Annual Report to Parliament on the Access to Information Act
Canada Border Services Agency 2017-2018

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Table of Contents

• Chapter One: Access to Information Act Report
  • Introduction
  • Organization
    • I. About the Canada Border Services Agency
    • II. Access to Information and Privacy Division
  • Activities and Accomplishments
    • I. Performance
    • II. Education and Training
    • III. New and Revised Access to Information Act Policies and Procedures
    • IV. Reading Room
    • V. Audits of, and Investigations into the Access to Information Practices of the Canada Border Services Agency
  • Delegation Order
• Chapter Two: Statistical Report
  • Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act
  • Interpretation of the Statistical Report
    • I. Requests Processed Under the Access to Information Act
    • II. Outstanding Requests from Previous Years
    • III. Completion Time
    • IV. Complaints and Investigations
    • V. Conclusion
• Annex A - Delegation Order
• Annex B – Statistical Report

Chapter One: Access to Information Act Report

Introduction

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is pleased to present to Parliament, in accordance with section 72 of the Access to Information Act, its annual report on the management of this Act. The report describes the activities that support compliance with the Access to Information Act for the fiscal year commencing April 1, 2017, and ending March 31, 2018. During this period, the CBSA continued to build on successful practices implemented in previous years.

The purpose of this Act is to extend the present laws of Canada to provide a right of access to information in records under the control of a government institution in accordance with the principles that government information should be available to the public, that necessary exceptions to the right of access should be limited and specific and that decisions on the disclosure of government information should be reviewed independently of government.^{Footnote 1}

As stated in subsections 72(1) and 72(2) of the Access to Information Act, “The head of every government institution shall prepare for submission to Parliament an annual report on the administration of this Act within the institution during each financial year.… Every report prepared under subsection (1) shall be laid before each House of Parliament within three months after the financial year in respect of which it is made or, if that House is not then sitting, on any of the first fifteen days next thereafter that it is sitting."^{Footnote 2}

Organization

I. About the Canada Border Services Agency

Since 2003, the CBSA has been an integral part of the Public Safety Canada (PS) portfolio, which was created to ensure coordination across all federal departments and agencies responsible for national security and the safety of Canadians.^{Footnote 3} The CBSA itself is responsible for providing integrated border services that support national security and public safety priorities and facilitate the free flow of persons and goods, including animals and plants, that meet all requirements under the program legislation.

The CBSA carries out its responsibilities with a workforce of approximately 14,000 employees, including over 7,000 uniformed CBSA officers who provide services at approximately 1,100 points across Canada and at 36 international locations.

II. Access to Information and Privacy Division

The Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Division is comprised of six units: an Administration section, three Case Management units, and two Policy units. The Administration section’s function is to receive all incoming requests and consultations, to ensure quality control of all outgoing correspondence, and to support the Case Management units in their day-to-day business. The Case Management units assign branches and regions with retrieval requests, process requests for information under the Access to Information Act, and provide daily operational guidance and support to CBSA employees. The ATIP Policy and Governance Unit develops policies, tools, and procedures to support ATIP requirements within the CBSA and provides training to employees. The Information Sharing and Collaborative Arrangement Policy Unit maintains the policy framework for the CBSA’s information sharing and domestic written collaborative arrangements. On average, 60 full time equivalents, and seven part time and casual employees were employed in the ATIP Division during fiscal year 2017–2018.

The ATIP coordinator for the CBSA is the Director of the ATIP Division. The ATIP Division is part of the Corporate Secretariat, which reports to the Vice-President (VP) of the Corporate Affairs Branch. Consistent with best practices identified by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS)^{Footnote 4}, the CBSA's ATIP coordinator is positioned within three levels of the President and has full delegated authority, reporting directly to the Director General of the Corporate Secretariat, who in turn reports to the VP of the Corporate Affairs Branch.

Key to maintaining compliance with the statutory time requirements of the Access to Information Act is the ATIP Division’s ability to obtain records from branches and regions in a timely and reliable manner. Supported by a network of 17 ATIP liaison officers across the CBSA, the ATIP Division is well positioned to receive, coordinate, and process requests for information under the Access to Information Act.

