Annual Report to Parliament on the Access to Information Act
Canada Border Services Agency 2019 to 2020

Table of contents

• Chapter 1: Access to Information Act report
  • Introduction
  • Organization
    • I. About the Canada Border Services Agency
    • II. Information sharing, access to information and chief privacy office
  • 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 2: 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. Completion time
    • III. Extensions
    • IV. Consultations received from other institutions and organizations
    • V. Completion time of consultations on Cabinet confidences
    • VI. Complaints and investigations
    • VII. Fees
    • VIII. COVID-19: Impact on the CBSA information sharing, access to information and chief privacy office
    • IX. Conclusion
• Annex A: Delegation order
• Annex B: Statistical report
• Annex C: Supplemental statistical report—Request affected by COVID-19 measures

Chapter 1: Access to Information Act report

Introduction

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is pleased to present to Parliament, in accordance with section 94 of the Access to Information Act and Section 20 of the Services Fees Act, its annual report on the management of these Acts. The report describes the activities that support compliance with the Access to Information Act for the fiscal year commencing April 1, 2019, and ending March 31, 2020. During this period, the CBSA continued to build on successful practices implemented in previous years.

The purpose of the Access to Information 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 94(1) and 94(2) of the Access to Information Act, "Every year the head of every government institution shall prepare a report on the administration of this Act within the institution during the period beginning on April 1 of the preceding year and ending on March 31 of the current year… Every report prepared under subsection (1) shall be laid before each House of Parliament on any of the first 15 days on which that House is sitting after September 1 of the year in which the report is prepared."^{Footnote 2}

Organization

I. About the Canada Border Services Agency

The CBSA has been, since 2003, an integral part of the Public Safety Canada (PS) portfolio, which was created to protect Canadians and maintain a peaceful and safe society. The Agency 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.^{Footnote 3}

The CBSA carries out its responsibilities with a workforce of approximately 14,000 employees, including over 6,500 uniformed CBSA officers who provide services at approximately 1,200 points across Canada and at 39 international locations.^{Footnote 4}

II. Information sharing, access to information and chief privacy office

The Information Sharing, Access to Information and Chief Privacy (ISATICP) Office is comprised of 6 units: an Administration section, 3 Case Management units, and 2 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 Access to Information and Privacy (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, 81 full time equivalents, and 7 part time, casual and student employees were employed in the ISATICP Office during fiscal year 2019 to 2020.

The ATIP coordinator for the CBSA is the Executive Director of the ISATICP Office. The ISATICP Office is part of the Chief Data Office, which reports to the Vice-President (VP) of the Strategic Policy Branch. Consistent with best practices identified by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS)^{Footnote 5}, the CBSA's ATIP coordinator is positioned within 3 levels of the President and has full delegated authority, reporting directly to the Chief Data Officer, who in turn reports to the VP of the Strategic Policy Branch.

Key to maintaining compliance with the statutory time requirements of the Access to Information Act is the ISATICP Office’s ability to obtain records from branches and regions in a timely and reliable manner. Supported by a network of 19 ATIP liaison officers across the CBSA, the ISATICP Office is well positioned to receive, coordinate, and process requests for information under the Access to Information Act.

The ISATICP Office 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 2019 to 2020 saw record high 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 2019 to 2020, 44% of all access to information requests received by the CBSA came from individuals seeking their Traveller History Report (THR), 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).

In September 2012, IRCC, in consultation with the CBSA, introduced a new consent-based application form which sees applicants for citizenship provide consent on their applications for IRCC to view their travel history directly. The CBSA has allocated 100 accounts to the IRCC to verify (view only) clients’ THR to Canada. IRCC has since viewed approximately 1.55 million THR, of which 295,352 were in fiscal year 2019 to 2020 that might otherwise have been requested formally through the CBSA by way of formal Privacy Act or Access to Information Act requests.

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 7,542 requests, which amounted to 91.7% 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 59% of all formal access to information requests, these requests accounted for 92.2% of all the pages the CBSA disclosed in their entirety or disclosed in part this fiscal year.

The CBSA ISATICP Office is one of the largest and busiest in all of government. Our staff are committed professionals who operate daily with large workloads and in a fast-paced environment which is why we are committed to offering a well-managed healthy environment, with staff well-being as an extremely important aspects for the CBSA ISATICP Office.

Being an agency with information stored across the country as well as internationally, the use of electronic filing systems has become increasingly important. With this in mind, the office has transitioned to an entirely paperless environment. Adding remote access capability to the new paperless environment enabled us to continue a telework schedule that allows our employees the option to work from home. The results have been remarkable with the best on-time performance within the legislated timeframe in the history of the CBSA despite record high volumes of requests received.

Finally, as per section 96 of the Access to Information Act, the CBSA ISATICP Office has not provided services related to any power, duty or function conferred or imposed on the CBSA under this Act to another government institution that is under the responsibility of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and has not receive such services from any other such government institution.

