Annual Report to Parliament on the Administration of the Access to Information Act 2023-2024

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 94 of the Act, which stipulates that annual reports on access to information shall be tabled in Parliament.

Additionally, in accordance with the requirements of section 20 of the Service Fees Act, the report includes information with respect to fees collected under the Access to Information Act.

This report will be submitted and tabled in Parliament through the Minister of Public Safety Canada according to the timeline set out in section 94.

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.

One of the CRCC's main roles 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 of the ATIP Coordinator and a Junior ATIP Analyst during the reporting period of 2023-2024. Both employees process requests from the public and consultations from other departments or agencies, and participate in forums for the ATIP community. The ATIP Coordinator also provides advice to CRCC employees and senior officials on ATIP‑related matters, prepares annual ATIP reports, ensures the ongoing accuracy of the CRCC's Info Source, prepares completed Access to Information summaries for proactive disclosure on the Open Government Portal, and monitors changes in ATIP policy, guidelines and directives. During the reporting period, the Junior ATIP Analyst was assigned the responsibility for monitoring compliance for proactive publishing at the CRCC, under Part 2 of the Act.

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

Proactive Publication (Part 2 of the Act) responsibilities for categories of information required in sections 82 to 90 of the Act are shared by other CRCC units. The data is compiled by staff in Corporate Services and the Office of the Chairperson, while staff from the Strategic Communications and Media Relations post the information on the Open Government Portal. The Junior ATIP Analyst monitors the timeliness and completeness of information posted to the Open Government Portal.

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.

Delegation Order

The Minister of Public Safety has delegated full authority under the Act to the CRCC Chairperson, the ATIP Coordinator, and the Senior Director of Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer. The most recent delegation order was signed by the Minister of Public Safety on November 17, 2023 (see Annex A).

Access to Information Requests Received

During the course of the reporting period (April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024), twenty‑five (25) new Access to Information requests were received. Ten (10) requests were carried over from the previous year. Of those thirty-five (35), twenty‑five (25) requests were processed during that period and ten (10) were carried forward into 2024-2025.

Of those twenty-five (25) requests received during the reporting period, requestors that self-identified as belonging to categories include ten (10) from the media, one (1) from business, ten (10) from the general public, and four (4) declined to self‑identify.

Twelve (12) of the twenty-five (25) requests (48%) completed during the reporting period resulted in partial disclosures, two (2) requests (8%) resulted in full disclosure and nine (9) requests (36%) were transferred to other institutions. For one (1) request (4%) there were no records located, and one (1) request (4%) was abandoned.

Performance

During the reporting period, the CRCC processed 80% of requests within legislated timelines. The total number of pages processed was 3,211 pages.

The twenty-five (25) Access to Information requests received by the CRCC in 2023‑2024 represent a decrease in the number of requests received relative to the past few years:

2023-24    25
2022-23    41
2021-22    39
2020-21    48
2019-20    38
2018-19    25

While the total number of requests received by the CRCC in 2023-2024 is lower than in recent years, the proportion of those requests that were transferred to other institutions decreased. For example, during the 2023-2024 period, 36% of requests were transferred to other institutions, compared with 39% during 2022-2023 and 49% during 2021-2022. Thus, a higher proportion of the requests received in 2023-2024 were processed by the CRCC, compared to recent years.

During the 2023-2024 reporting period, the CRCC had one (1) active request from the 2020-2021 reporting period, one (1) active request from the 2021-2022 reporting period, and six (6) active requests carried over from the 2022-2023 reporting period. The request from 2020-2021 is still active within legislated timelines. The 2021-2022 request remains active and is beyond legislative timelines as of March 31, 2024, and of the six (6) 2022-2023 requests, four (4) were closed within legislative timelines and two (2) are still open within legislative timelines.