The ATIP Division works closely with other members of the PS portfolio, including the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Correctional Service of Canada, the Parole Board of Canada, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, to share best practices and develop streamlined processes for the retrieval of jointly held records within the 30-day legislated time frame required to respond to access to information requests.

Activities and Accomplishments

I. Performance

Fiscal year 2017–2018 saw record volumes of access to information requests made to the CBSA. The record volumes are largely attributable to individuals seeking copies of their history of arrival dates into Canada. In fiscal year 2017–2018, 49% of all access to information requests received by the CBSA came from individuals seeking their Traveller History Report, which contains information used to support residency requirements for programs administered by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC).

The CBSA continued to see high volumes of access to information requests submitted through the Access to Information and Privacy Online Request tool. Through this tool, the Agency received 5,791 requests, which amounted to 77.6% of all access to information requests received by the CBSA.

The CBSA also continued to offer the electronic format for responses to access to information requests. Although electronic format made up only 31.2% of all formal access to information requests that were either all disclosed or disclosed in part in fiscal year 2017–2018, these requests accounted for 99.6% of all the pages the CBSA disclosed in their entirety or disclosed in part this fiscal year.

II. Education and Training

In fiscal year 2017–2018, the ATIP Division continued to conduct bilingual training sessions that supported the implementation of streamlined processing procedures and built an awareness of ATIP obligations. These sessions are designed to ensure that the participants fully understand their responsibilities under the Access to Information Act, with a focus on requests made pursuant to the Act and the duty to assist principles. Fifteen sessions were offered, with 204 National Capital Region (NCR) and regional employees taking part.

CBSA employees also took advantage of the free online course entitled “Managing Information at the Canada Border Services Agency and the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act.” This one-hour online course was designed to provide employees with the basic principles for effectively managing information in their daily work. After completing this course, employees will have acquired the knowledge to better identify various types of information, learned how requests under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act are handled, and learned about their responsibilities throughout the process. A total of 689 participants have completed the online training in fiscal year 2017–2018.

Moreover, the ATIP Division delivered 11 in-class training sessions on section 107 of the Customs Act, as well as basic information sharing, disclosure of intelligence-related information, and business line specific training sessions to 238 employees in the NCR and across the regions. In addition, before attending the in-class training, employees are advised to complete the interactive online training course, regarding information sharing that was developed by the ATIP Division.

Further, the ATIP Division developed a communications plan to raise employees’ awareness of their obligations under the Access to Information Act. The plan leverages key dates, such as Right to Know Week, and other activities at the CBSA to promote ATIP tools, resources, and awareness.

Finally, the ATIP Division continues to actively participate in the TBS-led ATIP coordinators’ and ATIP practitioners’ meetings. These meetings provide opportunities for ATIP employees from the CBSA to liaise with employees from other institutions to discuss various issues and challenges that have been identified by the ATIP community.

III. New and Revised Access to Information Act Policies and Procedures

During fiscal year 2017–2018, the CBSA continued to revise existing policies and to develop new ones.

The ATIP Division has taken a number of measures to enhance and promote ATIP tools that are readily accessible to CBSA employees by utilizing Apollo (GCDocs). To this end, we are able to ensure that the ATIP intranet site is up to date and available to all CBSA employees. This allows the ATIP Division to quickly share information and best practices and to facilitate collaboration across the Agency.

During the reporting period, the ATIP Policy and Governance Unit developed an ATIP Handbook. This handbook is designed to help ATIP employees in their day to day work. It includes reference material and provides clear guidance on CBSA policies and procedures which can be easily referenced. The first issue of the Handbook focused on the Administrative section of the ATIP Division. The second issue, currently underway, will focus on the day to day work of the Case Management units. The Handbook will remain an evergreen document subject to updates and revisions.

