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Annual Report to Parliament on the Access to Information Act: 2022 to 2023

From: Canada Border Services Agency

Chapter one: 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 (the ATIA) 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 ATIA for the fiscal year commencing April 1, 2022, and ending March 31, 2023. During this period, the CBSA continued to build on successful practices implemented in previous years.

The purpose of the ATIA is to enhance the accountability and transparency of federal institutions in order to promote an open and democratic society and to enable public debate on the conduct of those institutions. To further that purpose:

• Part 1 extends 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 about the disclosure of government information should be reviewed independently of government; and
• Part 2 sets out requirements for the proactive publication of information.^{Footnote 1}

As stated in subsections 94(1) and 94(2) of the ATIA, “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

1.  About the Canada Border Services Agency

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

2.  Information sharing, Access to Information and Chief Privacy Office

The Information Sharing, Access to Information and Chief Privacy (ISATICP) Office is comprised of six units: an Administration section, three Case Management units, and two Policy units.

• The Administration section receives all incoming requests and consultations, ensures quality control of all outgoing correspondence, and supports 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 ATIA, 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 Arrangements Policy (ISCAP) Unit maintains the policy framework for the CBSA's information sharing and domestic written collaborative arrangements (WCAs).

On average, 85 full time equivalents, and three part time, casual and student employees were employed in the CBSA ISATICP Office during fiscal year 2022 to 2023.

The head of ATIP for the CBSA is the Director General and Chief Privacy Officer of the ISATICP Office, who reports directly 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 head of CBSA ATIP is positioned within two levels of the President and has full delegated authority.

The key to maintaining compliance with the statutory time requirements of the ATIA is the CBSA ISATICP Office's ability to obtain records from branches and regions in an efficient manner. Supported by a network of ATIP liaison officers embedded within 16 offices of primary interest across the Regions and Branches, the ISATICP Office is well positioned to receive, coordinate, and process requests for information under the ATIA.

The CBSA 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

1.  Performance

Fiscal year 2022 to 2023 saw record high volumes of access to information requests made to the CBSA. The volume is largely attributable to individuals seeking copies of their immigration file. In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, 76.7% of all access to information requests received by the CBSA came from individuals seeking their immigration file. The volume is also largely attributable to individuals seeking copies of their Traveller History Report (THR). During the same period, 18.5% of all access to information requests received by the CBSA came from individuals seeking their THR. THR reports are used to establish reliable and accurate travel history information when an individual's presence or absence from Canada needs to be demonstrated to other institutions such as 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 (i.e. view only) clients' THR to Canada. IRCC has since viewed approximately 1.86 million THR, of which 121,346 were in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 that might otherwise have been requested formally through the CBSA by way of formal Access to Information Act or Privacy 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 CBSA received 18,633 requests, which amounted to 98.6% of all access to information requests received by the CBSA. In November 2023, the CBSA will adopt the Online Request Services/Online Management Tool developed by TBS, which will allow it to interact with the requesters directly, and also securely disclose documents to clients.

The CBSA also continued to offer the electronic format for responses to access to information requests, which amounted to 98.1% of the release packages. As a result, these requests accounted for 89.6% of all the pages the CBSA disclosed in their entirety or disclosed in part this fiscal year.

Finally, as per Section 96 of the ATIA, the CBSA has not provided services related to any power, duty or function conferred or imposed on the CBSA under the ATIA to another government institution that is under the responsibility of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and has not received such services from any other such government institution.

2.  Education and training

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the CBSA continued to provide support and guidance to employees. To do so, the Office adapted to numerous changes and explored alternative measures to delivery. The CBSA provided 10 virtual training sessions to 319 of its employees. The training sessions are designed to ensure that the participants fully understood their responsibilities under the ATIA and the Privacy Act, with a focus on requests made pursuant to the Acts and the duty to assist principles.

The CBSA maintained the Canada School of Public Service's (CSPS) Access to Information and Privacy Fundamentals (COR502) course to the list of mandatory training. This training must be successfully completed by all persons employed by the CBSA who occupy an indeterminate or term position on a full-time, part-time or seasonal basis, as well as students and casual employees. It also must be completed within six months of joining the CBSA.

Moreover, the CBSA delivered 13 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 273 of its employees. In addition, before attending the training, employees are advised to complete the interactive online training course, regarding information sharing that was developed by the CBSA.