II. Education and training

In fiscal year 2019 to 2020, the ISATICP Office 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. Sixteen sessions were offered, with 235 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 1-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 685 participants have completed the online training in fiscal year 2019 to 2020.

Moreover, the ISATICP Office delivered 12 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 183 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 ISATICP Office.

Further, the ISATICP Office 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 ISATICP Office continues to actively participate in the TBS-led ATIP coordinators’ and ATIP practitioners’ meetings. These meetings provide opportunities for employees of the CBSA ISATICP Office 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 2019 to 2020, the CBSA continued to revise existing policies and to develop new ones.

The ISATICP Office has continued to take 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 ISATICP Office intranet site is up to date and available to all CBSA employees. This allows the ISATICP Office to quickly share information and best practices and to facilitate collaboration across the Agency.

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 390 requests on the website, representing 4.9% of the requests completed by the Agency. The CBSA also received 638 informal enquiries for requests posted on the website in fiscal year 2019 to 2020, as compared to 1,388 in the previous year, a decrease of 54%.

Bill C-58, an Act to Amend the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act, received Royal Assent on June 21, 2019. A key element of Bill C-58 is the introduction of new legal requirements to publish proactively a broad range of information. In order to meet these new requirements, the CBSA is now publishing proactively titles of briefing note received by ministers and deputy heads, briefing packages prepared for new or incoming ministers and deputy heads, briefing packages prepared for Parliamentary Committee appearances by ministers and deputy heads, reports tabled in Parliament, and Question Period notes. In keeping with pre-existing policy, and now part of the new legal requirements, the CBSA continued to publish travel and hospitality expenses incurred by selected government officials, contracts over $10,000, and information concerning the reclassification of occupied positions within the Agency.

In order to meet these changes, the ATIP Policy and Governance unit assessed the CBSA business processes and identified all the necessary adjustments needed to meet these new proactive publication requirements. By completing this exercise, the CBSA was able to implement new standard operating procedures, and related trainings, before the new proactive publication practices became law.

The CBSA continued to see a rise in ATIP related audio/video redacting requests. In response to this growth, the ISATICP Office has continued to take measures to respond to these requests in a timely manner by installing additional redaction stations and new software that facilitate our redaction capacity within the ISATICP Office.

It should also be noted that as part of an Innovation Solution Canada challenge initiative, the ISATICP Office, in partnership with the Chief Transformation Officer Branch and the Information, Science and Technology Branch, is currently involved in a project allowing private companies to introduce applied concept for the redaction of video recording, a solution that will allow video and audio recordings to be automatically processed. This year, the ISATICP Office has provided assistance in the testing and the evaluation on this new software. Once available, this software will be promoted as the solution for processing video and audio recordings for the entirety of the Government of Canada.

The ISATICP Office 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 ISATICP Office received 31 internal requests of this nature in fiscal year 2019 to 2020.

The ISATICP Office closely monitors the time it takes to process access to information requests. Monthly reports, which show trends and performance, are submitted to the Assistant Directors of the Case Management units, to the Executive Director of the ISATICP Office, and to the Chief Data Officer. 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 6} 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 ISATICP office 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 flr Tower A
333 North River Rd
Ottawa ON  K1A 0L8

V. Audits of, and investigations into the access to information practices of the Canada Border Services Agency

In fiscal year 2019 to 2020, 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

Refer to Annex A for a signed copy of the delegation order.

Chapter 2: Statistical report

Statistical report on the Access to Information Act

Refer to 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 8,223 Access to Information Act requests in fiscal year 2019 to 2020, which was an increase of 7.2% over the previous year. Moreover, the CBSA responded to 7,953 Access to Information Act requests, representing 83% of the total number of requests received and outstanding from the previous reporting period. Of the 1,632 requests carried over to fiscal year 2020 to 2021, 821 were on time and 811 were late. Finally, the CBSA processed over 1,160,704 pages under the Access to Information Act.

For the past 5 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. Completion time

Of all the requests completed, the CBSA was successful in responding to 95.1% within the legislated timelines, an increase from the 94.3% achieved last fiscal year.

III. Extensions

In total, 1,748 extensions were applied for in fiscal year 2019 to 2020. This represents a decrease of 21.9% in extensions in comparison to the previous fiscal year, and this despite an increase in the volume of requests received. Extensions were applied 94% of the time because of workload and meeting the original 30-day time limit would have resulted in unreasonable interference with the CBSA operations. The remaining 6% of the time was for consulting with third parties or other government institutions, or to provide notice to third parties.

IV. Consultations received from other institutions and organizations

In fiscal year 2019 to 2020, the CBSA completed 451 consultation requests from other government institutions and organizations. This represents a decreased of 23.6% in comparison to the previous fiscal year. To respond to these requests 11,402 pages were reviewed, a decrease of 49.3% from the previous fiscal year.