As required by the Directive on the Administration of the Access to Information Act and as part of the open government initiative, the CBSA posts summaries each month of completed access to information requests on the Government of Canada’s mandated website. These requests do not include personal information or any other information that would be exempted or excluded under the Act or that could reveal a requester’s identity. As most requests received by the CBSA are client specific, the CBSA only posted 385 requests on the website, representing 5.3% of the requests completed by the Agency. The CBSA also received 985 informal enquiries for requests posted on the website in fiscal year 2017–2018, as compared to 1,451 in the previous year, a decrease of 32%.

The ATIP Division continued to provide the service of informally reviewing CBSA records for internal programs as if they had been requested under the Access to Information Act. The ATIP Division received 18 internal requests of this nature in fiscal year 2017–2018.

The ATIP Division closely monitors the time it takes to process access to information requests. Monthly reports, which show trends and performance, are submitted to the managers of the Case Management units, the Director of the ATIP Division, and the Director General of the Corporate Secretariat. Monthly reports consisting of statistics on the performance of the offices of primary interest are also distributed to all ATIP liaison officers. Finally, quarterly trend reports portraying the overall performance of the Agency are reviewed and discussed during meetings of the Agency’s Executive Committee^{Footnote 5} and are included in the Agency Performance Summary.

IV. Reading Room

The CBSA, in accordance with the Access to Information Act, maintains a reading room for applicants who wish to review material in person at the CBSA. Applicants may access the reading room by contacting the CBSA’s ATIP Director by telephone at 343-291-7021 or by sending an email to ATIP-AIPRP@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca. The reading room is located at:

Place Vanier Complex, 14th Floor, Tower A
333 North River Road
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0L8

V. Audits of, and Investigations into the Access to Information Practices of the Canada Border Services Agency

In 2017–2018, there were no key issues raised as a result of access to information investigations, and no audits were conducted that related to the access to information practices of the CBSA.

Delegation order

See Annex A for a signed copy of the delegation order.

Chapter Two: Statistical Report

Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act

See Annex B for the CBSA's statistical report on the Access to Information Act.

Interpretation of the Statistical Report

I. Requests Processed Under the Access to Information Act

The CBSA received 7,466 Access to Information Act requests in fiscal year 2017–2018, which was an increase of 19.2% over the previous year. Moreover, the CBSA responded to 7,219 Access to Information Act requests, representing 81% of the total number of requests received and outstanding from the previous reporting period.

For the past five years, the CBSA has consistently been among the top government departments in terms of workload. While receiving a substantial number of requests each year, the CBSA has been able to maintain and improve upon its performance in a year which saw the greatest number of requests ever received.

II. Outstanding Requests from Previous Years

With the exception of the 2014–2015 reporting period, the CBSA has consistently received more requests than it has been able to close each year; this has created a backlog of files that require processing. This backlog has been reduced substantially in the past year from 748 late files at the end of 2016-2017 to 475 files in this reporting period.

Of the 1,726 requests carried over to fiscal year 2018–2019, 1,251 were on time and 475 were late.

III. Completion Time

Of all the requests completed, the CBSA was successful in responding to 86.8% within the legislated timelines, an increase from the 80.1% achieved last fiscal year.

In total, 1,928 extensions were applied for in fiscal year 2017–2018. This represents an increase of 91.1% in extensions in comparison to the previous fiscal year. This is reflective of the increased volume of requests received, which has made it more challenging for the Agency to process files within the 30 day legislated time frame.

IV. Complaints and Investigations

Subsection 30(1) of the Access to Information Act describes how the OIC receives and investigates complaints from individuals regarding the information held by a government institution. Examples of complaints the OIC may choose to investigate include refusal to disclose records, missing information, or failure to provide information in the official language requested by the individual.

For 2017–2018, 113 Access to Information Act complaints were filed against the CBSA, a decrease of 9.6% compared to fiscal year 2016–2017. The number of complaints filed relate to only 1.6% of the 7,219 access to information requests completed during this period. The complaints received during the fiscal year were related to the following issues: time delay (28); application of exemptions or exclusions (28); refusal to disclose records or missing information (28); time extension (21); collection (4); miscellaneous (3); and use and disclosure (1).