Furthermore, the CBSA continues to raise employees' awareness of their obligations under the ATIA by leveraging the CBSA's daily newsletter as a way to provide employees with important information. The communiqués include key dates, such as “Right to Know Week”, and other activities at the CBSA to promote ATIP tools, resources, and awareness.

The CBSA continues to actively participate in the TBS-led ATIP coordinators, ATIP practitioners, ADM Access to information and openness committee (ATIO) and ATIP Community meetings. These meetings provide opportunities for employees of the Office to liaise with employees from other institutions to discuss various issues and challenges that have been identified by the ATIP community.

Finally, during the summer of 2022, the Canada Border Services Agency and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to tackle capacity issues faced by ATIP practitioners in various Government of Canada institutions. This MoU is established with institutional partners to seek contributions for fiscal year (FY) 2022 to 2023, to establish a Communities Development Office for the ATIP communities which aims to address challenges related to recruitment, retention, as well as centralized training and professional development programs.

3.  New and revised Access to Information Act policies and procedures

During fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the CBSA continued to revise existing policies, develop new policies, and introduce new procedures.

As per TBS Privacy Implementation Notice 2022-02, the CBSA developed an ATIP ID Verification Policy. This Policy provides direction on the requirement set out in section 4.1.4 of the Directive on Personal Information Requests and Correction of Personal Information that institutions must establish procedures to validate the identity of a requester. More specifically, this Policy formalized and enhanced the CBSA's practices in response to the extension order, which includes foreign nationals. The CBSA has continued to ensure that identity documentation is adequately verified as it is imperative to mitigate the risk of privacy breaches while delivering government services. The CBSA balances the right of access and program delivery with identity verification to provide an effortless ATIP process to Canadian citizens, permanent residents and foreign nationals.

The CBSA 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, it ensures that the CBSA intranet site is up to date and available to all CBSA employees. This allows the Office to quickly share information and best practices, as well as facilitate collaboration across the CBSA.

As required by the Directive on the Administration of the ATIA 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^{Footnote 6}. 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 266 requests on the website, representing 1.7% of the requests completed by the CBSA. The CBSA also received 1,231 informal enquiries for requests posted on the website in fiscal year 2022 to 2023, as compared to 381 in the previous year, a significant increase of 223.1%.

Since June 21, 2019, the CBSA has been fulfilling its legal requirements under the ATIA to proactively publish a broad range of information for the purposes of Part 2 of the ATIA.^{Footnote 7} These proactive publications include titles of briefing notes received by ministers and deputy heads; briefing packages for new or incoming ministers and deputy heads; briefing packages for Parliamentary Committee appearances by ministers and deputy heads; reports tabled in Parliament, and Question Period Notes (QPN).

The CBSA is responsible for proactively disclosing briefing note titles and ATIA Summary Reports, which are made available within the legislated timelines, and continued to informally review CBSA records for internal programs with the intention to proactively disclose as if they had been requested under the ATIA. In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the CBSA received 37 internal requests of this nature.

As previously stated, the CBSA falls under the Public Safety (PS) Portfolio. Accordingly, PS is responsible for proactively publishing QPNs on behalf of the CBSA on the open government website.^{Footnote 8}

The CBSA is also subject to sections 82 to 88 of the ATIA; however such responsibilities fall under the purview of other CBSA directorates. To ensure compliance with existing policy as well as new legal requirements, the CBSA continued to publish travel and hospitality expenses incurred by selected government officials; contracts over $10,000 dollars; information concerning the reclassification of occupied positions within the CBSA, and annual reports.

The CBSA has and continues to meet the requirement to proactively publish government information, per Part 2 of the ATIA, in an effort to promote transparency, openness, and accountability.

The CBSA continued to receive ATIP related audio/video redacting requests. In response, the ISATICP Office, in partnership with the Information, Science and Technology Branch, and as part of an Innovation Solution Canada challenge initiative, was involved in a project allowing private companies to introduce applied concept for the redaction of video recording. The project ended successfully with two products brought to market, and the CBSA is currently exploring the purchase of one of the solutions for our own use.

