Annual Report to Parliament on the Administration of the Access to Information Act 2017-2018

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

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

4. 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).

5. ACCESS TO INFORMATION REQUESTS RECEIVED

During the course of the reporting period (April 1, 2017 – March 31, 2018), the four (4) Access to Information requests that had been carried forward from the previous year were completed. Seventeen (17) new Access to Information requests were also received during the reporting period. Of these new requests, ten (10) were completed during the reporting period and seven (7) were carried forward to the 2018-2019 reporting year. Therefore, the CRCC processed fourteen (14) Access to Information requests during the 2017-2018 year.

Of those fourteen (14) requests completed during the reporting period, ten (10) were from former complainants to the CRCC, two (2) were from the media and two (2) declined to self-identify.

Seven (7) of those fourteen requests completed during the reporting period resulted in partial disclosures, three requests were abandoned, two requests resulted in full disclosure, one was exempted in its entirety and no records were found to exist for the other request.

6. STATISTICAL REPORT

The CRCC processed fewer pages (3,312) in responding to Access to Information requests in the 2017-2018 reporting year than in previous years.

As noted above, the number of Access to Information requests received in 2017-2018 was 17, which is more than it received in the preceding two years (11 in 2016-17 and 12 in 2015-16), but comparable to what it received in 2014-15 (16).

However, the number of pages processed was noticeably less than recent years:

2017-18 3,312
2016-17 9,962
2015-16 7,570
2014-15 7,063

The CRCC claimed exemptions under paragraph 13(1)(d) (Information obtained in confidence from a municipal government), sub-paragraph 16(1)(a)(ii) (Information obtained or prepared by an investigative body), 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), paragraph 16(2)(c) (Vulnerability of buildings or systems),subsection 19(1) (Personal information), paragraph 21(1)(a) (Advice or recommendations), paragraph 21(1)(b) (Consultations or deliberations) 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 four (4) of the requests completed in the reporting period in order to consult. Another extension was taken due to interference with operations.

Three (3) requests were not completed within the statutory deadline due to the need for external consultation. Therefore, eleven (11) of the fourteen (14) requests processed (79%) were responded to within the established timelines.

Finally, in 2017-18, the CRCC received and processed nineteen (19) consultations from other Government of Canada institutions. 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 seven different government departments. There were no consultations received from other organizations.

See Annex B for the Statistical Report.

7. TRAINING

In contrast to the previous year, during the reporting period, CRCC employees did not participate in any training or educational opportunities relating to access to information and privacy.

8. SIGNIFICANT CHANGES

The CRCC did not implement any new policies, guidelines or procedures related to Access to Information during the reporting period.

9. 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/or the Senior Director, Operations and Legal Counsel to discuss various issues pertaining to in-progress ATIP files.

10. COMPLAINTS

During the reporting period, there were three complaints filed against the CRCC.

Two of those complaints related to the length of extensions taken. The other involved a refusal to release records. These complaints were still under investigation by the Office of the Information Commissioner on March 31, 2018.

A deemed refusal complaint filed in 2016-17 was closed during the reporting period with a finding of well-founded, resolved. The requested record was not initially released to the requester due to probable injury to an ongoing CRCC investigation. By the time the complaint was resolved, the CRCC's investigation was complete and the CRCC had disclosed the record to the requester.

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.

Delegation Order - *Access to Information Act*
Section		Chairperson	Senior Director, Operations	ATIP Coordinator
4(2.1)	Responsibility of government institutions	●	●	●
7(a)	Notice where access requested	●	●	●
7(b)	Giving access to record	●	●	●
8(1)	Transfer of request to another government institution	●	●	●
9	Extension of time limits	●	●	●
11(2)-(6)	Additional Fees	●	●	●
12(2)(b)	Language of access	●	●	●
12(3)(b)	Access to record in alternative format	●	●	●
13	Exemption - Information obtained in confidence	●	●
14	Exemption - Federal-provincial affairs	●	●
15	Exemption - International affairs and defence	●	●
16	Exemption - Law enforcement and investigations	●	●
16.5	Exemption - Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act	●	●
17	Exemption - Safety of individuals	●	●
18	Exemption - Economic interests of Canada	●	●
18.1	Exemption - Economic interest of the Canada Post Corporation, Export Development Canada, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board and VIA Rail Canada Inc.	●	●
19	Exemption - Personal information	●	●
20	Exemption - Third-party information	●	●
21	Exemption - Operations of Government	●	●
22	Exemption - Testing procedures, tests and audits	●	●
22.1	Exemption - Audit working papers and draft audit reports	●	●
23	Exemption -Solicitor-client privilege	●	●
24	Exemption - Statutory prohibitions	●	●
25	Severability	●	●
26	Exemption – Information to be published	●	●	●
27(1), (4)	Third-party notification	●	●	●
28(1)(b), (2), (4)	Representations of third party and decision	●	●	●
29(1)	Where the Information Commissioner recommends disclosure	●	●	●
33	Advising Information Commissioner of third-party involvement	●	●	●
35(2)(b)	Right to make representations	●	●	●
37(4)	Access to be given to complainant	●	●	●
43(1)	Notice to third party (application to Federal Court for review)	●	●	●
44(2)	Notice to person who requested record (application to Federal Court by third party)	●	●	●
52(2)(b)	Special rules for hearings	●	●
52(3)	Ex parte representations	●	●
71(1)	Facilities for inspection of manuals	●	●
72	Report to Parliament	●	●