V. Completion time of consultations on Cabinet confidences

Although Cabinet confidences are excluded from the application of the Access to Information Act (section 69), the policies of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat require agencies and departments to consult their legal services to determine if requested information should be excluded. If there is any doubt or if the records contain discussion papers, legal counsel must consult the Office of the Counsel to the Clerk of the Privy Council Office.

In fiscal year 2019 to 2020, the CBSA did not consulted CBSA Legal services regarding Cabinet confidence exclusions, due to the fact that requesters are excluding Cabinet confidences from their requests.

VI. Complaints and investigations

Subsection 30(1) of the Access to Information Act describes how the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada (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 2019–2020, 159 Access to Information Act complaints were filed against the CBSA, an increase of 6% compared to fiscal year 2018 to 2019. The number of complaints filed relate to only 2% of the 7,953 access to information requests completed during this period. The complaints received during the fiscal year were related to the following issues: time delay (67); application of exemptions or exclusions (34); refusal to disclose records or missing information (43); time extension (7); collection (1); and miscellaneous (7).

Of the 130 complaints that were closed in fiscal year 2019 to 2020, 36 were deemed well-founded, and 6 were deemed not well-founded. Additionally, 52 complaints were resolved; 35 were discontinued; and one was settled. Where complaints are substantiated, the matter is reviewed by the delegated Assistant Director and processes are adjusted if required.

VII. Fees

The Service Fees Act requires a responsible authority to report annually to Parliament on the fees collected by the institution. With respect to fees collected under the Access to Information Act, the information below is reported in accordance with the requirements of section 20 of the Service Fees Act.

• Enabling authority: Access to Information Act
• Fee amount: $5, the only fee charged for an access to information request
• Total revenue: The total fee revenue for this reporting period is $41,115
• Fees waived: The total amount of fee waived for this reporting period is $860. In accordance with the Interim Directive on the Administration of the Access to Information Act, issued on May 5, 2016, and the changes to the Access to Information Act that came into force on June 21, 2019, the CBSA waives all fees prescribed by the Act and Regulations, other than the $5 application fee set out in paragraph 7(1)(a) of the Regulations
• Cost of operating the program: The total cost for operating the Access to Information Act program during this reporting period is $2,634,546

VIII. COVID-19: Impact on the CBSA information sharing, access to information and chief privacy office

The CBSA Information Sharing, Access to Information and Chief Privacy (ISATICP) Office continued to work effectively as we were, prior to COVID-19 measures, since the office already had remote access capability which enabled us to continue to work from home.

Between March 14 and March 31, 2020, the CBSA ISATICP Office received 286 Access to Information Act requests, which relate to only 3.5% of the 8,223 access to information requests received in year 2019 to 2020.

During the same period, the CBSA ISATICP Office closed a total of 194 Access to Information Act requests of which 162 (83.5%) were closed within the legislative timeliness, and 32 (16.5%) were closed past the legislative timelines, thereby maintaining continued strong legislative compliance.

In accordance with the Access to Information Act, the Agency continued to meet the legal requirements to publish proactively a broad range of information, such as the briefing note titles report and the report of summaries of closed non-personal access requests.

Finally, in accordance with TBS guidelines, the Agency implemented interim measures for processing Access to Information Act requests due to COVID-19 measures. Since paper records were not accessible, the ISATICP Office contacted each requester for new and outstanding requests to offer that they limit their request to electronic records, thereby making them retrievable remotely. This new measure was very well received by requesters.

IX. 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 and Privacy Act

Pursuant to section 73 of the Access to Information Act^{Footnote 1} and section 73 of the Privacy Act^{Footnote 2}, 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 27th day of January, 2020.

The Honourable Bill Blair, P.C., C.O.M., M.P.
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Annex B: Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act

Name of institution: Canada Border Services Agency

Reporting period: April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020

Section 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.

Section 2: Decline to act on vexatious, made in bad faith or abuse of right requests

Section 3: Requests closed during the reporting period

3.5 Complexity

3.6 Closed requests

3.7 Deemed refusals

Section 4: Extensions

Section 5: Fees

Section 6: Other institutions and organizations

Section 7: Completion time of consultations on Cabinet confidences

Section 8: Complaints and investigations

Section 9: Court action

Section 10: Resources related to the Access to Information Act

Annex C: Supplemental statistical report—Request affected by COVID-19 measures

The following table reports the total number of formal requests received during 2 periods; April 1, 2019 to March 13, 2020 and March 14, 2020 to March 31, 2020.

The following table reports the total number of requests closed within the legislated timelines and the number of closed requests that were deemed refusals during 2 periods April 1, 2019 to March 13, 2020 and March 14, 2020 to March 31, 2020.

The following table reports the total number of requests carried over during 2 periods; April 1, 2019 to March 13, 2020 and March 14, 2020 to March 31, 2020.

Date modified:

2020-10-20