During the second half of fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the CBSA began to use a Robotic Process Automation (RPA) tool, as it became fully operational, to register new incoming access to information and privacy requests without the requirement for human intervention. The CBSA is working on expanding the use of RPA tools to perform other routine processes to create further efficiencies in order to better respond to increasing volume.

The CBSA 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, the Director of the Case Management units, and to the Director General and Chief Privacy Officer of the ISATICP Office. Monthly reports consisting of statistics on the performance of the offices of primary interest are also distributed to all ATIP liaison officers. Finally, weekly reports listing recently received Consultations from other Government Departments, recently received ATIP requests, upcoming releases, and recently closed ATIP requests are reviewed and discussed during meetings of the CBSA's Executive Committee.^{Footnote 9} These reports are produced and provided to raise awareness, as well as to raise transparency in advance of ATIP requests being released.

4.  Reading room

The CBSA, in accordance with the ATIA, 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 Floor, Tower A
333 North River Road
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0L8

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

In 2022 to 2023, there were no audits that related to the access to information practices of the CBSA. In February 2023, the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) launched a systemic investigation into the increase in complaints against the CBSA received by their office. The OIC has informed the CBSA that it will receive preliminary findings in the fall of 2023.

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 (the ATIA).

Interpretation of the statistical report

1.  Requests processed under the Access to Information Act

The CBSA received 18,889 ATIA requests in fiscal year 2022 to 2023, which was an 64.9% increase compared to the previous year. Moreover, the CBSA responded to 15,860 ATIA requests, representing 71.2% of the total number of requests received and outstanding from the previous reporting period. Finally, the CBSA processed over 715,580 pages under the ATIA.

For the past five years, the CBSA has consistently been among the top government departments and agencies in terms of the number of ATIA requests received. While receiving a substantial number of requests each year, the CBSA has consistently been one of the top performing institutions, responding within legislative timeframes more than 90% in a year which saw the greatest number of requests received.

2.  Completion time

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, a total of 15,860 requests were completed. The graph below presents the response times for the requests that the CBSA completed during this fiscal year.

Of the 15,860 completed requests, the CBSA was successful in responding to 90.1% within the legislated timelines, a 0.6% decrease from the 90.7% achieved last fiscal year.

The chart below provides an overview of the disposition of these completed requests.

Of the completed requests, 5,910 records were fully disclosed and 8,913 were partially disclosed. See Annex B for all the details on the disposition of the completed requests.

Of the 6,410 requests carried over to fiscal year 2023 to 2024, 1,917 were on time and 4,493 were late. The graph below provides an overview of the requests carried over that were within or beyond legislated timelines.

See Annex C for all the details related to the number of outstanding requests carried over to next fiscal year.

3.  Extensions

In total, 2,757 extensions were applied for during fiscal year 2022 to 2023. This represents a 9.3% decrease in extensions in comparison to the previous fiscal year. The implementation of a more robust processing solution for immigration requests reduced reliance on extensions. Extensions were applied 99.2% 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 0.8% of the time was for consulting with third parties or other government institutions, or to provide notice to third parties.

4.  Consultations received from other institutions and organizations

In 2022 to 2023, the CBSA completed 225 consultation requests from other government institutions and organizations. This represents a decrease of 37.8% in comparison to the previous fiscal year. To respond to these requests, 8,580 pages were reviewed, a significant decrease from the previous fiscal year.

5.  Completion time of consultations on Cabinet confidences

Although Cabinet confidences are excluded from the application of the ATIA (section 69), the policies of the TBS 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 (PCO).

In 2022 to 2023, the CBSA consulted with CBSA Legal services regarding Cabinet confidence exclusions, that could be subject to the matter. See Annex B for details.

6.  Complaints and investigations

Subsection 30(1) of the ATIA 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.

Both fiscal year 2021 to 2022 and 2022 to 2023 have significantly more complaints than in previous years. 346 ATIA complaints were filed against the CBSA in 2022 to 2023. For context, the number of complaints filed relate to 2.2% of the 15,860 access to information requests completed during this period. The complaints received during the fiscal year were related to the following issues: time delay (295); application of exemptions or exclusions (19); time extension (5); missing / incomplete records (26); and miscellaneous (1).

Of the 335 complaints that were closed in fiscal year 2022 to 2023, nine were deemed well-founded, 34 were resolved well-founded and none were deemed not well-founded. Additionally, 18 complaints were resolved; 274 were discontinued; and none were settled. Where complaints are substantiated, the matter is reviewed by the delegated Assistant Directors and processes are adjusted if required.

