Annual Report to Parliament 2020-21: Privacy Act
Part I – General Information
Department of Justice
To better understand the context within which the PA is administered, this section provides background information about the Department.
The Department has a dual mandate. This mandate stems from the dual role of the Minister of Justice, who is also the Attorney General of Canada.
In support of the Minister of Justice, the Department is responsible for providing policy and program advice and direction through the development of the legal content of bills, regulations and guidelines. In support to the Attorney General of Canada, the Department is responsible for litigating civil cases by or on behalf of the Federal Crown and for providing legal advice to federal law enforcement agencies and other government departments.
Privacy Activities
The Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Director (also referred to as the ATIP Coordinator) is accountable for the development, coordination and implementation of effective policies, guidelines, systems and procedures in order to enable efficient processing of requests under the PA. The Coordinator is also responsible for related policies, systems and procedures stemming from the PA.
The responsibility for the coordination of new data collection at the Department also lies with the ATIP Coordinator. This ensures compliance with the PA and, as necessary, the creation of new Personal Information Banks or Program Records.
Activities of the ATIP Office include:
- Ensuring timely processing of requests under the PA and assisting clients in accordance with the principles for assisting applicants;
- Acting as spokesperson for the Department in dealing with the Treasury Board Secretariat, the Privacy Commissioner and other government departments and agencies regarding the application of the PA;
- Responding to consultation requests submitted by other federal institutions on Department documents located in their files and on records that may be subject to solicitor-client privilege;
- Coordinating, reviewing, approving and publishing new entries and modifications to Info Source, an annual Government of Canada resource that describes its organization and information holdings;
- Preparing the Annual Report to Parliament and other statutory reports, as well as other materials that may be required by central agencies;
- Developing, coordinating and implementing policies, procedures and guidelines for the orderly implementation of the PA by the Department;
- Providing advice and guidance to senior management and all departmental employees on privacy related matters, as well promoting awareness of the PA, to ensure Departmental respect of the obligations imposed on the Government;
- Monitoring Departmental compliance with the PA, its regulations and relevant procedures and policies;
- Advise and review departmental Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) and/or Privacy Protocols for Non-Administrative Uses; and
- Investigate and mitigate privacy breaches in accordance with the Treasury Board Secretariat’s Breach Guidelines.
Monitoring Compliance
The workload was assessed, through the ATIP Case Management System, on a daily basis in order to ensure that workload was evenly distributed and effectively managed to meet statutory deadlines. Various reports were produced to ensure that all levels of officials are advised.
Organization for the Implementation of Access to Information Activities
The ATIP office reports to the Chief Information Officer of the Information Solutions Branch, under the direction of the Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer of the Management Sector.
The ATIP Director has full authority delegated by the Minister for the administration of the Act. For the purpose of increased executive oversight, full authority is also conferred to the Deputy Minister and Associate Deputy Minister, the Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Management Sector and the Chief Information Officer. The Delegation Order can be found at Appendix A of this report.
The ATIP team comprises analysts and privacy policy experts, who play a key compliance and risk mitigation role for the Department. Within the ATIP Office, 3.98 employees were dedicated on a full-time basis to the administration of the PA and related functions. The organizational chart of the ATIP Office is as follows:
Listing the title of each position, this organizational chart describes the reporting structure of the ATIP Office
Listing the title of each position, this organizational chart describes the reporting structure of the ATIP Office – Text version
Listing the title of each position, this organizational chart describes the reporting structure of the ATIP Office:
- The head of the Office is the ATIP Director.
- 2 Managers, ATIP Operations, 1 Counsel, 1 Manager, ATIP Policy Center and 1 Manager, Proactive publication & intake report to the ATIP Director.
- 2 Team Leaders and 2 Senior Advisors report to the Managers, ATIP Operations and to the Manager, Proactive publication & intake.
- Each team reports to a Team Leader:
- Team 1 is composed of ATIP Advisors and ATIP Analysts; and Junior Analysts and Processing Assistant
- Team 2 is composed of ATIP Analysts
- Each team reports to a Team Leader:
- 1 Senior Policy Advisor, 1 Systems Administrator report to the Manager, ATIP Policy Center.
The ATIP Office is supported by a designated network of offices of primary interest (OPIs), holders of the relevant information identified in an access request. OPIs are directly involved in the application of the PA by making recommendations concerning the disclosure of records and by ensuring compliance with the provisions of the Act.
