2018–2019 Annual Report to Parliament - Access to Information Act

Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • Mandate of the Canadian Space Agency
  • Mission
• Organizational Structure
  • Delegations of Authority
  • Evolving Role of the ATIP Office
  • Request Processing Procedure
• Highlights of the 2018-2019 statistical report
  • Requests received and processed
  • Sources of requests
  • Informal requests
  • Provisions and processing times
  • Exceptions and exclusions invoked
  • Medium used to disclose records
  • Pages reviewed and disclosed
  • Consultations and extensions
  • Consultations received from other federal institutions
  • Consultations Regarding Cabinet Confidences
• Access to information fees reports under the Service Fees Act
• Training and awareness
• Policies, guidelines, procedures and initiatives
  • Updates
• Summary of key issues and action taken regarding complaints or audits
  • Complaints
  • Audits
  • Compliance monitoring
• Conclusion
• Delegation order
• Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act

Introduction

The Access to Information Act (the Act) came into effect on July 1, 1983.

The Act gives Canadians, permanent residents and any other person in Canada a general right of access to information contained in government records, subject to certain exemptions.

Pursuant to section 72, the head of every federal institution shall prepare an annual report on the administration of the Act within the institution. The reports are submitted to Parliament at the end of each fiscal year.

This report provides information on the activities of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) related to the administration of the Act during the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

Mandate of the Canadian Space Agency

To provide a better understanding of the context in which the Act is implemented at the CSA, this section gives an overview of the CSA's objectives and activities.

The CSA reports to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. Its mandate, as set out in the Canadian Space Agency Act, is "to promote the peaceful use and development of space, to advance the knowledge of space through science and to ensure that space science and technology provide social and economic benefits for Canadians."

Mission

The CSA is committed to leading the development and application of space knowledge for the benefit of Canadians and humanity.

To fulfil its mission, the CSA:

• pursues excellence collectively;
• advocates a client-centred attitude;
• supports employee-oriented practices and open communications;
• commits itself to both empowerment and accountability; and
• pledges to co-operate and work with partners for our mutual benefit.

The CSA has been an inspiration to Canadians for more than 25 years. In addition to consolidating major federal space programs, it co-ordinates all the components of the Canadian Space Program and manages Canada's major space-related activities. The CSA has the skills to remain at the forefront of knowledge in the specialized fields where Canada excels, while sponsoring, supporting and encouraging Canada's promising and space-ready companies and institutions.

More information on the CSA's activities can be found at: www.asc-csa.gc.ca.

Organizational Structure

Delegations of Authority

Under the Act, the head of the CSA is the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. In June 2016, some of the powers under the Act were delegated by the Minister to the incumbents of the CSA positions of vice-president, chief information officer, and Access to Information and Open Data co-ordinator. The appended grid on delegation of authorities identifies the powers delegated.

The Access to Information and Open Data co-ordinator is responsible for implementing the Act on a daily basis and reports to the vice-president and the chief information officer.

The Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Office is managed by the Access to Information and Open Data co-ordinator and falls under the authority of the chief information officer. The ATIP Office has two employees who work closely with all areas of the CSA to implement and uphold the Act.

Evolving Role of the ATIP Office

In 2016–17, the ATIP Office was mandated not only to process access-to-information requests and report on the administration of the Act, but also to implement the Open Government initiative.

Open government is becoming a global priority in improving transparency and making information more readily available to the public. The Government of Canada is no exception in that regard and has implemented a series of commitments in which departments and agencies are taking part. The objective is to disseminate as much information as possible to the public, an activity that can be closely linked to the administration of the Act.

Further to a decision to link access-to-information and open government activities, the ATIP Office has become a one-stop shop for CSA employees wishing to share information and members of the public wishing to obtain information.

This innovative and effective pairing, which resulted from a centralization of activities, has made it possible for the CSA to optimize its acquisition and application of knowledge. However, in order to ensure that access-to-information service standards are met despite the addition of a second mandate, the CSA has assigned an additional full-time employee to access-to-information and open data activities.