Of the 77 complaints resolved in fiscal year 2017–2018, 24 were deemed well-founded; 23 were resolved; 17 were discontinued; 10 were deemed not well-founded; two were not substantiated; and one was settled. Where complaints are substantiated, the matter is reviewed by the delegated managers and processes are adjusted if required.

Two complaint findings stood out in this reporting period. In the first complaint, the requester was seeking information related to the enforcement of the Intellectual Property Rights Program. The majority of the responsive records were completed BSF738 Request for Assistance forms, which were withheld under subsection 24(1) of the Access to Information Act. The OIC agreed that the information was indeed customs information as defined by section 107 of the Customs Act and the exemption was valid. The OIC recommended that the CBSA consider severance. The CBSA clarified its position regarding section 25 of the Access to Information Act that no amount of severing would render the records releasable, and severing the information on the form would remove the value of the record, and provide no useful information to the requester. Furthermore, the form, and supporting information are publicly available on the CBSA’s website.

In addition, and as reported to the OIC, the requester confirmed that receiving severed information in this case would serve no useful purpose. Despite this information, the OIC deemed the complaint to be well-founded.

The second complaint dealt with the largest data release in the Agency’s history. In this case, the requester was seeking an extremely large data set involving border crossings over a 10 year period. The CBSA was in regular contact with the requester, and it required significant investment to respond to this unique and complex request. The request involved the production of the equivalent of approximately 14.8 million un-redacted pages. The volume of records alone, which were extracted from a critical operational CBSA system, represented a significant information technology challenge to produce the requested information and in the end it took almost 9 months to complete this request from the date it was submitted.

Notwithstanding that the request became a deemed refusal, it is the CBSA’s view that the Agency did everything in its power to accommodate the request in a timely manner, particularly in the context of processing thousands of other requests during the same period. The OIC’s Report of Finding stated that the CBSA failed in its duty to assist the requester and implied that their intervention is what resulted in the resolution of the complaint.

The position taken in these two Reports of Finding raises concerns in the complaint resolution process. The CBSA looks forward to working more collaboratively with the OIC in order that access to information practices are improved to the benefit of Canadians while respecting provisions of the Act with respect to appropriate disclosure.

V. Conclusion

The achievements portrayed in this report reflect the CBSA’s commitment to ensuring that every reasonable effort is made to meet its obligations under the Access to Information Act. The CBSA strives to provide Canadians with the information to which they have a right in a timely and helpful manner by balancing the right of access with the need to protect the integrity of the border services that support national security and public safety priorities.

Annex A – Delegation Order

Ministerial Order
Access to Information Act & Privacy Act (ATIP)

Pursuant to section 73 of the Access to Information Act and section 73 of the Privacy Act, I hereby designate the persons holding the positions set out in the schedule hereto, or a person authorized to exercise the powers or perform the duties and functions of that position, to exercise or perform the powers, duties and functions of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness as the head of the Canada Border Services Agency under the provisions of the Act and related regulations set out in the schedule opposite each position.

This order replaces previous designation orders and comes into force on the date on which it is signed.

Dated at Ottawa, Province of Ontario, this 15th day of February, 2017.

The Honourable Ralph Goodale, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Annex B – Statistical Report

Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act

Name of institution: Canada Border Services Agency

Reporting period: 2017-04-01 to 2018-03-31

Part 1 – Requests under the Access to Information Act

Note: All requests previously recorded as "treated informally" will now be accounted for in this section only.

Part 2 – Requests Closed During the Reporting Period

*I.A.: International Affairs   Def.: Defense of Canada   S.A.: Subversive Activities

2.5 Complexity

2.6 Deemed refusals

Part 3 – Extensions

Part 4 – Fees

Part 5 – Consultations Received From Other Institutions and Organizations

Part 6 – Completion Time of Consultations on Cabinet Confidences

Part 7 – Complaints and Investigations

Part 8 – Court Action

Part 9 – Resources Related to the Access to Information Act

Date modified:

2018-08-24