2009-2010 Annual Report to Parliament - The Administration of the Access to Information Act

Foreword

Each financial year, pursuant to section 72 of the Access to Information Act (ATIA), the head of every government institution is required to prepare and submit to Parliament an annual report on the administration of the ATIA.

This annual report to Parliament is prepared under the direction of the Minister of National Revenue and the Commissioner of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). It describes how the CRA administered and fulfilled its obligations under the ATIA during the period from April 1, 2009, to March 31, 2010. It also discusses issues of interest to program delivery, emerging trends, and areas of focus for the year ahead.

The Access to Information Act

The Access to Information Act came into force on July 1, 1983. The ATIA gives Canadian citizens, along with persons and corporations present in Canada, the right to request access to federal government records.

The ATIA is based on three main principles:
1) Government information should be available to the public;
2) Necessary exceptions to the right of access should be limited and specific; and
3) Decisions about disclosures should be reviewable independently of government.

The ATIA's formal processes do not replace other procedures for obtaining government information. In accordance with this principle, the CRA encourages individuals, businesses, and other groups to explore the informal methods of access at their disposal:

• The topical index on the CRA's Internet Web site:
  cra.gc.ca/azindex/menu-eng.html
• Individuals - general enquiries: 1-800-959-8281
• Businesses and self-employed individuals: 1-800-959-5525
• Universal Child Care Benefit, Canada Child Tax Benefit and related provincial and territorial programs, child disability benefit, and children's special allowances: 1-800-387-1193
• Forms and publications: 1-800-959-2221
• TTY (Teletypewriter) for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing or have a speech impairment: 1-800-665-0354
• Charities Client Assistance-information about registered charities: 1-800-267-2384
• International Tax Services Office, non resident corporations and trusts: (individuals) 1-800-267-5177; (non-resident corporations, corporation accounts and non-resident trusts) 1-800-561-7761; or (part XIII tax and non-resident withholding accounts) 1-800-267-3395

Table of contents

• Overview of the Canada Revenue Agency
• Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Directorate
• Delegation of responsibilities under the Access to Information Act
• Schedule - Access to Information Act
• Operational Environment
• Conclusion
• Statistical report - Interpretation and explanation
• Appendix A - Statistical report
• Appendix B - Supplemental reporting requirements

Overview of the Canada Revenue Agency

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) administers tax laws for the Government of Canada and for most provinces and territories. It also administers various social and economic benefit and incentive programs delivered through the tax system. In addition, the CRA has the authority to enter into new partnerships with the provinces, territories, and other government bodies-at their request and on a cost-recovery basis-to administer non-harmonized taxes and other services. Overall, the CRA promotes compliance with Canada's tax legislation and regulations and plays an important role in the economic and social well-being of Canadians.

The Minister of National Revenue is accountable to Parliament for all of the CRA's activities, including the administration and enforcement of the Income Tax Act and the Excise Tax Act.

One of the key features of the Canada Revenue Agency's (CRA) innovative structure is a Board of Management, accountable to Parliament through the Minister of National Revenue. The Board of Management consists of 15 members appointed by the Governor in Council. Eleven of these members have been nominated by the provinces and territories. The Board is responsible for overseeing the organization and management of the CRA, including the development of the Corporate Business Plan, and managing policies related to resources, services, property, and personnel.

As the CRA's chief executive officer, the Commissioner is responsible for the day-to-day administration and enforcement of program legislation that falls under the Minister's delegated authority. The Commissioner is accountable to the Board of Management for the daily management of the CRA, supervision of employees, and implementation of policies and budgets. Moreover, the Commissioner must assist and advise the Minister with respect to legislated authorities, duties, functions, and Cabinet responsibilities.

The CRA has a presence across the country and is comprised of twelve Branches and five Regional offices.

Branches

• Appeals
• Assessment and Benefit Services
• Compliance Programs
• Corporate Audit and Evaluation
• Corporate Strategies and Business Development
• Finance and Administration
• Human Resources
• Information Technology
• Legal Services
• Legislative Policy and Regulatory Affairs
• Public Affairs
• Taxpayer Services and Debt Management

Regional offices

• Atlantic
• Ontario
• Pacific
• Prairie
• Quebec

Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Directorate

The ATIP Directorate supports the CRA in meeting its requirements relating to the Access to Information Act (ATIA) and the Privacy Act (PA). To fulfill this mandate, the ATIP Directorate:

• Responds to requests and enquiries under the ATIA and the PA;
• Provides advice to CRA employees about privacy implications, risks, and possible options for avoiding or mitigating risks;
• Co-ordinates privacy impact assessment processes within the CRA;
• Provides information sessions concerning the ATIA, the PA, and personal information handling practices and requirements;
• Liaises with the Treasury Board Secretariat and the offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada with respect to complaints, audits, and policy/legislative requirements; and
• Fulfills corporate planning and reporting obligations such as the CRA's annual reports to Parliament on the administration of the ATIA and the PA.

