2024-2025 Departmental Plan

On this page

• From the Commissioner
• Plans to deliver on core responsibilities and internal services
  • Government Transparency
  • Internal services
• Planned spending and human resources
  • Spending
  • Funding
  • Future-oriented condensed statement of operations
  • Human resources
• Corporate information
• Supplementary information tables
• Federal tax expenditures
• Definitions

From the Commissioner

As I approach the last year of my mandate, I remain steadfastly focused on upholding the right of access to information through my investigations and reports, and the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) enters 2024-2025 in a very strong position.

During this final year of the OIC’s five-year strategic plan, the OIC remains well-positioned to confront the ongoing challenges faced by Canada’s access to information regime that has come as a result of outdated legislation and chronic systemic issues.

In the wake of the Government’s response to the ninth report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, it is clear that no amendments to the Access to Information Act are on the immediate horizon. Nevertheless, I will continue to advocate for changes to the Act and to the overall system in my advice to Parliament and my meetings with institutional leaders. With the system already overstretched, I will press for new approaches to making information available through means other than access requests in order to provide some relief while we await the next review of the Act and hope for real change. I will also do everything possible to continue the trend my office has established of consistently improving our annual performance each year, becoming more efficient and concluding a greater number of investigations in less time. If necessary, I will issue orders that will ensure the Act is respected and seek their enforcement through litigation. 

When I took on the role of Information Commissioner in 2018, I established four priorities: implementing legislative reform, ensuring that the day-to-day work of my office is open and transparent, improving collaboration with stakeholders in order to address barriers in the system, and eliminating my office’s backlog of complaints. Since all four of these goals are largely if not completely met, I have turned my attention in recent months to new priorities: Because an adequately funded OIC is critical to the proper functioning of the access to information system in Canada, I intend to continue to advocate to both the Government that determines my funding and to Parliament, to which I report, for a model that provides the OIC with the resources required to operate and is reflective of my status as an independent agent of Parliament. Additionally, in order to continue to promote a culture change across federal institutions, I have committed to the professional Access to Information community that I will speak to any audience about the importance of transparency and the access to information obligations of public servants, whenever I am invited to do so. 

While I continue to do everything in my power to uphold the right of access, a true transformation is required. This includes significant and long overdue policy and legislative changes that are needed, if Canada is to take its place as a global leader in the area of openness and transparency. This was a goal that was first established in 1983 when the Act first came into force. Forty years later, however, this goal is far from coming to fruition as successive governments have failed to prioritize its importance and take the necessary actions.

Caroline Maynard
Information Commissioner of Canada

Plans to deliver on core responsibilities and internal services

Core responsibilities and internal services:

• Government Transparency
• Internal services

Government Transparency

In this section

• Description
• Quality of life impacts
• Results and targets
• Plans to achieve results
• Key risks
• Snapshot of planned resources in 2024-25
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory
• Summary of changes to reporting framework since last year

Description

The Information Commissioner is the first level of independent review of government decisions relating to requests for information under the control of government institutions. The second level of independent review is performed by the Federal Court.

Quality of life impacts

This core responsibility contributes to the “Good Governance” domain of the Quality of Life Framework for Canada and, more specifically, “confidence in institutions,” through all activities associated with Government transparency.

Results and targets

The following tables show, for each departmental result related to Government transparency, the indicators, the results from the three most recently reported fiscal years, the targets and target dates approved in 2024–25.

Table 1: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result

Canadians receive timely resolution of complaints on how federal institutions process access to information requests.

The financial, human resources and performance information for the OIC’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Plans to achieve results

Departmental Result: Canadians receive timely resolution of complaints on how federal institutions process access to information requests.

The OIC receives complaints for approximately 4% of all access to information requests made. As the volume of requests grows, the volume of complaints grows proportionally. The existing inventory consists of a wide variety of complaints, from federal employees wishing to access their personal human resource records to complaints about immigration or tax records. Tackling the OIC’s inventory of complaints not only requires efficient processes, but also investigators with the capacity to take on work. The OIC takes a balanced approach in assigning complaints, in order to make progress against each segment of the inventory. This means investigators are assigned both new and older files, based on a variety of factors, including:

• area of expertise;
• level of complexity;
• type of complaint;
• workload constraints;
• input from complainants;
• how time sensitive the requested information is.

Since the beginning of her mandate, the Commissioner has made it a top priority to tackle the inventory of complaints she inherited in 2018.