Delegation Order - *Access to Information Regulations*
Section		Chairperson	Senior Director, Operations	ATIP Coordinator
6(1)	Transfer of request	●	●	●
7(2)	Search and preparation fees	●	●	●
7(3)	Production and programming fees	●	●	●
8	Providing access to record(s)	●	●	●
8.1	Limitations in respect of format	●	●

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: 2017-04-01 to 2018-03-31

Part 1: Requests Under the Access to Information Act

1.1 Number of requests

	Number of Requests
Received during reporting period	17
Outstanding from previous reporting period	4
Total	21
Closed during reporting period	14
Carried over to next reporting period	7

1.2 Sources of requests

Source	Number of Requests
Media	2
Academia	0
Business (private sector)	0
Organization	0
Public	10
Decline to Identify	5
Total	17

1.3 Informal requests

**Completion Time**
1 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
5	0	0	0	0	0	0	5

Note: All requests previously recorded as “treated informally” will now be accounted for in this section only.

Part 2: Requests Closed During the Reporting Period

2.1 Disposition and completion time

Disposition of Requests	Completion Time
Disposition of Requests	1 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	1	0	0	0	0	0	2
Disclosed in part	0	2	1	0	3	1	0	7
All exempted	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
All excluded	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
No records exist	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Request transferred	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Request abandoned	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	3
Neither confirmed nor denied	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	2	7	1	0	3	1	0	14

2.2 Exemptions

Section	Number of Requests	Section	Number of Requests	Section	Number of Requests	Section	Number of Requests
13(1)(a)	0	16(2)	2	18(a)	0	20.1	0
13(1)(b)	0	16(2)(a)	0	18(b)	0	20.2	0
13(1)(c)	0	16(2)(b)	0	18(c)	0	20.4	0
13(1)(d)	1	16(2)(c)	1	18(d)	0	21(1)(a)	1
13(1)(e)	0	16(3)	0	18.1(1)(a)	0	21(1)(b)	1
14	0	16.1(1)(a)	0	18.1(1)(b)	0	21(1)(c)	0
14(a)	0	16.1(1)(b)	0	18.1(1)(c)	0	21(1)(d)	0
14(b)	0	16.1(1)(c)	0	18.1(1)(d)	0	22	0
15(1)	0	16.1(1)(d)	0	19(1)	7	22.1(1)	0
15(1) - I.A.*	0	16.2(1)	0	20(1)(a)	0	23	1
15(1) - Def.*	0	16.3	0	20(1)(b)	0	24(1)	0
15(1) - S.A.*	0	16.4(1)(a)	0	20(1)(b.1)	0	26	0
16(1)(a)(i)	0	16.4(1)(b)	0	20(1)(c)	0
16(1)(a)(ii)	1	16.5	0	20(1)(d)	0
16(1)(a)(iii)	0	17	0
16(1)(b)	0
16(1)(c)	2
16(1)(d)	0

* I.A.: International Affairs Def.: Defence of Canada S.A.: Subversive Activities

2.3 Exclusions

Section	Number of Requests	Section	Section
68(a)	0	69(1)	69(1)(g) re (a)
68(b)	0	69(1)(a)	69(1)(g) re (b)
68(c)	0	69(1)(b)	69(1)(g) re (c)
68.1	0	69(1)(c)	69(1)(g) re (d)
68.2(a)	0	69(1)(d)	69(1)(g) re (e)
68.2(b)	0	69(1)(e)	69(1)(g) re (f)
		69(1)(f)	69.1(1)

2.4 Format of information released

Disposition	Paper	Electronic
All disclosed	1	1
Disclosed in part	2	5
Total	3	6

2.5 Complexity

**2.5.1 Relevant pages processed and disclosed**
Disposition of Requests	Number of Pages Processed	Number of Pages Disclosed	Number of Requests
All disclosed	92	92	2
Disclosed in part	3157	2889	7
All exempted	63	0	1
All excluded	0	0	0
Request abandoned	0	0	3
Neither confirmed nor denied	0	0	0