Marie-Claude Juneau is the Director of the ATIP Directorate; she reports to the Assistant Commissioner of the Public Affairs Branch.

Under the guidance of the Director and three Assistant Directors, 75 employees are responsible for the administration of the ATIA and the PA in 2009-2010. The ATIP Directorate consists of two main divisions: 1) processing and 2) program support (internal and agency-wide) and training. In addition to Headquarters in Ottawa, the ATIP Directorate has two satellite offices, one in Vancouver and the other in Montreal.

Delegation of responsibilities under the Access to Information Act

As head of the CRA, the Minister of National Revenue is responsible for the CRA's administration of the ATIA and compliance with TBS policy instruments. However, pursuant to section 73 of the ATIA, the Minister of National Revenue has the authority to designate one or more officers or employees of the CRA to exercise or perform all, or part, of the head's powers, duties, and functions under the ATIA.

The CRA's current Designation Order for the ATIA was signed by Keith Ashfield, Minister of National Revenue, Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway, on April 29, 2010. The Schedule associated with the Order identifies the specific provisions of the ATIA and its Regulations that the Minister has delegated to various positions within the Agency.

Generally, the ATIP Director, Assistant Directors, and managers of the production units sign off on ATIA and PA requests processed at Headquarters in Ottawa. In the Montreal and Vancouver satellite offices, the managers of the production units and their respective Assistant Commissioners sign off based on their delegated authority. Delegations are extended to the other Assistant Commissioners, but exercised only in exceptional cases, to enable them to make decisions about information under their respective mandates.

Schedule - Access to Information Act

Officers authorized to perform the powers, duties, or functions given to the Minister of National Revenue as head of a government institution under the provisions of the Access to Information Act and its regulations.

Subsection 4(2.1); paragraph 7(a); subsection 8(1); section 9; subsection 11(2) to (6), 12(2) and 12(3); sections 13 to 16.4; sections 17 to 26; subsections 27(1) and (4); subsections 28(1), (2) and (4); subsection 29(1); section 33; subsection 35(2), 37(4), 43(1), 44(2), 52(2) and 52(3); section 69; and subsection 71(2) of the Access to Information Act; and section 5; subsections 6(1), 7(2) and 7(3); and section 8 of the Access to Information Regulations

• Commissioner
• Deputy Commissioner
• Assistant Commissioners
• Chief Audit Executive and Director General Program Evaluation, Corporate Audit and Evaluation Branch
• Director, Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Directorate, Public Affairs Branch
• Assistant Directors, ATIP Directorate, Public Affairs Branch
• Managers, ATIP Directorate, Public Affairs Branch

Section 16.5 of the Access to Information Act

• Commissioner
• Deputy Commissioner
• Chief Audit Executive and Director General Program Evaluation, Corporate Audit and Evaluation Branch
• Assistant Commissioner, Public Affairs Branch
• Director, ATIP Directorate, Public Affairs Branch
• Assistant Directors, ATIP Directorate, Public Affairs Branch

Section 32 and paragraph 72(1) of the Access to Information Act

• Commissioner
• Deputy Commissioner
• Assistant Commissioner, Public Affairs Branch
• Director, ATIP Directorate, Public Affairs Branch
• Assistant Directors, ATIP Directorate, Public Affairs Branch

Operational Environment

The CRA processes a large volume of access requests through its ATIP Directorate. Indeed, the CRA processed the third largest volume of access requests among government institutions in 2008-2009-the last year for which statistics are available from Treasury Board.

Over the past several years, the ATIP Directorate's operations have been strained by several concurrent challenges-chief among them are the following:

• Exponential increases in the volume of pages to be reviewed. Annual page volumes related to both access and privacy requests have risen from 300,000 pages in 1999 to 685,000 pages in 2005-2006 to more than 1,400,000 pages [One particular file accounted for 594,000 pages.] in 2009-2010;
• Increased numbers of sensitive and complex requests requiring more detailed analysis, potentially conflicting legislation, and multi-jurisdictional consultations or litigation; and,
• Staffing challenges: difficulties both recruiting and retaining experienced ATIP professionals who are in high demand. Available staff is less experienced and, therefore, requires more training, mentoring, and quality control than in the past.

Faced with increased workloads and limited resources, the ATIP Directorate has focused most of its resources on processing new requests and on reducing its backlog. In spite of these measures, however, the backlog continues to grow. The growing backlog coupled with a steady increase in complaints, investigations, and audits has strained the Directorate's resources.