The CRCC claimed exemptions under paragraph 13(1)(c) (information obtained in confidence from the government of a province or an institution thereof), paragraph 13(1)(d) (information obtained in confidence from a municipal or regional government established by or pursuant to an Act of the legislature of a province or an institution of such a government), subparagraphs 16(1)(a)(i) (information obtained or prepared by any government institution, or part of any government institution, that is an investigative body specified in the regulations in the course of lawful investigations pertaining to the detection, prevention or suppression of crime) and 16(1)(a)(ii) (information obtained or prepared by any government institution, or part of any government institution, that is an investigative body specified in the regulations in the course of lawful investigations pertaining to the enforcement of any law of Canada or a province), 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), section 17 (Safety of individuals), subsection 19(1) (personal information), paragraph 21(1)(a) (advice or recommendations), and section 23 (solicitor-client privilege) of the Act.

As some of the material requested originated with other departments and external consultation was required, extensions were taken in thirteen (13) of the requests completed in the reporting period in order to consult. Three (3) requests were not completed within the statutory deadline due to late consultation responses from external departments and two (2) requests were not completed within the statutory deadline due to CRCC staff absences related to holidays or the Public Service Alliance of Canada general strike that occurred during the beginning of the reporting period. Therefore, twenty (20) of the twenty-five (25) requests processed were responded to within the established timelines.

For requests disclosed in full, the CRCC responded within 60 days to two (2) requests. For requests disclosed in part, the CRCC took 31 to 60 days to respond to two (2) requests; 61 to 120 days to respond to six (6) requests; 121 to 180 days to respond to two (2) requests; 181 to 365 days to respond to one (1) request; and more than 365 days to respond to one (1) request. One (1) request was abandoned within 15 days, and for one (1) other request, the CRCC responded that it had no records within 30 days. For the requests that were transferred, the CRCC responded within 15 days for all nine (9).

The number of informal requests to the CRCC nearly doubled in 2023-2024 from the previous reporting period. The CRCC responded to fifty-one (51) informal requests within 15 days; two (2) in 16 to 30 days; and one (1) within 181 to 365 days.

The categories of information that the CRCC disclosed during the reporting period included complaint information and statistics; complaint information related to the RCMP "E" Division Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG); briefing notes prepared for the Chairperson; copies of the Chairperson's reports corresponding to the Summaries of Reviewed Public Complaints posted on the CRCC website; and correspondence and operational files related to public complaints.

Finally, in 2023-2024, the CRCC received twenty (20) consultations from other Government of Canada institutions. The CRCC processed eighteen (18) consultations during the reporting period, resulting in 360 pages processed. These consultations mainly related to documents having to do with public complaints against the RCMP, documents showing general employee data such as salary levels and position classifications, ministerial briefing materials, as well as information related to Access to Information and Privacy submitted by the CRCC to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. They originated from four different federal government departments, as well as the Province of British Columbia. There were no consultations received from other organizations.

See Annex B for the Statistical Report.

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 payable: $5 application fee is the only fee charged for an ATI request
• Total revenue: $110
• Fees waived: $15
• Cost of operating the program: $73,363

These costs include annual support and maintenance costs for ATIP software: $3,741.

Training and Awareness

During the reporting period, all CRCC employees completed mandatory access to information and privacy training through the Canada School of Public Service. In addition to this, 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).

The ATIP Coordinator also conducted a training session with the staff of the CRCC's Policy and Operational Support Unit during the reporting period.

Policies, Guidelines, Procedures and Initiatives

The CRCC implemented no new policies, guidelines, or procedures during the 2023‑2024 reporting period. 

Monitoring Compliance

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 quarterly. The ATIP Coordinator meets regularly with the CRCC Chairperson and General Counsel to discuss various issues pertaining to in‑progress ATIP files.

In compliance with the Directive on Access to Information Requests, the CRCC uses discretion to limit inter-departmental consultations to requests only where there is the intention to disclose potentially sensitive information from external institutions. This practice is monitored by advising the ATIP Coordinator, General Counsel, and the delegated head of ATIP, within the initial 30-day period for each new request, as to whether or not an extension will be taken.

