Annual Report: 2003-2004

Status report on access requests in a deemed-refusal situation

1. BACKGROUND

For several years, a number of institutions were subject to review because of evidence of chronic difficult in meeting response deadlines. In his 1996-97 Annual Report to Parliament, the former information commissioner reported that delays in responding to access requests had reached crisis proportions.

As a result, the Information Commissioner has adopted the following standard as being the best measure of a department’s compliance with response deadlines: percentage of requests received which end as deemed refusals. Every department reviewed has been assessed against the following grading standard:

This Status Report, for the period April 1 to November 30, 2003, reviews the progress of the department to come into ideal compliance with the time requirements of the Access to Information Act since the January 2003 Status Report. In addition, this report contains information on the status of the recommendations made in the January 2003 report.

2. COMPLIANCE HISTORY

In early 1999, the Office of the Information Commissioner issued a Report Card on the department’s compliance with the statutory time requirements of the Access to Information Act. In the 1999 Report Card, the department received a red alert grade of "F" with a 48.9% request to deemed-refusal ratio.

In January 2000, the Office of the Information Commissioner reviewed the status of the recommendations made in the Report Card and made further recommendations for measures to reduce the number of access requests in a deemed-refusal situation. From April 1 to November 30, 1999, the deemed-refusal ratio for access requests improved to 23.4%, still a grade of "F".

In January 2001, the Commissioner’s Office review reported that the department had set an objective in 2000-2001 of completing 70% of access requests within the timelines of the Act. The view of the Office of the Information Commissioner was that the objective fell short of what was needed to comply with the time requirements of the Act. The actual performance of the department for 2000-2001 was a 19.6% new request to deemed-refusal ratio resulting in a grade of "D", denoting below standard performance.

In January 2002, the Commissioner’s Office issued another Status Report and recommendations. For the period April 1 to November 30, 2001, the new request to deemed-refusal ratio was reduced to 13% denoting a grade of C. The momentum was sustained for the full fiscal year of 2001-2002, achieving a grade of "C" with a new request to deemed-refusal ratio of 12%.

The January 2003 review reported that Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) had joined a select group of departments who have achieved a grade of "A" that denotes ideal compliance with the statutory time requirements of the Access to Information Act. For the period from April 1 to November 30, 2002, the new request to deemed-refusal ratio was 3.8%, with that ratio slipping only marginally to 4.9% for the full fiscal year, still a grade of "A".

This constitutes is a significant achievement by CIC departmental staff and management dealing with the access request process. The department was highly commended for its efforts and encouraged to maintain this performance.

3. CURRENT STATUS

In the past, CIC has made steady progress in reducing the number of access requests in a deemed-refusal situation; however, the department has slipped considerably in its performance for this reporting period. For the period April 1 to November 30, 2003, CIC’s deemed-refusal to requests received ratio was 15.4% for a grade of "D", reflecting below standard performance.

Although this gives an accurate assessment of the deemed-refusal ratio to requests received within the above-noted reporting period, it does not take into consideration those requests carried over from the previous year, nor the number of requests already in a deemed-refusal status on April 1. In future reports, these figures will be taken into consideration; however, for this report, the grading resulting from that inclusion is provided for information purposes only. In this instance, the results for April 1 to November 30, 2003, would be 14.1%, a grade of "C".

During the course of the interview for this report, the Acting Director indicated a number of issues that the Division has faced over the past year that have impacted on their overall performance. Along with an ever-increasing number of requests, the increase in the number of pages being reviewed was one consideration. The following graphs demonstrate that aspect of the workload over the past three years, also indicating the number of requests from one requester.

The workload that was dedicated to one requester is included in the above statistics of requests processed. That volume is broken down in the following charts:

The intricacies in managing these requests alone, necessitating the review of large lists of the records sought, has taxed the resources of the Division. The list must be processed, like any other record, for exemptions and/or exclusions. Once a list is finalized, it is provided to the applicant who in turn selects specific records to subsequently access. With that the process starts again. CIC feels it is in fact processing two requests while statistically accounting for one and, in the process, finds itself in a position of not applying extensions perhaps as judiciously as it should.

In an effort to improve the overall situation, CIC has realigned workloads to dedicated analysts to handle specific clients, in an effort to make the processing of records more consistent and manageable. Communication with the applicants has expanded in an attempt to lessen the formal workload.

