canada directives and policies. This past fiscal year, the ATIP Office updated their Proactive Publication procedures in order to streamline the process. Due to the influx of orders received by the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada, the process for informing the Deputy Minister and responding to orders were updated. Guidelines for dealing with medical files, simple privacy requests, and day school requests were also updated during this reporting period. The ATIP Manual, consisting of all policies and procedures within the unit, was also updated. Procedures that were updated include: Closing of Requests; Complaints Procedure; Informal Requests chapters; and Release Chart Procedures.

VIII. Proactive Publication under Part 2 of the ATIA

Proactive publication is a department wide effort with contributions from multiple sectors across both ISC and CIRNAC, including the Corporate Secretariat, Human Resources and Workplace Services, and the Chief Finances, Results and Delivery Officer sector. As the responsibilities of proactively publishing is a department wide effort; Each sector has developed their own workflows in order to streamline and post on our Departmental website or Open Canada within the obligatory timelines. CCM Enterprise and GCDocs are used to manage information and consult with sectors. Certain publications such as briefing binders, briefing note title lists, and packages of briefing material are reviewed by the ATIP office prior to publication. The table below outlines each legislative requirement, section of the Act, publication timeline, the link to the publication, and the overall compliance for the 2023-2024 year (Table 12.1).

IX. 2023-2024 Points of Interest

Since November 30, 2017, the ATIP Office has administered the Access to Information Act Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs (CIRNAC) and Indigenous Services Canada (ISC). This past fiscal year (2023-2024) was the sixth full year of reporting for CIRNAC under the ATIA.

The Department received 239 ATIA requests and closed 235. It processed 83,528 pages of records under the legislation and carried over 183 files into the new year (2024-2025).

The largest source of access to information requests was individuals who identified as members of the public at 40%, followed by businesses at 26%.

In addition, 71 requests for consultation were received from other institutions and organizations, resulting in the processing of 4,063 pages of records. A further, 277 informal requests were received and 628 were completed during this reporting period.

The majority of exemptions applied pursuant to the ATIA were subject to section 21 (advice and deliberations), followed by section 20(1) (third party information) and finally section 19 (personal information). The exclusion applied the most under the Act was section 69(1) (cabinet confidences) as they generally contained references to records related to funding via Treasury Board Submission or Memoranda to Cabinet.

Extensions were requested beyond 30 days, pursuant to section 9(1)(a) of the ATIA, for interference with operations, due to the increase demand on the ATIP Office and the Department and associated workloads. Extensions were also required pursuant to 9(1)(b) and 9(1)(c) for the purpose of consultations with other government departments and Indigenous organizations.

The Department received 11 complaints from the Office of the Information Commissioner. 22 complaints were closed resulting in the processing of 43,593 pages.

Pursuant Bill C-58, and the amendments to the ATIA which added a requirement for mandatory proactive publication of specific information produced by government institutions, the Department has remained compliant and continues to ensure publication of all required documents either on the departmental website or Open Canada.

During the fiscal year, the ATIP office also provided recommendations to the sectors concerning proactive disclosures. A total of 38 files were processed and 1,950 pages were reviewed.

A total of 170 CIRNAC employees were trained on their responsibilities under the ATIA and Privacy Act (PA) in 2023-2024.

The ATIP Office continuously monitors progress on all ATIA request files. Reports are prepared monthly to ensure compliance with legislative timelines so that risks can be mitigated. Each quarter reports are produced on the Department's performance in meeting legislative time frames and these are shared with the senior management.

In December, 2023, the Department took the initiative to wave all fees for incoming Access to Information requests to remove existing barriers to access for Indigenous requesters. With the help of TBS, there is no payment required when submitting a request under the ATIA to our department both directly and on the ATIP online request portal.

In 2023-2024, CIRNAC spent $1,392,782 on staffing and goods and services in support of the ATIA. This includes the purchase of a new case management system.

Order of Delegation of the Access to Information Act dated January 28, 2021

I, the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, pursuant to section 95 of the Access to Information Act and section 73 of the Privacy Act, hereby delegate the persons holding the positions set out in the Delegation of Authority Schedule attached hereto, or the persons occupying on an acting basis those positions, to exercise the powers, duties and functions of the Minister as head of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, under the provisions of the Act and related regulations set out in the schedule opposite each position. This delegation supersedes all previous delegation orders.