The stages for processing requests are as follows:
The stages for processing requests
The stages for processing requests – Text version
This flowchart tracks the processing life cycle of a Privacy request. Once a request has been received, it is analyzed and a search for relevant records is conducted. The records that are found are reviewed in light of recommendations that have been received. The records are then prepared for release as a response package. Once the response package has been finalized, it is reviewed and approved by the ATIP Director. Upon approval, the response package is sent out to the requester.
The reading rooms at the Department’s headquarters and those located in the regional offices across Canada make available to the public the most recent published version of Info Source, as well as departmental publications and manuals. Many of these publications can be found on the Department’s and the Treasury Board Secretariat’s websites.
Administrative Issues
Salary and Administrative Expenditures
A total of 3.98 full-time equivalents were utilized on a full-time basis in the administration of the PA. The salary expenditures amounted to $405,506.
The administrative expenditures amounted to $41,177 which included professional services contracts.
These costs do not include resources expended by the Department’s other sectors to meet the requirements under the PA. There were no service agreements under section 73.1 of the PA to which the Department was party during the reporting period.
Accomplishments
The Department continued to strive to provide leadership and improve its performance in order to maintain the highest standards of service. For fiscal year 2020-21, the ATIP Office accomplished the following:
- The Department continued to work throughout the COVID-19 lockdowns. ATIP employees worked remotely since March 13, 2020 and continued to assist applicants and process requests.
- The Department instituted alternative working arrangements to help ATIP employees affected by school closures, loss of childcare arrangements, and disruption to family life due to COVID-19. The Department worked diligently to provide service to clients, and communicated with its clients clearly during the challenge.
- The Department continued to publish its annual reports to Parliament on the Department’s website as well as the summaries of the completed requests on the Open Government Portal, thereby improving communication with applicants and promoting transparency. This practice is in accordance with the Treasury Board Secretariat’s directives and policies and with the ten principles of practice outlined on the ATIP Office’s website for the public.
- The Department continued to use SharePoint, a web application platform, for the transfer of information with the Offices of Primary Interest to reduce internal processing timelines and paper consumption and allow for business continuity during office closure.
- To better serve our clients, the Department continued to be part of the Access to Information and Privacy Online Request Service. Our clients can continue to submit requests under the PA through an online channel.
- The Department monitored guidelines and service standards for the ATIP community that clarify the ATIP Office’s role in requests that have been received by other federal government institutions pursuant to the PA.
- The Department continued to develop internal guidance documents and tools to ensure consistency and to document best practices and lessons learned. These guidance documents are routinely discussed at regular staff meetings and updated as required.
- The Department continued to update internal procedures in order to process PA requests more efficiently and to share best practices with other government institutions.
- Given the ATIP office worked remotely since March 2020, there was a considerable reduction in paper consumption. The office mostly receives electronic requests and records, as well as provides release packages electronically to applicants in most cases. The Department instituted E-Post in 2019-20, in order to move away from paper consumption and to provide greater convenience to clients.
- The Department met its obligations under Part II – proactive publication.
Education and Training
ATIP employees regularly provided advice and informal training on the application of ATIP legislation to departmental employees who must review relevant records requested under the PA.
Due to work restrictions and COVID-19 challenges, the ATIP Office did not provide as much training this year. However, normally, formal awareness information sessions are offered to other sectors within the Department. Particular emphasis is placed on those aspects of the Act that are directly related to the employees’ areas of responsibility.
With the implementation of MS Teams across the department, the ATIP Office began to use the platform to deliver training later in the year:
- Ministers Office – 3 sessions – 8 participants
- Regional Privacy Breach training – 25 participants
- Questions and Answers (Qs and As) Sessions – 4 sessions – 36 participants
- ATIP Process overview – 1 session – 9 participants
ATIP training is part of the recommended courses under the values and ethics component of the Department’s Roadmap for new Managers. An e-orientation deck is posted on the Department’s Intranet site for employee consultation.
ATIP employees regularly participated in collective awareness sessions with ATIP Counsel to review recent jurisprudence and case law related to the PA. The ATIP Counsel participated in monthly ATIP Practice Group meetings during which information was exchanged and viable solutions proposed. The Practice Group is open to all departmental counsel, including those from Legal Services Units, and its mandate is to discuss questions such as the right of access to information or privacy issues.
In addition to mentorship and partnership relationships, workshops and presentations were regularly provided within the ATIP Office on various topics concerning the application of the PA and related policy and procedures. This allowed ATIP employees to benefit from each other’s respective levels of experience and knowledge.
Finally, ATIP employees participated in training sessions, conferences and seminars organized by the Treasury Board Secretariat or by various associations on matters relating to both access and privacy. These exchanges provided updates for employees in the development of ATIP and upcoming trends in this area.
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