At the end of fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the CBSA had 886 active complaints that were outstanding from previous reporting periods. The graph below provides an overview of the active complaints that are outstanding.

See Annex C for all the details related to the active complaints that are outstanding.

There was a reduction in the volume of complaints despite a significant increase in the volume of requests while the CBSA was able to achieve a 90.1% on-time compliance. However, the CBSA recognizes that there is room for improvement and work to be done to better respond to its transparency obligations. With that said, the CBSA remains proud of its successes during 2022 to 2023.

7.  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 ATIA, 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 payable: $5.00 dollars application fee is the only fee charged for an access to information request
• Total revenue: The total fee revenue for this reporting period is $91,905 dollars
• Fees waived: The total amount of fees waived for this reporting period is $2,540 dollars. In accordance with the Interim Directive on the Administration of the ATIA, issued on May 5, 2016, and the changes to the ATIA that came into force on June 21, 2019, the CBSA waives all fees prescribed by the Act and Regulations, other than the $5 dollars application fee set out in Section 7 of the Regulations
• Cost of operating the program: The total cost for operating the ATIA program during this reporting period is $3,310,595 millions dollars

8.  COVID-19: Impact on the CBSA ISATICP Office

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the CBSA has played a critical role in managing the border in a safe and efficient manner, contributing to the health and security of Canadians. During fiscal year 2022 to 2023, many CBSA employees were reassigned, and called upon to work around the clock to provide critical and essential services to Canadians and travelers. Despite the implementation of these new measures, the CBSA was able to maintain the ability to process requests received under the ATIA in a timely manner, responding to requests within their statutory timelines in more than nine out of 10 cases.

This success is also due to the implementation of interim measures for processing ATIA requests and the office already had remote access capability which enabled the employees to continue to work from home. In September 2022, the CBSA ISATICP Office partially returned to the office and documents classified as secret were once again accessible.

During this period, the CBSA collaborated closely with TBS and coordinators in the access to information and privacy community. Every two weeks, the CBSA has completed the TBS request capacity questionnaire on the status of ATIP offices during COVID-19, which is being published on the Open Government website.

9.  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 ATIA. 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

Schedule
Ministerial Order under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act

Positions	Access to Information Act and Regulations	Privacy Act and Regulations
President	Full authority	Full authority
Executive Vice-President	Full authority	Full authority
Vice-President Strategic Policy Branch	Full authority	Full authority
Director General Chief Data Office	Full authority	Full authority
Director General and Chief Privacy Officer Information Sharing, Access to Information and Privacy Office (ISATICPO)	Full authority	Full authority
Assistant Director ISATICPO	Full authority	Full authority  (except 8(2)(m))
Team Leader ISATICPO	Full authority	Full authority  (except 8(2)(m))

Annex B: Statistical report

Statistical report on the Access to Information Act

Name of institution: Canada Border Services Agency

Reporting period: April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023

Section 1: Requests under the Access to Information Act

1.1 Number of requests

Received during reporting period	18,889
Outstanding from previous reporting period Outstanding from previous reporting period – 3,144 Outstanding for more than one reporting period – 237	3,381
Total	22,270
Closed during reporting period	15,860
Carried over to the next reporting period Carried over within legislated timelines – 1,917 Carried over beyond legislated timelines – 4,493	6,410

1.2 Sources of requests

Source	Number of requests
Media	120
Academia	315
Business (private sector)	5,949
Organization	358
Public	7,651
Decline to identify	4,496
Total	18,889

1.3 Channels of requests

Source	Number of requests
Online	18,633
E-mail	83
Mail	153
In person	0
Phone	0
Fax	20
Total	18,889

Section 2: Informal requests

	Number of requests
Received during reporting period	1,231
Outstanding from previous reporting period Outstanding from previous reporting period – 0 Outstanding for more than one reporting period – 0	0
Total	1,231
Closed during reporting period	1,231
Carried over to next reporting period	0

2.2 Channels of informal requests

Source	Number of requests
Online	1231
E-mail	0
Mail	0
In person	0
Phone	0
Fax	0
Total	1231