Planning

The ATIP Directorate recognizes that long-standing, entrenched challenges require long-term, sustained solutions. Progress will necessarily be incremental and will require clearly-defined objectives. Towards this end, the ATIP Directorate has developed a preliminary plan to address its key operational challenges. Depending on available resources, this multi-year plan will focus on:

• Acquiring temporary resources to aggressively reduce the backlog;
• Reviewing the Information Technology (IT) system used to process requests;
• Exploring the use of proactive and informal disclosure to reduce processing workload; and
• Reviewing our communication products to raise public awareness about the basic requirements of an access to information request.

Collaboration with the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC)

The ATIP Directorate continues to work with the OIC to address issues of common concern to both organizations. In 2009-2010, for instance, the Directorate worked with the OIC to manage the growing workload related to the processing of complaints. The OIC agreed with the CRA's proposal to assign a single CRA contact to the resolution of complaints. This process enables the CRA to prioritize, monitor, and respond to the OIC's complaints in a consistent fashion.

The CRA also initiated discussions with the OIC to address challenges of common concern to ATIP organizations across government. These discussions focused on systemic challenges, including workload increases and the limited availability of qualified ATIP staff.

Improved Public Reporting

Ensuring that Canadians have access to the information at their disposal is a key priority of the Canada Revenue Agency. One such avenue is Info Source, a series of publications which contain information about and/or collected by the Government of Canada. This information helps the public formulate access to information requests under the ATIA or PA.

To strengthen its reporting in Info Source, the ATIP Directorate took concrete action to address the deficiencies noted in Round VI of the Management Accountability Framework (MAF). In particular, the ATIP Directorate developed and registered approximately seven institution-specific personal information banks, updated classes of records, and further identified and described the CRA's programs, activities, and initiatives.

The changes raised the CRA's rating in the information management category of MAF from "Opportunity for Improvement" (Round VI) to "Acceptable" (Round VII). The latest MAF assessment notes that the CRA made a significant effort to improve its administration of the assessed statutory and regulatory requirements.

In 2010-2011, the ATIP Directorate will continue to focus to strive towards full compliance with TBS guidelines. The CRA's Info Source Working Group will be used as a vehicle to make any necessary changes.

Proactive/Routine Disclosure

To improve the efficiency of its operations, the ATIP Directorate also began monitoring the CRA's formal ATIA and PA requests to identify opportunities for increasing informal methods of access.

In 2010-2011, ATIP Directorate will continue to work with stakeholders in the CRA to enhance existing policies and processes for routinely providing access on an informal basis and seek ways to increase public awareness of informal channels to access information.

External and Internal Web pages

Ensuring that Canadians are aware of how to access information and all the channels available to them is an ongoing priority of the ATIP Directorate. This year, the ATIP Directorate reviewed its existing Internet presence to determine where change was required. In 2010-2011, the Directorate will implement its plan to revamp this page to ensure it:

• Provides the public with general information about formal ATIA and PA request processes;
• Highlights how to request information formally and informally;
• Contains information about the CRA's practices for the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information; and,
• Includes useful links.

This year, the ATIP Directorate also began reviewing its existing presence on the CRA's Intranet site. In 2010-2011, the ATIP Directorate will revamp the content to strengthen the CRA's awareness of the ATIP Directorate's roles and responsibilities and raise awareness of the legislative requirements of the ATIA and PA, as well as fair information practices for managing personal information.

Human Resources

A fully compliant access to information program hinges on having a sufficient number of qualified employees to the do the work on time and efficiently, Unfortunately, ATIP professionals are in high demand across government, so recruitment and retention of qualified staff remains a challenge for the CRA.

To address this challenge, the ATIP Directorate successfully completed several selection processes to hire staff and create a pool of available candidates for future placement. In 2010-2011, the Directorate will continue to focus efforts on recruiting qualified staff to strengthen performance through process improvements. Over time, these measures are intended to:

• Streamline workflows;
• Improve productivity, consistency, and the quality of decisions made by analysts;
• Ensure the availability of the necessary training and tools for employees; and,
• Ensure that central agency requirements related to ATIP are communicated to the processing units and that training materials are updated or developed accordingly.

Ultimately, these measures should generate efficiencies.

Education and Training

The ATIP Directorate recognizes the importance of training and awareness to fulfilling the CRA's obligations related to the ATIA and the PA. Towards this end, the ATIP Directorate made concerted efforts to bolster information and privacy awareness training among CRA staff this fiscal year. Since June 2009, 23 ATIP awareness sessions were provided to 875 employees across Canada. Another 12 sessions were delivered to 316 managers through the CRA's Management Development Program.