Staffing appears to be adequate with a full complement of 27 operational ATIP staff plus support. The current breakdown includes 8 senior analysts, (one position currently rotating through the position of Acting Director; 11 junior analysts and 8 consultants). As in most departments, the ATIP Division is also involved in Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs), information-sharing projects, Info Source review, Annual Reports and new employee training.

4. FUTURE ISSUES AND FURTHER RECOMMENDATIONS

CIC, as are a number of departments, is undergoing considerable structural changes in function and organization with the creation of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). What effect the total reorganization is going to have on the ATIP workload is unclear at this time. What is anticipated is that some resources may well have to be given up to the new organization. At the moment, improvements to the process are limited until roles and responsibilities are clearly identified as a result of this transition.

Nevertheless, ongoing initiatives include review of the CIC processing manual, which is currently only in hardcopy, but is being considered for inclusion on the department’s intranet. This is expected to occur on April 1, 2004. This should provide OPIs with hands-on information and guidance in responding to tasking, thereby reducing response times.

The attainment of at least substantial compliance with the time requirements of the Access to Information Act will be a noteworthy achievement for CIC.

The following recommendations are made to assist the department in its continuing efforts to reduce deemed-refusal access requests:

4.1 Substantial Compliance

CIC is encouraged to once again attain at least substantial compliance with the time requirements of the Access to Information Act. Sustainability requires a commitment by management and staff who are involved in the access process to meet or exceed their responsibilities in the process.

4.2 Progress Monitoring

Except for last year when the department was so successful in reducing its deemed-refusal ratio, the number of requests exceeding the time constraints is again on the increase. While the ratio for the requests where an extension has been taken has improved over the last three years, there is still room for improvement.

5. STATUS OF 2003 RECOMMENDATIONS

In January 2003, recommendations were made to CIC on measures to further reduce the number of access requests in a deemed-refusal situation. The action taken on each recommendation is described below, following the text of the recommendation.

Action taken: While intentions were good, reality prevented CIC from maintaining the "A" grade of compliance. However, the shortfall has been recognized and the institution continues to strive to meet the requirements of the Act.

Action Taken: There is currently an ad-hoc system in place to track taskings. The reliance is on the analyst to follow-up at the OPI/responsible officer level, although the process is continually under review.

Action taken: No formal reporting mechanism has been put in place to date. A number of factors have affected its delay, not the least being the departmental transition as well as the rotational situation of the Director’s position within the ATIP Division. However, the measure is currently being worked on and it is anticipated that it will be fully implemented for the next reporting period.

EXCERPT FROM DEPUTY MINISTER’S RESPONSE TO STATUS REPORT

"Our Public Rights Administration Division continues to use your recommendations as a guide to improve CIC’s practices with respect to the application of the legislation.

I remain proud of my Department’s achievements in the handling of both access to information and privacy requests in the past year, regionally as well as nationally, and in the face of considerable pressure. As you know, CIC has undergone substantial change over the past three years, implementing new processes and policies to reflect the changes mandated by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, both domestically and abroad.

More recently, CIC and the newly created Canada Border Services Agency have been working together to rationalize the working relationship between the two entities as it relates to both access to information and privacy. This has proved to be no small task, as I am sure you appreciate, and is ongoing.

My Department has been greatly assisted by its long-term vision and strategic objectives set particularly for its Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) program. Your recommendations have, and will, continue to contribute to this effort. We also continue to implement our various initiatives based on these objectives, maintaining our focus on a combination of medium and long-term productivity measures, and on technology improvements.

In the latter regard, you may be interested to learn that CIC has almost fully implemented ATIPimage, an advance that we hope will eventually speed file transmission and review of both domestic and overseas files. Moreover, on April 1, 2004, Public Rights Administration launched a comprehensive website on the CIC intranet, CICExplore. Work has now commenced on a world wide web-based site. I am confident that these sites will provide clarity surrounding ATIP issues for CIC staff and clients alike.

As you know, Treasury Board funding has been critical to help CIC improve its results and has been integral to our ability to achieve and maintain a grade of "A" in your deemed refusal status report. CIC no longer has the benefit of supplementary ATIP funding from Treasury Board. Still, our funding requirements for ATIP continue to be significant and are expected to rise.

It remains a true challenge for my department to achieve substantial compliance while continuing to receive increasing volumes of requests. Your deemed refusal report is a useful reference for CIC as it continues to meet the challenges presented by ever-increasing workload and limited funding."