2019–20 Annual Report on the Administration of the Privacy Act

Table of contents

• Introduction
• About the Office of the Information Commissioner
• 2019–20 Statistics and Trends
  • Workload
  • Timeliness
  • Disclosure
  • Complaints
• Privacy Activities at the OIC
  • Privacy Breaches
  • Privacy Impact Assessments
• Appendix A: Delegation Order, Privacy Act
• Appendix B: 2019–20 Statistical Report

Introduction

The Privacy Act (Act) safeguards the privacy of individuals by protecting personal information held by government institutions. The Act also gives individuals the right to access their own personal information. The Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) has been subject to the Privacy Act since 2007. The OIC pursues all measures to protect personal information and provide prompt access to the personal information it holds in response to requests.

This report, prepared and tabled in accordance with section 72 of the Privacy Act, reviews the OIC’s privacy-related activities for 2019–20.

The OIC received eighteen privacy requests in 2019–20 and had no requests carried over from the previous year. All eighteen requests were completed within the year. The organization also achieved an average completion time for these files of 17.5 days. Please see the “Timeliness” section for more information.

About the Office of the Information Commissioner

The Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) was established in 1983 under the Access to Information Act to support the work of the Information Commissioner of Canada.

OIC staff carry out confidential investigations into complaints about federal institutions’ handling of access requests, giving both complainants and institutions the opportunity to present their positions.

The OIC strives to maximize compliance with the Act, using the full range of tools, activities and powers at the Commissioner’s disposal. These include negotiating with complainants and institutions without the need for formal investigations, making formal recommendations to resolve matters at the conclusion of investigations, and bringing cases to the Federal Court to ensure the Act is properly applied and interpreted.

The OIC supports the Information Commissioner in her advisory role to Parliament and parliamentary committees on all matters pertaining to access to information. The OIC also raises awareness regarding freedom of information in Canada through targeted initiatives such as Right to Know Week and ongoing dialogue with Canadians, Parliament and federal institutions.

The Commissioner is supported by a staff complement of approximately 115 employeesand three deputy commissioners:

• Deputy Commissioner, Investigations and Governance
• Deputy Commissioner, Legal Services and Public Affairs
• Deputy Commissioner, Corporate Services, Strategic Planning and Transformation Services

The Access to Information and Privacy Secretariat falls under the Legal Services and Public Affairs branch. The ATIP Manager and the Deputy Commissioner of Legal Services and Public Affairs hold full delegated authority under the Act. A copy of the delegation order is included at Appendix A of this report.

The OIC has a small team of specialists who carry out the organization’s access to information and privacy (ATIP) activities. In 2019–20, the ATIP Secretariat was comprised of the ATIP Manager (full-time) supported by a full-time ATIP Analyst and a part-time student.

Secretariat staff process requests, provide training on access and privacy matters to new staff, and develop and implement policies and procedures.

2019–20 Statistics and Trends

Appendix B contains the OIC’s statistical report on the Privacy Act for 2019–20. The following sets out some highlights from that report, along with some trends related to workload, timeliness and disclosure over the years the OIC has been subject to the Privacy Act.

Workload

The OIC received eighteen new requests in 2019–20 and had no requests carried over from the previous year. This is a 78% increase from the four files received in 2017-18, and a 67% increase from the six requests received in 2018–19. However, the OIC processed 5 338 pages which is a significant decrease from the previous year, with 16 255 pages processed in 2018–19. There was

one request that required the processing of over 1 000 pages. The OIC also processed one consultation from another institution.

The COVID-19 measures undertaken March 13, 2020 had minimal impact on our operations as all ATIP staff were equipped to work remotely and there was no interruption in service.

Timeliness

The OIC completed all requests within the reporting period. None of the requests the OIC completed in 2019–20 were late. In fact, over the last 10 years that the OIC has been subject to the Privacy Act, it has always completed all requests within the statutory deadline. File status is monitored on an ongoing basis by all members of the ATIP team to ensure that all files are answered within statutory deadlines. This is done through regular reports drawn from our case management system.

The average time taken to respond to privacy requests was 17.5 days for 2019–20. No extensions were taken under section 15 of the Privacy Act. The average processing time in 2015-16 was 17.3 days, in 2016-17 it was 13.9 days, in 2017-18 it was 26 days and 17.75 days in 2018–19.

Disclosure

The OIC disclosed all records for 11 of the requests in 2019–20. The records were disclosed in part for another three. In the remaining four requests there were no records found to respond to the request. Overall, the OIC disclosed 4,657 pages, 87% of the number of pages processed.

In 2019–20, the OIC claimed exemptions to withhold information in three of the eighteen requests processed. The most often-used exemption was section 22(1)(b) (law enforcement and investigations; three instances), followed by section 26 (personal information of someone other than the requester; one instance), and section 27 (solicitor-client privilege; one instance). This is consistent with recent trends at the OIC.

The OIC applied no exclusions to records in 2019–20.

The OIC made no disclosures of personal information in the public interest under paragraph 8(2)(m).

Complaints

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner received no complaints about the OIC’s handling of privacy matters in 2019–20.

Privacy Activities at the OIC

In 2019–20, the ATIP Secretariat held awareness and training sessions for all new employees on their responsibilities under the Privacy Act. A total of approximately 23 staff attended these sessions.