As mentioned at the beginning of this report, the Junior ATIP Analyst monitors CRCC staff's compliance with proactive publication requirements in Part 2 of the Act. On a monthly basis, she verifies that all of the CRCC reports are posted to the Open Government Portal according to each category's due dates, and tracks the results on a spreadsheet.

Proactive Publication under Part 2 of the ATIA

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP is both a government institution and a government entity for the purpose of Part 2 of the Act, and is therefore subject to the following proactive publication requirements in sections 82 to 88 of the Act.

Proactive Publication Requirements Table

The CRCC published eighty-one percent (81%) of proactive publication requirements within the legislated reporting timelines. The CRCC posts reports for all of the Part 2 Proactive Publication requirements to the Open Government Portal, with the exception of the CRCC's Reports Tabled to Parliament, which are posted on the CRCC's website.

During the 2023-2024 reporting period, the CRCC staff mainly responsible for Part 2 reporting included:

• Senior Editorial and Writing Services Advisor (3 hours per year – Editing and translation)
• Web Architect & Publishing Officer (15.5 hours per year – Posting completed templates and metadata to the Open Government Portal)
• Executive Assistant (1.5 hours per year – Hospitality, Travel, Briefing Material)
• Assistant Director of Human Resources (1 hour per year – Position reclassifications); and
• Finance Officer (20 hours per year – Contracts)

During the reporting period, the ATIP unit conducted meetings with this group to formalize roles and to communicate the evolving requirements. As a result of the initial meetings, the CRCC improved its compliance with proactive publication requirements from the previous reporting period. The CRCC staff members responsible for proactive publication will continue to meet annually to review the assignment of responsibilities, review changes to related policies, directives, and legislation, determine whether the CRCC's procedures are well-aligned and ensure that there are no internal obstacles to the CRCC's compliance.

Other Proactive Publication

The CRCC ATIP Coordinator also posts Completed Access to Information Requests Summaries to the Open Government Portal in compliance with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat's Key Actions on Access to Information and the Directive on Access to Information Requests. The CRCC's Junior ATIP Analyst performs most responsibilities for re-releasing copies of the information that is informally requested from the summaries on the Open Government Portal.

Initiatives and Projects to Improve Access to Information

Since 2020, the CRCC publishes, on its public website, searchable depersonalized summaries of CRCC reports for every RCMP public complaint investigation that it has reviewed. This complementary procedure was put in place for Canadians to have access to information related to RCMP accountability and to demonstrate further transparency of the public complaint process.

During the reporting period, the CRCC enhanced its website with a new section titled The CRCC Across Canada, which allows the public to access public complaint information with a page dedicated to each province and territory. These pages highlight the CRCC annual reports sent to provincial and territorial ministers; Chairperson-initiated investigations; and systemic investigations into RCMP activities occurring in the respective provinces and territories.

Complaints

During the reporting period, there was one (1) new complaint filed against the CRCC related to the length of the extension. The CRCC responded to the request during the legislated timeline (with extension) and the Office of the Information Commissioner issued a notice that it discontinued the investigation. As well, one (1) complaint related to the length of the extension had been carried over from the 2021-2022 reporting period. This complaint remains ongoing into the 2024-2025 reporting period.

There were no audits or other investigations conducted during the reporting period.

Summary of Key Issues and Actions Taken on Complaints

Given that the CRCC received few complaints and no recommendations from the Office of the Information Commissioner during the 2023-2024 reporting period, no new key issues were identified that required special action.

Appendix A: Delegation Order

Delegation Order - Access to Information Act and Access to Information Regulations

Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP

The Minister of Public Safety Canada, pursuant to section 95 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 provisions of the Act and related regulations set out opposite each position. This designation replaces all previous delegation orders.

Dated, at the City of Ottawa,

this 17day of November, 2023

Hon. Dominic LeBlanc, P.C., K.C., M.P.

*R.S.C. 1985, c. A-1

Appendix B: Statistical Report

Reporting period: 2023-04-01 to 2024-03-31

Supplemental Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act and Privacy Act

Reporting periods: 2023-04-01 to 2024-03-31.