Annual Report to Parliament on the Administration of the Access to Information Act 2019-2020

Introduction

The purpose of the Access to Information Act (Act) is to provide Canadian citizens and residents with a right of access to information under the control of government institutions.

This Annual Report was prepared in accordance with section 72 of the Act, which stipulates that annual reports on access to information shall be tabled in Parliament.

About the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (CRCC) operates pursuant to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. R-10. The CRCC provides civilian review of RCMP members' conduct in performing their policing duties so as to hold the RCMP accountable to the public.

The CRCC's main role is to take public complaints about members of the RCMP. These complaints are then forwarded to the RCMP for initial investigation as mandated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act; however, if the complainant is dissatisfied with the response that he or she receives from the RCMP, the CRCC will review the complaint with a view to determining the reasonableness of the RCMP's response. In appropriate cases, the CRCC will undertake its own investigation or hearing into a complaint. The Chairperson of the CRCC also has the power to file his or her own complaint if he or she feels that a matter is deserving of investigation.

Additionally, even in the absence of a public complaint, the CRCC is empowered to conduct a review of RCMP activities to evaluate compliance with legislation, regulations, ministerial directions, policy, procedures and/or guidelines.

ATIP Responsibilities

At the CRCC, the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Unit consists solely of the ATIP Coordinator. The ATIP Coordinator processes all requests from the public and consultations from other departments or agencies. The ATIP Coordinator also provides advice to CRCC employees and senior officials on ATIP-related matters, prepares annual statistical reports, ensures the ongoing accuracy of Info Source, prepares completed Access to Information summaries for proactive disclosure on the CRCC's website, participates in forums for the ATIP community and monitors changes in ATIP policy, guidelines and directives.

When processing requests and consultations under the Access to Information and Privacy Acts, the ATIP Coordinator also benefits from some administrative assistance from personnel in the Information Management Unit of the CRCC and a student assistant.

The CRCC Chairperson, under delegated authority from the Minister of Public Safety, provides the final approval for all responses on ATIP requests and consultations.

During the reporting period, the CRCC was not party to any service agreements under section 96 of the Access to Information Act.

Proactive disclosure responsibilities are shared by Corporate Services, the Chairperson's Office and the Communications group.

Delegation Order

The Minister of Public Safety has delegated full authority under the Act to the CRCC Chairperson and Senior Director, Operations. The Minister has also delegated administrative duties and functions to the CRCC ATIP Coordinator. The most recent delegation order was signed by the Minister of Public Safety on July 4, 2016 (see Annex A).

Access to Information Requests Received

During the course of the reporting period (April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020), thirty‑eight (38) new Access to Information requests were received. Four (4) requests were carried over from the previous year. Of those forty-two (42), thirty-nine (39) requests were processed during that period and three (3) were carried forward into 2020–2021.

Of those thirty-nine (39) requests completed during the reporting period, three (3) were from former complainants to the CRCC and one (1) was from a member of the RCMP. Requestors that self-identified as belonging to categories include eight (8) from the media, two (2) from academia as well as nine (9) from the general public, and twenty (20) declined to self‑identify. Fourteen (14) of those thirty-nine (39) requests completed during the reporting period resulted in partial disclosures, four (4) requests resulted in full disclosure, one (1) was exempted in its entirety, thirteen (13) were transferred to other institutions, one (1) was abandoned, one (1) was treated informally, and no records were found to exist for the other five (5) requests.

Performance

The CRCC processed a similar volume of pages (8,470) in responding to Access to Information requests in the 2019–2020 reporting year to the previous four years:

2019-20 8,470
2018-19 14,995
2017-18 3,312
2016-17 9,962
2015-16 7,570

As noted above, the number of Access to Information requests received in 2019–2020 was thirty-eight 38, which is significantly more than the number received in the preceding four years (25 in 2018-2019; 17 in 2017-18; 11 in 2016-17; and 12 in 2015‑16).

The increase in number of requests received is likely attributable to the ATIP Online Request Service, which has allowed requesters to submit their requests online to the CRCC since late 2018, many of which it turned out were intended for other institutions.

The CRCC claimed exemptions under paragraph 13(1)(c) (Information obtained in confidence from a provincial government), paragraph 13(1)(d) (Information obtained in confidence from a municipal government), paragraph 13(1)(e) (Information obtained in confidence from an aboriginal government), sub-paragraph 16(1)(a)(i) (Information obtained or prepared by an investigative body), paragraph 16(1)(b) (information relating to investigative techniques or plans for specific lawful investigations), paragraph 16(1)(c) (Information that could be injurious to the enforcement of any law of Canada or lawful investigations), subsection 16(2) (Information that could facilitate the commission of an offence), subsection 19(1) (Personal information), paragraph 21(1)(a) (Advice or recommendations), paragraph 21(1)(b) (Consultations or deliberations), paragraph 21(1)(c) (Positions or plans developed for the purpose of negotiations), paragraph 21(1)(d) (Plans relating the management of personnel or the administration of a government institution), section 23 (Solicitor-client privilege), and subsection 24(1) (Statutory prohibitions against disclosure restricted by or pursuant to any provision set out in Schedule II) of the Access to Information Act.