Request Processing Procedure

When it receives a request under the Act, the ATIP Office consults the CSA's office of primary interest and, when necessary and appropriate depending on the case, Justice Canada, the information-related communities of practice, the Treasury Board Secretariat or other institutions.

The ATIP Office uses a computerized ATIP request processing system to record the administrative actions taken, to review the records in question and to apply any exceptions and exemptions.

Various consultations may occur in the course of processing access-to-information requests. The ATIP Office primarily consults third parties because the CSA holds many records of theirs. The ATIP Office validates the confidential nature of the information in its care with the third parties. The groups consulted are usually other departments or CSA partners or contractors. When it is believed that a record must be excluded under the Act, the CSA will also undertake consultations with Justice Canada, which, if necessary, will seek the opinion of the Privy Council Office to ensure that it is in fact an excluded record.

Once the records have been analyzed and consultations have taken place, the CSA recommends exemptions to the CSA's vice-president and chief information officer, who are responsible for approving the release of records under the Act.

The records in response to access-to-information requests are then sent to the requesters. Lastly, a summary of the completed access-to-information requests is posted on a monthly basis on open.canada.ca.

Highlights of the 2018-2019 statistical report

The statistical report for the period from April 1st, 2018 to March 31st, 2019 is included at the end of this report.

Requests received and processed

The CSA received a larger number of access-to-information requests in the current fiscal year compared with the previous year. The number of requests received rose from 17 to 33 during the year, a 94% increase.

In addition to the requests received in 2018-2019, one request was carried over from the previous year. In total, the CSA processed 34 requests in 2018-2019, while 5 requests were carried over to the next fiscal year.

The following table illustrates the trend in requests received and carried over in the last five fiscal years.

Sources of requests

The percentage of applicants who did not want to be identified increased to 15% compared with the previous year, when the rate was 6%. This year also saw a decrease in requests from the private sector (9%) and the public (12%), while last year the percentage was 24% and 35%, respectively. Last year, no requests were received from universities, while this year, the percentage of requests received was 34%.

The percentage of requests from the media decreased slightly to 30%, from 35% in 2017-2018.

The following table presents the sources of the requests.

Informal requests

Informal requests are requests for information that have already been released under the Act. In such cases, no fees can be charged and the request is not subject to a response time. In addition, the Act does not give the requester the right to file a complaint with the Information Commissioner.

The CSA has noted an increase in such access-to-information requests, in the wake of the release of summaries of completed requests on open.canada.ca. This one-stop portal seems to have contributed substantially to the increase in requests, since requesters may submit them electronically there, thus facilitating access to records that are already published.

The majority of informal requests (87%) received in 2018-2019 were submitted through the Open Government portal, further to the release of summaries of completed access to information requests. This rate was 88% in 2017-2018.

The number of informal requests processed in 2018-2019 rose from 25 to 31 requests (+24%).

In total, 94% of requests were processed within 15 days or less, while 6% received a response within 16 to 30 days.

The following table shows the variances in the number of informal requests received over the past five years.

Provisions and processing times

The Act stipulates that access to information requests must normally be responded to within 30 calendar days. Among those processed in 2018-2019, 16 requests (89%) were responded to within the time frame. This rate decreased to 69% this year, mainly because of the consultations required to process requests. The following table illustrates the processing times for the current year.

It should also be noted that the Act provides for extended time frames for some requests if consultations are needed with third parties or other organizations. Given the nature of the records requested from the CSA in 2018-2019, nine processed requests required such consultations. Therefore, factoring in these extensions authorized by the Act, 86% of the requests were responded to within the prescribed time frame.

Of the 29 requests processed this year, 12 requests (41%) resulted in partial disclosure, while 9 requests (31%) resulted in full disclosure. For the other requests, either the requests themselves were abandoned by the requesters, or no related records were sent in response. In one specific case, the CSA had to invoke a special provision not to confirm or deny the existence of documents, so that it would not disclose injurious information simply by confirming the existence of a document. The following table shows all of the provisions that were invoked.

Exceptions and exclusions invoked

Of the 29 requests processed this year, 41% required exemptions. Two of these requests also required exclusions as well as 16 to 30 days of consultations with Legal Services.

