Annual Report: 2002-2003

The minister responsible for the good administration of the Access to Information Act across government is the President of Treasury Board. The minister is assisted in that regard by the Treasury Board Secretariat's Information and Security Policy Division (ISPD). Officials of ISPD have a critical role in providing guidance to all government institutions with the goal of ensuring consistency in the application of the access law, fostering a culture of openness and solving problems before they become systemic or the subject of complaints to the commissioner.

Over the years, information commissioners have been critical of the lack of priority and resources which Treasury Board Ministers have devoted to these important responsibilities. Recently, and again this year, there are signs of improvements, but there remain reasons for concern.

On the negative side, the Treasury Board President has not yet proceeded with administrative or funding initiatives, which were recommended almost a year ago by the Access to Information Review Task Force. As well, the Board has not yet begun to collect the kind of statistics on the operation of the access system which would enable it to assess the "health" of the system and to intervene in a timely way to solve problems of process, resources or attitudes.

It is largely because of Treasury Board Secretariat's decision not to actively monitor the performance of the system that the Information Commissioner has taken on the function of preparing Report Cards on selected institutions.

On the positive side, TBS held the first joint conference of the ATIP and Security Communities on March 4, 2003. The theme for the day was "Building the Learning Capacity of the ATIP and Security Communities: Key Tools for Personal Development". The objectives of the conference were to expose participants to the concepts of personal learning and development and to provide members of the two communities the opportunity to network and foster a stronger working relationship. The day's activities included a combination of presentations and workshops on topics such as, modern comptrollership, mediation and negotiation, innovation in the workplace, coaching, and creativity and innovation in learning.

At the same conference, TBS recognized the accomplishments and achievements of the ATIP community in providing quality service in the delivery of the access to information program by announcing the winners of the second annual ATIP Community Awards for Excellence. The awards were given in two distinct categories: "Excellence in Service and Innovation" and "Dedication, Leadership and Community Spirit". While special recognition went out to the winners of the awards, the valuable work of the community as a whole was underscored. This positive recognition for those who work "in the trenches" of the access to information system is very constructive.

An important aspect of ISPD's role consists of providing strategic advice and support to institutions. Given the significance of this role, ISPD developed a Service Delivery Standard. The standard focuses on three main areas of effective service: quality, timeliness and availability. In general, ISPD will ensure that the response provided to client institutions is relevant to the circumstances and fulfills the needs of the institution to the greatest extent possible. With the addition of a new member to ISPD, the division has reorganized to provide a more central point of contact on general policy matters and the interpretation of the guidelines. A follow-up survey will be conducted in nine months to assess the degree to which the Service Standard and the new procedures are meeting the community's needs.

As part of the academic studies conducted by a member of the ISPD staff, a discussion paper on the renewal of the ATIP community was completed and shared with members of the Senior Advisory Committee of Coordinators (SACC). The paper focuses primarily on the well-being of ATIP practitioners and builds on the survey of the ATIP community conducted last year. A number of issues of interest to the community are examined in the paper including: training and development; workload, resource allocation; recruitment and retention; and the development of competency profiles. The ISPD intends to build on this initiative and further the development of the competency profiles, which are seen as the foundation of recruitment strategies and a training plan.

A two-year project was also initiated to review the Info Source publications and develop recommendations for their improvement. Specific objectives of the project are to improve the format and content of all Info Source publications and to identify new technology to improve the yearly updating process. The project will include the identification of the challenges presented by current publications, a holistic review of standard banks in consultation with key stakeholders, establishment of a user-friendly format, and the establishment of a quality assurance (QA) process. Info Source extends beyond being a key reference tool to facilitate public understanding of government activities. The publications also provide the Secretariat with an opportunity to review institutions' personal information banks and record descriptions supporting its active monitoring function of the government's ATIP program.

During the 2002-2003 fiscal year, the TBS website was converted to meet government-wide Common Look and Feel requirements. As part of this, ISPD has undertaken to modernize the Treasury Board Secretariat's ATIP websites to facilitate the dissemination of information relating to access to information and privacy to the ATIP community and to the public. During the upcoming year, changes will be made to the content and layout to provide more information and improve navigation throughout the site.

Of continued interest to the ISPD is the Coordination of Access to Information Requests System (CAIRS). The system was created in 1989 and was modernized in 2000 to meet Y2K requirements. Its basic functionality remained relatively unchanged, despite earlier considerations to open the site to the public. The Board is working towards removing the remaining impediments to on-line access, which include removing personal identifiers and respecting official languages requirements.

A total of 30 training sessions were delivered by ISPD this year. With a noted 30% increase in participation from the previous year, ISPD's ATIP training program continues to be well received by the community. In addition to maintaining ISPD's core ATIP training program, ISPD is in the process of organizing a workshop that will provide ATIP practitioners the opportunity to share best practices in three main areas: processing requests, management of ATIP administrative files, and dealing with requesters, offices of primary interest and investigators. The workshop will also highlight some best practices suggested by the commissioner in previous annual reports and institutional report cards.

Finally, following the release of the Report of the Access to Information Review Task Force on June 12, 2002, ISPD conducted a detailed review and costing exercise to identify the funds necessary to implement the various proposed recommendations. TBS is in the process of identifying options to fund some of the administrative initiatives outlined in the report; however, as indicated above, no decisions have yet been taken.