As some of the material requested originated with other departments and external consultation was required, extensions were taken in nine (9) of the requests completed in the reporting period in order to consult. The CRCC also took four (4) extensions for requests that necessitated a search through a large number of records or where meeting the original time limit would have unreasonably interfered with the operations of the CRCC. The CRCC processed 97.4% of requests within legislated timelines. One (1) request was not completed within the statutory deadline due to the need for external consultation. Therefore, thirty-eight (38) of the thirty-nine (39) requests processed were responded to within the established timelines.

The CRCC responded within 30 days for all four (4) requests disclosed in full. For requests disclosed in part, the CRCC took 30 days or less to respond to four (4); 30 to 60 days to respond to four (4) requests; 90 to 120 days to respond to one (1) request; 120 to 150 days to respond to one (1) request; 150 to 180 days to respond to two (2) requests and over 365 days to respond one (1) request. The CRCC responded to two (2) requests in fewer than 30 days where the CRCC withheld all records in their entirety for exemptions. The CRCC responded within 30 days for the thirteen (13) requests that were transferred, the five (5) requests for which records did not exist and the one (1) formal request to which the CRCC responded informally. The CRCC closed the one (1) abandoned request after waiting 60 days for a reply for clarification.

Finally, in 2019–2020, the CRCC received twenty-six (26) consultations from other Government of Canada institutions and had one (1) outstanding from 2018–2019. The CRCC processed twenty-five (25) requests during the reporting period. These consultations mainly related to documents having to do with public complaints against the RCMP, documents showing general employee data such as salary levels, leave information, position classifications and other demographic information, and ministerial briefing materials. They originated from five different government departments. There were no consultations received from other organizations.

See Annex B for the Statistical Report.

Since March 14, 2020, the CRCC implemented exceptional workplace measures to curb the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and protect federal employees and the public. The CRCC Access to Information and Privacy staff are working from home most of the time, but complete tasks that cannot be performed remotely by attending the CRCC workplace as required. This work is supported by part-time on-site information management staff.

Reporting on Access to Information Fees for the Purposes of the Service Fees Act

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

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

Enabling authority: Access to Information Act

• Fee amount: $5, the only fee charged for an ATI request
• Total revenue: $150
• Fees waived: $45
• Cost of operating the program: $49,492

Training and Awareness

During the reporting period, no CRCC employees participated in formal access to information training. Guidance on access to information matters was provided on an ad hoc basis (e.g. in person, by email and through the CRCC's electronic newsletter).

Significant Changes

Due to the increasing complexity and sensitivity of the records being requested, the ATIP Unit conducted in-person consultations more frequently with Offices of Primary Interest for disclosure advice.

Monitoring of Timeliness

The CRCC monitors the time to process Access to Information requests through its case management software. The ATIP Coordinator keeps track of upcoming deadlines for requests and consultations. Reminders of approaching deadlines are provided to senior management at least once a month. The ATIP Coordinator meets regularly with the CRCC Chairperson and General Counsel to discuss various issues pertaining to in-progress ATIP files.

Complaints

During the reporting period, there were six (6) complaints filed against the CRCC.

Three (3) of those complaints related to the length of extensions taken. The Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) concluded that one of the complaints was not well-founded and the other two were still under investigation on March 31, 2020.

Of the remaining complaints, two (2) of the complaints involved a refusal to release records, and one (1) alleged that the CRCC did not perform a proper or complete search for records. These three (3) complaints were still under investigation on March 31, 2020.

Furthermore, three (3) complaints had been carried over from the 2018-19 reporting period and the OIC issued findings for all of them during the reporting period of 2019‑20. Two (2) of those complaints related to the exemptions applied by the CRCC. During the investigations, the CRCC agreed to release additional information to the requestors. Both were concluded as “resolved.” The other complaint was related to the length of the extension. During the investigation, the CRCC provided a response to the requestors months earlier than the extended due date. The OIC concluded that the complaint was resolved.

Finally, there were no audits or other investigations conducted during the reporting period.

Appendix A: Delegation Order

The Minister of Public Safety Canada, pursuant to section 73 of the Access to Information Act*, hereby designates the persons holding the positions set out below, or acting in those positions, to exercise the powers and perform the duties and functions of the Minister as the head of a government institution, that is, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP, under the section of the Act set out opposite each position.

Dated, at the City of Ottawa, 4th July of 2016.

Signed by the Honourable Ralph Goodale, P.C., Q.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety Canada

Appendix B: Statistical Report

Reporting period: 2019-04-01 to 2020-03-31

Supplemental Statistical Report – Requests affected by COVID-19 measures

The following table reports the total number of formal requests received during two periods; 2019-04-01 to 2020-03-13 and 2020-03-14 to 2020-03-31.

The following table reports the total number of requests closed within the legislated timelines and the number of closed requests that were deemed refusals during two periods 2019-04-01 to 2020-03-13 and 2020-03-14 to 2020-03-31.

The following table reports the total number of requests carried over during two periods; 2019-04-01 to 2020-03-13 and 2020-03-14 to 2020-03-31.