Reducing the amount of time the OIC takes to assign a complaint, as well as reducing the time it takes to complete an investigation once assigned, are key priorities. When the OIC both assigns and concludes complaint investigations in a timely manner, it ensures Canadians receive the information to which they are entitled without undue delay. It also ensures that, if required, complainants have early access to the second level of independent review, the Federal Court.

Working on contemporary records with individuals within the institutions involved in processing the access request to begin with is also the most efficient use of resources for both the OIC and the institutions subject to the Act. While the OIC does not have any control over the number of complaints made each year, it does control the efficiency of its processes, allowing it to keep pace and continue to tackle the complaint inventory.

Currently, the OIC holds more complaints than can be assigned. An adequately funded OIC ensures enough investigators to permit the assigning of complaint investigations in a timely manner. The Commissioner will continue to advocate for a funding model that provides the OIC with the resources needed to operate and reflects her status as an independent agent of Parliament.

During 2023-24, for the first time ever, the OIC began a consultation process with complainants, bringing in KPMG Canada to maintain confidentiality throughout. The goal of the consultations was to learn more about how complainants experience the investigation process, from consulting the OIC website to learn when and how to complain, to using the updated on-line complaint form, interacting with investigators, and receiving final reports or notices of conclusions of a complaint. Another key element is to gather information about how the OIC can identify existing systemic barriers and ways to make the process fair for all, regardless of race, gender, disability or sexual orientation. Improving the investigation process for complainants will support an efficient and effective use of resources.

The OIC publishes all of its orders on administrative complaints and all final reports when an order is made on refusal complaints. The OIC also publishes final reports when the Commissioner deems them to be of value in providing guidance to both institutions and complainants. While this is a resource-intensive process, involving legal review, translation and web publishing, it is vital to ensuring decisions made by the Commissioner are transparent and help to better understand the application of the Act. Increasingly, institutions and complainants refer to published decisions to frame their arguments and negotiate whenever possible, an informal resolution to the issue at hand.

While the informal resolution of complaints is by far the most efficient way to conclude a complaint investigation, the Commissioner will not hesitate, when necessary, to use the full extent of her powers and order an institution to comply with the Act.

Legal support is essential to both the investigative process and any litigation following the conclusion of a complaint. As the Commissioner continues to issue orders, the OIC anticipates that activities related to litigation will increase over the next year. It is also likely that the Commissioner will be required to appear before the courts to defend her orders and seek strategic interventions when appropriate. To that end, the OIC is working to increase its capacity in legal services to ensure adequate representation of the Commissioner’s position before the courts.

The OIC will continue to balance the needs and preferences of its employees, as well as operational requirements to sustain a hybrid work environment that is inclusive, equitable, transparent and high-performing. The OIC is innovating and transforming operations by including a new centralized records management database and collaborative platform, as well as additional secure information technology equipment and software.

Key risks

The OIC currently lacks a funding model providing it with the necessary resources needed to operate fully and reflects the Commissioner’s status as an independent agent of Parliament.

A lack of adequate funding to the OIC will result in significant negative impacts to the access to information systems at large. As required by law, the OIC provides the only first level of independent review of decisions related to the application of the Access to Information Act and is at risk of being unable to resolve complaints in a timely manner. Without the proper level of legal support, the credibility and legal accuracy of the OIC’s investigations are also at risk. The OIC may also not be in a position to bring important cases on the interpretation and implementation of the Access to Information Act to the Federal Court.

The OIC is running its program on an aging and outdated information technology infrastructure. Maintaining outdated infrastructure provides little or no value-added to support the program, and results in a loss of efficiency. The OIC’s mitigation strategy is to fund its technology infrastructure modernization projects by using carry-over funds from one year to the next, extending the project over several years.

Snapshot of planned resources in 2024–25

• Planned spending: $17,169,646
• Planned full-time resources: 129

Program inventory

The OIC is supported by the following programs:

• Compliance with access to information obligations

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to OIC’s program inventory is available on GC Infobase.

Summary of changes made to reporting framework since 2022-2023

Internal services

In this section

• Description
• Plans to achieve results
• Snapshot of planned resources in 2024-25
• Related government priorities

Description

Internal services are the services that are provided within a department so that it can meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs. There are 9 categories of internal services:

• management and oversight services
• communications services
• human resources management services
• financial management services
• information management services
• information technology services
• real property management services
• materiel management services
• acquisition management services

Plans to achieve results

The main focus of the OIC’s internal services in 2024-25 is to complete the ongoing large initiatives led by the Internal Services group. The OIC plans to finalize the upgrade of its information management system and supporting IT tools. This initiative is already well underway and once completed, it will support the Investigations Program by providing more reliable technology and enabling greater collaboration.