In 2019–20 the OIC’s enabling legislation, the Access to Information Act, saw a major update with the passage and coming into force of Bill C-58. This Bill came into force on June 21, 2019 and added, among other things, the ability for institutions to seek authorisation from the Commissioner to refuse requests that are deemed vexatious, that are made in bad faith or are otherwise an abuse of the right of access.

This new responsibility requires a new collection of personal information and the registration of a new Personal Information Bank. The work to complete the Privacy Impact Assessment and the registration of the new Personal Information Bank associated with this legislated activity is ongoing. In order to ensure compliance with the Privacy Act the Office of the Information Commissioner made every effort to ensure that the privacy of requesters is kept top of mind. Some of the ways this has been done has included the creation of a separate function in the case management system with access restricted to only those with a need to know. Information is also being shared directly with the individual requester thus allowing them the opportunity to correct any information as required and they have the opportunity to provide rebuttal arguments.

No other new policies, guidelines, procedures or initiatives were implemented during the reporting period.

Privacy Breaches

There were no material breaches in 2019–20.

Privacy Impact Assessments

There were no privacy impact assessments completed in 2019–20.

Appendix A: Delegation Order, Privacy Act

Text version

Arrêté de délégation en vertu de la Loi sur l’accès à l’information et de la Loi sur la protection des renseignements personnels

Delegation orders for the purpose of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act

En vertu de l’article 73 de la Loi sur l’accès à l’information et de la Loi sur la protection des renseignements personnels, la Commissaire à l’information du Canada délègue aux titulaires des postes mentionnés à l’annexe ci-après, ainsi qu’aux personnes occupant à titre intérimaire lesdits postes, les attributions dont elle est investie en qualité de responsable d’une institution fédérale, c’est-à-dire le Commissariat à l’information du Canada.  Le présent arrêté de délégation annule et remplace tout arrêté antérieur fait en vertu de l’article 73.

Cet arrêté de délégation prend effet le 22 mai 2018.

Daté, à la ville de Gatineau, ce 22 jour de mai 2018

Original signé par

The Information Commissioner of Canada, pursuant to Section 73 of the Access to Information Act and of 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 Information Commissioner of Canada as the head of a government institution that is, the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada. This Delegation Order supersedes all previous Delegation Orders pursuant to section 73.

This delegation order is effective on May 22, 2018

Dated, at the City of Gatineau, this 22 day of May 2018

Original signed by

______________________________________________

Caroline Maynard

Commissaire à l’information du Canada

Information Commissioner of Canada

Text version

Schedule

Schedule / Annexe
Position / Poste	Privacy Actand Regulations/Loi sur la protection des renseignements personnelset règlement.	Access to Information Act and Regulations/Loi sur l’accès à l’informationet règlement.
Deputy Commissioner, Legal Services and Public Affairs/ Sous commissaire, Services juridiques et Affaires publiques	Autorité Absolue / Full Authority	Autorité Absolue / Full Authority
Gestionnaire, Accès à l’information et protection des renseignements personnels / Manager, Access to Information and Privacy	Autorité Absolue / Full Authority	Autorité Absolue / Full Authority
Agent de l’AIPRP / ATIP Officer	Articles de la Loi / Sections of the Act : aucune délégation  no delegation Articles du Règlement / Sections of the Regulations : 11(2), 11(4)	Articles de la loi / Sections of the Act : 4(2.1), 8(1), 11(6), 27(1), 27(4). Articles du Règlement / Sections of the Regulations : 6(1)

Appendix B: 2018–2019 Statistical Report

Statistical Report on the Privacy Act

Name of institution: Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada

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

Section 1: Requests under the Privacy Act

1.1 Number of requests

Section 2: Requests closed during the reporting period

2.1 Disposition and completion time

2.2 Exemptions

2.3 Exclusions

2.4 Format of information released

2.5 Complexity

2.5.1 Relevant pages processed and disclosed

2.5.2 Relevant pages processed and disclosed by size of requests

2.5.3 Other complexities

2.6 Closed requests

2.6.1 Number of requests closed within legislated timelines

2.7 Deemed refusals

2.7.1 Reasons for not meeting statutory deadline

2.7.2 Requests closed beyond legislated timelines (including any extensions taken)

2.8 Requests for translation

Section 3: Disclosures under subsections 8(2) and 8(5)

Section 4: Requests for correction of personal information and notations

Section 5: Extensions

5.1 Reasons for extensions and disposition of requests

5.2 Length of extensions

Section 6: Consultations received from other institutions and organizations

6.1 Consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions and other organizations

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

6.3 Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other organizations

Section 7: Completion time of consultations on Cabinet confidences

7.1 Requests with Legal Services

7.2 Requests with Privy Council Office

Section 8: Complaints and investigations notices received

Section 9: Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs)

Section 9.2: Personal Information Banks

Section 10: Material Privacy Breaches

Section 11: Resources related to the Privacy Act

11.1 Costs

11.2 Human Resources

New Exemptions Table

2019–20 Supplemental Statistical Report – Requests affected by COVID-19 measures

Supplemental Statistical Report on the Privacy Act

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.

¹ – Total for Row 3 should equal the total in the Privacy Statistical Report Section 1.1 Row 1

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.

² – Total for Row 3 Col. 1 should equal the total in the Privacy Statistical Report Section 2.6.1 Row 1 -- Total for Row 3 Col. 2 should equal the total in the Privacy Statistical Report Section 2.7.1. Col. 1 Row 1

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.

³ – Total for Row 3 should equal the total in the Privacy Statistical Report Section 1.1 Row 5