Internal training to ATIP staff was also expanded. Such training is necessary to equip staff with the knowledge required for applying the legislation in their day-to-day jobs. This training is particularly critical at this time, given the arrival of new, inexperienced ATIP analysts within the current operational environment. In 2009-2010, the Directorate focused on providing training to junior analysts. In Vancouver, for instance, three training sessions were provided to 16 participants during the fall and winter. At Headquarters, new analysts were provided with 3 months of comprehensive training.

Feedback from this training will be used to strengthen future training of ATIP staff.

In 2010-2011, the ATIP Directorate will update its training materials to reflect the Treasury Board Secretariat's new directives on access to information and privacy.

Conclusion

The ATIP Directorate faces ongoing workload and staffing challenges. In 2010-2011, the Directorate will continue to focus attention on streamlining processes, procedures and practices to meet its obligations and responsibilities under the ATIA. Special attention will be devoted to:

• Establishing a strong access to information and privacy governance structure in the CRA;
• Fostering awareness about the ATIA and policy requirements for the collection, use, disclosure, retention, and disposal of personal information;
• Ensuring the availability of communications products and/or training, advice or support; and
• Striving towards full compliance under the Access to Information Act and Privacy Act.

The ATIP Directorate will strengthen its presence on the CRA's external and internal Web sites. As a result, this will increase awareness, streamline formal processes, and position the Directorate to provide timely and relevant services.

Statistical report - Interpretation and explanation

Appendix A provides a statistical report on the Access to Information Act for the 2009-2010 reporting period. The following provides explanations and interpretations for the statistical information.

Requests under the Access to Information Act

During the reporting period, April 1, 2009, to March 31, 2010, the CRA received 1,798 new access to information requests. This represents an increase of 28 requests (1.6%) over the previous year. Since 916 requests were carried forward from the 2008-2009 fiscal year, this resulted in a total of 2,713 active requests. The following table shows the number of requests received and completed by the CRA for the past five fiscal years:

The CRA also received 83 ATIA consultation requests, of which it completed 68.

In addition, the ATIP Directorate's Program Support and Training Group responded to approximately 232 emails and 566 telephone enquiries from sources both internal and external to the CRA. Responses to enquiries include advice and guidance on processes and procedures relative to the Privacy Act or the ATIA and/or the provision of alternate contact information.

Sources of requests

The following table represents distribution of received requests by source. The percentage breakdown is as follows:

Disposition of requests

During the reporting period, the ATIP Directorate completed 1,651 ATIA requests, which included the review of 1,068,810 pages of records. The following table represents the disposition of these requests:

Exemptions invoked

The following table identifies the number of requests in which the listed sections under the ATIA were invoked:

Exclusions Cited

Exclusions for confidences of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada were invoked 9 times under section 69.

Completion Time and Extensions

The time frames for the 1,651 requests completed in 2009-2010 are represented in the following table:

Of the 1,651 requests completed:

• Approximately 1,276 (77.29%) were completed within allowable time limits, which is lower than last year's performance.
• For 529 (32.04%) of these files, the ATIP Directorate claimed time extensions because of either a large volume or a search through a large volume, and meeting the original time limit would unreasonably interfere with the operations of the Agency, or to conduct consultations with third parties or other government institutions.

Translations

No translations were required to respond to access to information requests during this reporting period.

Method of Access

This section relates specifically to the 1,651 requests for which information was disclosed in full, or in part. In 978 cases, the applicants received copies of the release package. In 15 cases, the applicants obtained access by examining the release package and, where desired, obtaining select copies of the releasable records.

Fees

During the reporting period, the fees collected totalled $48,618.90. For more details, please refer to Appendix A.

Costs

During 2009-2010, the ATIP Directorate's estimated total cost to administer the ATIA was $2,447,138.35, excluding coordination support from branches. For more details, please refer to Appendix A.

Complaints, Investigations, and Federal Court Cases

During the reporting period, the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) received 270 complaints involving formal requests handled by the CRA. Some of these complaints would relate to requests completed by the CRA in previous fiscal periods.

During the reporting period, the OIC completed 74 complaint investigations lodged against the CRA: 18 were justified and 56 were not justified. Note: because of the timing of investigations closed by the OIC, which could relate to closed by the CRA during previous fiscal periods, these closed figures should not be analysed against current fiscal performance.

One case was advanced to Federal Court.

Appendix A - Statistical report

Appendix B - Supplemental reporting requirements

Access to Information Act

In addition to the reporting requirements addressed in form TBS/SCT 350-62 "Report on the Access to Information Act," the CRA is required to report on the following:

Part III - Exemptions invoked

Section 13
Subsection 13(e) ____0____

Section 14
Subsections 14(a) ____12____ and 14(b) ____2____

Part IV - Exclusions Cited

Subsection 69.1(1) ____0____

Date modified:

2010-06-17