Internal Services will also provide strategic and procedural guidance and support in establishing an independent financing and accountability model and setting strategic priorities for the organization.

The Human Resources (HR) team will support the evolving needs of the program by ensuring the right resources are in place to respond to organizational needs. The team will continue its work on integrated HR planning which will form the backbone for the organization. The integrated HR plan will ensure that resources are in place by adopting a holistic approach that includes employee retention and wellbeing and takes accessibility, mental health and wellness, and Equity, Diversity and Inclusiveness (EDI) into consideration. Additional focus will be on employee retention, structured career progression programs, and delivering on aspiration to be the employer of choice.

The finance and administration team will ensure that resources are prudently used, and at the same time, ensure employees are enabled to perform their work to the highest standards. These include innovative approaches to workspace design and enabling policies fit for hybrid work.

The Communications team will continue to support the program through the provision of strategic advice, developing internal and external communications products, conducting media relations, and leveraging the OIC’s digital presence on the web and social media to share information with diverse audiences. The team will also continue to support the Commissioner in her role as agent of Parliament.

Snapshot of planned resources in 2024-25

• Planned spending: $5,150,894
• Planned full-time resources: 30

Related government priorities

Planning for contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

OIC is a Phase 3 organization requiring it to achieve the minimum 5% target of contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses by the end of 2024-25. The OIC reached this goal in 2022-23.

The measures that OIC has and will continue to take to continue achieving the 5% minimum target include:

• disseminating communiqués to inform OIC budget managers of this commitment;
• ensuring that necessary training is provided to budget managers and contracting specialists; and
• multi-year contract considerations

As a smaller organization, the OIC relies on the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) for procurement services, and will continue to work jointly with CHRC to continue to achieve the contract target. The OIC plans to continue to achieve its 5% target by procuring IM/IT services from Indigenous firms, as this particular segment represents the highest operational expenditure for the organization.

Planned spending and human resources

This section provides an overview of OIC’s planned spending and human resources for the next three fiscal years and compares planned spending for 2024–25 with actual spending from previous years.

In this section

• Spending
• Funding
• Future-oriented condensed statement of operations
• Human resources

Spending

Table 2: Actual spending summary for core responsibilities and internal services ($ dollars) 

The following table shows information on spending for each of OIC’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for the previous three fiscal years. Amounts for the current fiscal year are forecasted based on spending to date.

Spending in 2022-23 was lower than in 2021-22 due to smaller amounts being re-profiled and carried forward from prior years in addition to a one-time transfer between salary and operating budgets, resulting a one-time funding increase in 2021-22. Spending in 2023-24 is forecasted to be higher due to the implementation of new collective bargaining agreements which resulted in higher salaries and retroactive payments.

Table 3: Budgetary planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)

The following table shows information on spending for each of OIC’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for the upcoming three fiscal years.

The OIC plans to spend $17 million in 2024–25 and ongoing. The vast majority of the OIC’s spending is for salaries and associated employee costs.

Funding

Figure 1: Departmental spending 2021–22 to 2026–27

The following graph presents planned spending (voted and statutory expenditures) over time.

Text version

Departmental spending 2021–22 to 2026–27

Fiscal year	Total	Voted	Statutory
2021-22	17,898,054	16,150,614	1,747,440
2022-23	16,523,075	14,673,725	1,849,350
2023-24	18,786,561	16,664,428	2,122,133
2024-25	17,169,646	15,344,268	1,825,378
2025-26	17,239,478	15,405,632	1,833,846
2026-27	17,249,272	15,414,238	1,835,034

Spending in 2022-23 was lower than in 2021-22 due to smaller amounts being re-profiled and carried forward from prior years, in addition to a one-time transfer between salary and operating budgets, resulting in a one-time funding increase in 2021-22. Spending in 2023-24 is forecasted to be higher due to the implementation of new collective bargaining agreements, resulting in higher salaries and retroactive payments. The OIC plans to spend $17 million in 2024–25 and ongoing. The vast majority of the OIC’s spending is for salaries and associated employee costs. The Commissioner is committed to ensuring the OIC uses its financial resources in a strategic and responsible manner to continue improving service delivery and ensuring the maximum impact of OIC investigations and other activities aimed at enhancing government openness and transparency.

Estimates by vote

Information on OIC’s organizational appropriations is available in the 2024–25 Main Estimates.

Future-oriented condensed statement of operations

The future-oriented condensed statement of operations provides an overview of OIC’s operations for 2023–24 to 2024–25.