The following table shows the frequency of exemptions and exclusions invoked in 2018-2019 for the 12 requests that resulted in partial disclosure. Note that more than one section may apply to a given request.

Medium used to disclose records

In 2018-2019, a total of 21 requests resulted in the disclosure of records. Only one response was disclosed in paper format, while the other requests (95%) were disclosed electronically. As in previous years, none of the records was consulted in the CSA's reading room.

Pages reviewed and disclosed

With the Treasury Board Secretariat's introduction in 2011-2012 of a new detailed statistical report, it is now possible to report the number of pages reviewed and compare it with the number of pages disclosed.

The number of pages reviewed or disclosed can vary considerably from year to year, depending on the subject matter of the requests and the quantity of relevant records held by the CSA.

The increase in requests also led to an increase in the number of pages disclosed, i.e. 2,984 pages in 2018-2019. This increased the average number of pages disclosed to 142 pages per request, compared with an average of 78 pages in 2017-2018.

It is also interesting to compare these numbers with the record number of 55 requests processed in 2016-2017. The average of 113 pages processed per request in 2016-2017 was also surpassed over the course of this year.

The majority of processed requests were less than 100 pages in length (75 %), the same percentage as in the previous two years. It should also be noted that three requests of over 501 pages were processed. The effort required to process the requests was therefore greater than in 2017-2018, since none of the requests was longer than 501 pages during that period.

Consultations and extensions

The CSA collects some third-party information due to its relationship with different partners in various projects.

Therefore, it is not unusual for the requests processed to involve consultation with third parties and, consequently, lead to time extensions under the Act. The CSA consults third parties and sometimes other federal institutions with the aim of providing as much information as possible, in accordance with the spirit and letter of the Act. The complexity level is also evidenced by the fact that some of the requests require consultation with more than one entity.

In 2018-2019, nine processed requests were somewhat complex due to the need for consultations or legal advice. This was higher than last year, where only two requests required consultations.

In most cases (88%), the processed requests required external consultation, while the others (32%) needed legal consultations.

The requesters for each of these requests were informed of the extension, as specified in the Act.

Consultations received from other federal institutions

In 2018-2019, the CSA received 33 consultation requests from other federal departments and one from another organization, or 34 consultation requests in total. This is a slight decrease (11 %) compared with the previous year (34 in 2018-2019, compared with 37 in 2017-2018).

In addition to the consultation requests received in 2018-2019, there was one request carried over from the previous year. Therefore, in total, the CSA processed 32 requests in 2018-2019, while 3 requests were carried over to the following fiscal year.

It should also be noted that the number of pages processed during consultations decreased sharply, from 1,457 in 2017-2018 to 635 pages in 2018-2019. This decrease also affects the average number of processed pages; in 2017-2018 an average of 39 pages were processed per request, while in 2018-2019 the average was 20 pages per request.

Processing times for these consultations were largely (94%) less than 30 days. The rest of the consultations (6%) were processed in 31 to 60 days.

The following graph shows the variance in the number of consultation requests over the past five years.

Of these 32 consultations, the CSA recommended full disclosure of the records in 23 cases (72%) and partial disclosure in 9 others (28%).

Consultations Regarding Cabinet Confidences

In 2018-2019, there were two requests for exclusions, compared with one last year. These consultations with Legal Services took 16 to 30 days.

Justice Canada was consulted because of the Treasury Board Secretariat's 2013 directives, which stipulate that Justice Canada may now confirm how to apply section 69. The directives have helped improve consultation times over the past few years.

Access to information fees reports under the Service Fees Act

The Service Fees Act requires a responsible authority to submit an annual report to Parliament concerning any fees received by the institution.

As for fees received under the Access to Information Act, the information below is declared in accordance with section 20 of the Service Fees Act.

• Enabling authority: Access to Information Act.

• Fee amount: The only fees charged for 2018-2019 are submission fees of $5 per request.

• Total revenue: A total of $140 was received for the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

• Fees waived: In accordance with the Interim Directive on the Administration of the Access to Information Act, issued on May 5, 2016, the CSA waives all fees prescribed by the Act and the Regulations, other than the $5 submission fee set out in paragraph 7(1)(a) of the Regulations.