Original document signed on January 28, 2021

The Honourable Carolyn Bennett
Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations

Designation Pursuant to Section 73 of the Access to Information Act

6

Advise requesters that we need additional information to proceed with their request

7(a)

Give written notice to requestor that we can proceed with the request

8(1)

Transfer request to another institution or accept transfer from another institution

9

Extend time limits

10

Refuse to acknowledge or deny the existence of records

11

Charge additional fees

12

Provide access in alternate format

13

Exempt information obtained in confidence

14

Exempt information pertaining to federal-provincial affairs

15

Exempt information pertaining to international affairs and/or defence

16

Exempt information pertaining to law enforcement and investigations

17

Exempt information pertaining to the safety of individuals

18

Exempt information pertaining to the economic interests of Canada

19

Exempt personal information

20

Exempt or disclose third party information

21

Exempt information pertaining to advice, decision-making processes of government plans and positions etc.

22

Exempt information pertaining to testing procedures or audits

23

Exempt information pertaining to solicitor-client privilege

24

Exempt information subject to statutory prohibitions or other Acts of Parliament

25

Sever information

26

Exempt information to be published within 90 days

27(1)(4)

Notify third parties of their rights to provide comments/representations regarding the disclosure of their records

28

Receive third party representations; make a decision as to whether to disclose the record or part thereof; and, notify third party of right to appeal to Federal Court

29(1)

Disclose information on Information Commissioner's recommendation

33

Advise the Information Commissioner of any third-party involvement

35(2)

Make representations to the Information Commissioner during an investigation

37(4)

Release information to complainant

43(1)

Issue a notice to a third party of an application for Court review

44(2)

Issue a notice to an applicant that a third party has applied for Court review

52

Request special rules for hearings

69

Exclude Cabinet Confidences

71

Inspect and exempt information in manuals

72(1)

Prepare Annual Report to Parliament

77

Carry out responsibilities conferred to the Head of the institution by the regulations made under section 77 which are not included in the above

please see Access to Information Act for more information on the Access to Information Act.

Designation Pursuant to Section 73 of the Privacy Act

Sections and Powers, Duties or Functions

8(2)

Disclose personal information without the consent of the individual to whom it relates

8(4)

Keep copies of requests made under 8(2)(e), keep records of information disclosed pursuant to such requests and to make those records available to Privacy Commissioner

8(5)

Notify the Privacy Commissioner in writing of disclosure under paragraph 8(2)(m)

9(1)

Retain a record of use of personal information

9(4)

Notify the Privacy Commissioner of consistent use of personal information and update index accordingly

10

Include personal information in personal information banks

11(a)

Publish annually an index of all personal information banks and their respective contents

11(b)

Publish annually an index of all personal information held by the institution which is not part of a bank

14

Respond to request for access, within statutory deadline; give access or give notice

15

Extend time limit and notify applicant

16

Where access is refused

17(2)(b)

Language of access or alternative format of access

17(3)(b)

Access to personal information in alternative format

18(2)

May refuse to disclose information contained in an exempt bank

19(1)

Shall refuse to disclose information obtained in confidence from another government

19(2)

May disclose any information referred to in 19(1) if the other government consents to the disclosure or makes the information pubic

20

May refuse to disclose information injurious to federal-provincial affairs

21

May refuse to disclose information injurious to international affairs and/or defence

22

May refuse to disclose information injurious to law enforcement and investigation

23

May refuse to disclose information injurious to security clearances

24

May refuse to disclose information collected by the Canadian Penitentiary Service, the National Parole Service or the National Parole Board

25

May refuse to disclose information injurious to which could threaten the safety of individuals

26

May refuse to disclose information about other individuals, and shall refuse to disclose such information where disclosure is prohibited under section 8

27

May refuse to disclose information subject to solicitor-client privilege

28

May refuse to disclose information relating to an individual's physical or mental health where disclosure is contrary to the best interests of the individual

31

Receive notice of investigation by the Privacy Commissioner

33(2)

Make representations to the Privacy Commissioner during an investigation

35(1)

Receive the Privacy Commissioner's report of findings of the investigation and give notice of action taken

35(4)

Give complainant access to information after 35(1)(b) notice

36(3)

Receive Privacy Commissioner's report of findings of investigation of exempt

37(3)

Receive report of Privacy Commissioner's findings after compliance investigation where the institution has not complied with sections 4 to 8

51(2)(b)

Request that matter be heard and determined in National Capital Region

51(3)

Request and be given right to make representations in section 51 hearing

72(1)

Prepare Annual Report to Parliament

77

Carry out responsibilities conferred on the Head of the institution by the regulations made under section 77 which are not included above

Please see Privacy Act for more information on the Privacy Act

Section 1: Requests Under the Access to Information Act

Section 2: Informal Requests

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

Section 4: Requests Closed During the Reporting Period

Section 5: Extensions

Section 6: Fees

Section 7: Consultations Received From Other Institutions and Organizations

Section 8: Completion Time of Consultations on Cabinet Confidences

Section 9: Investigations and Reports of finding

Section 10: Court Action

Section 11: Resources Related to the Access to Information Act