The forecast and planned amounts in this statement of operations were prepared on an accrual basis. The forecast and planned amounts presented in other sections of the Departmental Plan were prepared on an expenditure basis. Amounts may therefore differ.

A more detailed future-oriented statement of operations and associated notes, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations with the requested authorities, are available at the OIC’s website.

Table 4: Future-oriented condensed statement of operations for the year ending March 31, 2025 (dollars)

The variance between the forecast results for 2023–24 and the planned results for 2024–25 is mainly due to higher forecasted spending in 2023-24 due to one-time retroactive salary payments as the result of the implementation of new collective bargaining agreements.

Human resources

Table 5: Actual human resources for core responsibilities and internal services

The following table shows a summary of human resources, in full-time equivalents (FTEs), for OIC’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for the previous three fiscal years. Human resources for the current fiscal year are forecasted based on year to date. 

The increase in 2023-24 full-time equivalents for Government Transparency is due to planned hiring of new investigators for the OIC’s core responsibility. 

Table 6: Human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services

The following table shows information on human resources, in full-time equivalents (FTEs), for each of OIC’s core responsibilities and for its internal services planned for 2024–25 and future years.

Full-time equivalents for Government Transparency and Internal Services are expected to remain constant which is consistent with planned spending over the next three years.

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister(s): The The Honourable Arif Virani, P.C., M.P., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Institutional head: Caroline Maynard, Information Commissioner of Canada

Ministerial portfolio: Department of Justice Canada

Enabling instrument(s): Access to Information Act (RSC, 1985, C-1)

Year of incorporation / commencement: 1983

Other: For administrative purposes, the Minister of Justice is responsible for submitting the organization’s Departmental Plan and Departmental Results Report.Organizational contact information

Organizational contact information

Mailing address

France Labine Deputy Commissioner, Corporate Services, Strategic Planning and Transformation Services

Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada

30 Victoria Street Gatineau, QC, K1A 1H3

Telephone: 819-994-8181

Email: france.labine@ci-oic.gc.ca

Website: www.oic-ci.gc.ca

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on the OIC’s website:

• Details on transfer payment programs
• Gender-based analysis plus
• Horizontal initiatives
• Up front multiyear funding

Information on OIC’s departmental sustainable development strategy can be found on the OIC’s website.

Federal tax expenditures

OIC’s Departmental Plan does not include information on tax expenditures.

Tax expenditures are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for government wide tax expenditures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures.

This report provides detailed information on tax expenditures, including objectives, historical background and references to related federal spending programs, as well as evaluations, research papers and gender-based analysis plus.

Definitions

appropriation (crédit)

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)

A document that sets out a department’s priorities, programs, expected results and associated resource requirements, covering a three‑year period beginning with the year indicated in the title of the report. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)

A change that a department seeks to influence. A departmental result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)

A factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

A framework that consists of the department’s core responsibilities, departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on a department’s actual performance in a fiscal year against its plans, priorities and expected results set out in its Departmental Plan for that year. Departmental Results Reports are usually tabled in Parliament each fall.

full‑time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person‑year charge against a departmental budget. Full‑time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS Plus])

An analytical tool used to support the development of responsive and inclusive policies, programs and other initiatives. GBA Plus is a process for understanding who is impacted by the issue or opportunity being addressed by the initiative; identifying how the initiative could be tailored to meet diverse needs of the people most impacted; and anticipating and mitigating any barriers to accessing or benefitting from the initiative. GBA Plus is an intersectional analysis that goes beyond biological (sex) and socio-cultural (gender) differences to consider other factors, such as age, disability, education, ethnicity, economic status, geography, language, race, religion, and sexual orientation.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2024–25 Departmental Plan, government-wide priorities are the high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2021 Speech from the Throne: building a healthier today and tomorrow; growing a more resilient economy; bolder climate action; fighter harder for safer communities; standing up for diversity and inclusion; moving faster on the path to reconciliation and fighting for a secure, just, and equitable world.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative in which two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

Indigenous business

As defined on the Indigenous Services Canada website in accordance with the Government of Canada’s commitment that a mandatory minimum target of 5% of the total value of contracts is awarded to Indigenous businesses annually.

non‑budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)

What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally, a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in the Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)

Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within a department and that focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)

An inventory of a department’s programs that describes how resources are organized to carry out the department’s core responsibilities and achieve its planned results.

result (résultat)

An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead, they are within the area of the organization’s influence.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

target (cible)

A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.