  For the 2018-2019 fiscal year, application fees were waived for six requests, a total of $30. This was because two requests that were received this year had to be broken up, as they were about different subjects. The CSA felt that it was preferable to break up these requests so the requesters would receive a response as quickly as possible.

• Program operating costs: Total operating costs were $55,910 for the 2018-2019 fiscal year. Of this amount, 95%, or $53,389, was for salaries. The cost of goods and services amounted to $2,521. Those expenditures primarily involved maintenance and licensing costs for the electronic ATIP request processing system, as well as costs for administrative supplies, training and travel.

Training and awareness

In addition to managing ATIP requests, ATIP Office staff provide CSA employees with guidance and advice on complying with the Act. The guidance and advice is presented in a personalized way based on requests.

In 2018-2019, the ATIP Office offered training on the Act to all CSA employees through its corporate calendar of mandatory and optional training. Employees were invited to take the Access to Information and Privacy Fundamentals (I015) course given by the Canada School of Public Service. A total of 15 employees took the training.

Information sessions on processing ATIP requests and awareness sessions on record marking at the CSA are also available upon request. However, none of those sessions were given in 2018-2019.

Policies, guidelines, procedures and initiatives

Updates

The CSA's policies, guidelines and procedures for administering the Act, including section 67.1, are posted on its intranet. In 2017-2018, updates to those tools were initiated. However, the work was suspended owing to the introduction of Bill C-58 to amend the Act. Once the bill receives Royal Assent, the ATIP Office will complete the updates.

Summary of key issues and action taken regarding complaints or audits

Complaints

Last year, one complaint was still pending with the Information Commissioner. The complaint had been sent to the CSA in September 2016 under section 32 of the Act. Since the complaint was received, a number of discussions about the CSA's application of exemptions have been held with the investigator. Following these discussions, new information was disclosed to the grievor. In June 2018, the Office of the Commissioner sent the CSA its conclusion that the complaint was well founded.

In January 2019, the CSA also received a new complaint under section 32. At the time, a full copy of the administrative file and the rationale for the full response were sent to the Office of the Information Commissioner. No further communication has been received since then.

Audits

An audit exercise on the administration of the Act at the CSA was conducted in 2018-2019. The objective of this audit was to determine whether the access to information management framework in place allows the CSA to meet the requirements of the Act.

The audit found that:

• The process in place was effective;
• The requirements set out in the Act, Regulations and Policy were being met;
• Roles, responsibilities and procedures were well defined and were being applied for each type of access to information request;
• Requirements and time limits were being respected;
• The analyses conducted to process requests were being documented and validated;
• Proper accountability reporting was being done in the access to information process;
• Reports were being communicated to CSA management levels in a timely manner;
• Information was being reported to central agencies according to requirements.

The audit identified an opportunity for improvement in relation to the production of the annual statistical report. A recommendation was made to this effect and a management action plan was drafted. After the system used to calculate statistical data was improved, the ATIP Office was better able to check the data included in the report.

Compliance monitoring

The time spent on processing access to information requests is tracked through the electronic ATIP request processing system. For CSA reporting purposes, reports, including one weekly report, are sent to senior management and others concerned by the requests.

Conclusion

Through its ATIP Office, the CSA will continue to carry out its mandate to respond to all access to information requests in accordance with the spirit and letter of the Act. Its mandate will also include the dissemination of data and information as part of the Open Government initiative. In 2019-2020, the CSA will strengthen the implementation of those activities by preparing the future operations required in anticipation of the implementation of Bill C-58.

Delegation order

Canadian Space Agency

Access to Information Act and Privacy Act Delegation Order

The Minister of Industry Canada, pursuant to section 73 of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act, hereby designates the persons holding the positions set out in the schedule hereto, or the persons occupying on an acting basis those positions, to exercise the powers and functions of the Minister as the head of a government institution, under the section of the Acts set out in the schedule opposite each position. This Delegation Order supersedes all previous Delegation Orders

Schedule