**2.5.2 Relevant pages processed and disclosed by size of requests**
Disposition	Less Than 100 Pages Processed		101-500 Pages Processed		501-1000 Pages Processed		1001-5000 Pages Processed		More Than 5000 Pages Processed
Disposition	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	2	92	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Disclosed in part	0	0	4	672	3	2217	0	0	0	0
All exempted	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
All excluded	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Request abandoned	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Neither confirmed nor denied	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	6	92	4	672	3	2217	0	0	0	0

**2.5.3 Other complexities**
Disposition	Consultation Required	Total
All disclosed	0	0
Disclosed in part	4	4
All exempted	0	0
All excluded	0	0
Request abandoned	0	0
Neither confirmed nor denied	0	0
Total	4	4

2.6 Deemed refusals

**2.6.1 Reasons for not meeting statutory deadline**
Number of Requests Closed Past the Statutory Deadline	Principal Reason
Number of Requests Closed Past the Statutory Deadline	Workload	External Consultation	Internal Consultation	Other
3	0	3	0	0

**2.6.2 Number of days past deadline**
Number of Days Past Deadline	Number of Requests Past Deadline Where An Extension Was Taken	Total
1 to 15 days	1	1
16 to 30 days	1	1
31 to 60 days	1	1
61 to 120 days	0	0
121 to 180 days	0	0
181 to 365 days	0	0
More than 365 days	0	0
Total	3	3

2.7 Requests for translation

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

Part 3: Extensions

3.1 Reasons for extensions and disposition of requests

Disposition of Requests Where an Extension Was Taken	9(1)(a) Interference With Operations	9(1)(b) Consultation		9(1)(c) Third-Party Notice
Disposition of Requests Where an Extension Was Taken	9(1)(a) Interference With Operations	Section 69	Other	9(1)(c) Third-Party Notice
All disclosed	0	0	0	0
Disclosed in part	1	0	4	0
All exempted	0	0	0	0
All excluded	0	0	0	0
No records exist	0	0	0	0
Request abandoned	0	0	0	0
Total	1	0	4	0

3.2 Length of extensions

Length of Extensions	9(1)(a) Interference With Operations	9(1)(b) Consultation		9(1)(c) Third-Party Notice
Length of Extensions	9(1)(a) Interference With Operations	Section 69	Other	9(1)(c) Third-Party Notice
30 days or less	0	0	0	0
31 to 60 days	0	0	1	0
61 to 120 days	0	0	3	0
121 to 180 days	1	0	0	0
181 to 365 days	0	0	0	0
365 days or more	0	0	0	0
Total	1	0	4	0

Part 4: Fees

Fee Type	Fee Collected		Fee Waived or Refunded
Fee Type	Number of Requests	Amount	Number of Requests	Amount
Application	9	$45	5	$25
Search	0	$0	0	$0
Production	0	$0	0	$0
Programming	0	$0	0	$0
Preparation	0	$0	0	$0
Alternative format	0	$0	0	$0
Reproduction	0	$0	0	$0
Total	9	$45	5	$25

Part 5: Consultations Received From Other Institutions and Organizations

5.1 Consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions and organizations

Consultations	Other Government of Canada Institutions	Number of Pages to Review
Received during reporting period	19	608
Outstanding from the previous reporting period	0	0
Total	19	608
Closed during the reporting period	19	608
Pending at the end of the reporting period	0	0

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

Recommendation	Number of Days Required to Complete Consultation Requests
Recommendation	1 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
Disclose entirely	12	2	0	1	0	0	0	15
Disclose in part	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
Exempt entirely	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Exclude entirely	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Consult other institution	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Total	15	3	0	1	0	0	0	19

5.3 Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other organizations

Recommendation	Number of Days Required to Complete Consultation Requests
Recommendation	1 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
Disclose entirely	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Disclose 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	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Part 6: Completion Time of Consultations on Cabinet Confidences

6.1 Requests with Legal Services

Number of Days	Fewer Than 100 Pages Processed		101-500 Pages Processed		501-1000 Pages Processed		1001-5000 Pages Processed		More Than 5000 Pages Processed
Number of Days	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

6.2 Requests with Privy Council Office

Number of Days	Fewer Than 100 Pages Processed		101‒500 Pages Processed		501-1000 Pages Processed		1001-5000 Pages Processed		More Than 5000 Pages Processed
Number of Days	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

Part 7: Complaints and Investigations

Section 32			Section 35			Section 37			Total
3			2			1			6

Part 8: Court Action

Section 41			Section 42			Section 44			Total
0			0			0			0

Part 9: Resources Related to the Access to Information Act

9.1 Costs

Expenditures		Amount
Salaries		$35,561
Overtime		$0
Goods and Services		$0
Professional services contracts	$0
Other	$0
Total		$35,561

9.2 Human Resources

Resources	Person Years Dedicated to Access to Information Activities
Full-time employees	0.42
Part-time and casual employees	0.00
Regional staff	0.00
Consultants and agency personnel	0.00
Students	0.00
Total	0.42

Note: Enter values to two decimal places.

Date modified:: 2019-05-24