2.3 Completion time of informal requests

Completion time
1 to 15 days	16 to 30 days	31 to 60 days	61 to 120 days	121 to 180 days	181 to 365 days	More than 365 days	Total
494	113	82	177	185	180	0	1,231

2.4 Pages released informally

Less than 100 pages released		100-500 Pages released		501-1000 Pages released		1001-5000 Pages released		More Than 5000 Pages released
Number of requests	Pages released	Number of requests	Pages released	Number of requests	Pages released	Number of requests	Pages released	Number of requests	Pages released
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

2.5 Pages re-released informally

Less than 100 pages released		100-500 pages released		501-1000 pages released		1001-5000 pages released		More than 5000 pages released
Number of requests	Pages released	Number of requests	Pages released	Number of requests	Pages released	Number of requests	Pages released	Number of requests	Pages released
247	9,286	328	93,219	139	98,680	444	964,552	73	914,746

Section 3: Applications to the Information Commissioner on declining to act on requests

	Number of requests
Outstanding from previous reporting period	0
Sent during reporting period	0
Total	0
Approved by the Information Commissioner during reporting period	0
Declined by the Information Commissioner during reporting period	0
Withdrawn during reporting period	0
Carried over to next reporting period	0

Section 4: Requests closed during the reporting period

4.1 Disposition and completion time

Disposition of requests	Completion time
	1 to 15 days	16 to 30 days	31 to 60 days	61 to 120 days	121 to 180 days	181 to 365 days	More than 365 days	Total
All disclosed	613	4,537	522	192	22	15	7	5,908
Disclosed in part	556	5,377	1,213	1,195	242	223	107	8,913
All exempted	2	2	5	5	0	0	3	17
All excluded	1	0	1	1	2	0	0	5
No records exist	12	113	40	46	8	17	6	242
Request transferred	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	5
Request abandoned	306	213	54	36	7	19	129	764
Neither confirmed nor denied	0	1	3	1	0	0	1	6
Decline to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1,495	10,243	1,838	1,476	281	274	253	15,860

4.2 Exemptions

Section	Number of requests	Section	Number of requests	Section	Number of requests	Section	Number of requests
13(1)(a)	5,162	16(2)	51	18(a)	2	20.1	0
13(1)(b)	3	16(2)(a)	0	18(b)	2	20.2	0
13(1)(c)	22	16(2)(b)	3	18(c)	0	20.4	0
13(1)(d)	19	16(2)(c)	780	18(d)	1	21(1)(a)	34
13(1)(e)	12	16(3)	0	18.1(1)(a)	0	21(1)(b)	33
14	0	16.1(1)(a)	0	18.1(1)(b)	0	21(1)(c)	9
14(a)	2	16.1(1)(b)	0	18.1(1)(c)	0	21(1)(d)	10
14(b)	0	16.1(1)(c)	0	18.1(1)(d)	0	22	7
15(1)	0	16.1(1)(d)	0	19(1)	5,491	22.1(1)	2
15(1) - I.A.Tablenote 1	74	16.2(1)	0	20(1)(a)	4	23	20
15(1) - Def.Tablenote 2	6	16.3	0	20(1)(b)	15	23.1	0
15(1) - S.A.Tablenote 3	1,622	16.4(1)(a)	0	20(1)(b.1)	1	24(1)	17
16(1)(a)(i)	1	16.4(1)(b)	0	20(1)(c)	27	26	27
16(1)(a)(ii)	0	16.5	3	20(1)(d)	4
16(1)(a)(iii)	0	16.6	0
16(1)(b)	29	17	21
16(1)(c)	6,170
16(1)(d)	4

4.3 Exclusions

Section	Number of requests	Section	Number of requests	Section	Number of requests
68(a)	3	69(1)	1	69(1)(g) re (a)	1
68(b)	0	69(1)(a)	2	69(1)(g) re (b)	0
68(c)	0	69(1)(b)	3	69(1)(g) re (c)	0
68.1	0	69(1)(c)	0	69(1)(g) re (d)	0
68.2(a)	0	69(1)(d)	1	69(1)(g) re (e)	0
68.2(b)	0	69(1)(e)	1	69(1)(g) re (f)	0
		69(1)(f)	0	69.1(1)	0

4.4 Format of information released

Paper	Electronic				Other
	E-record	Data set	Video	Audio
288	0	14,533	5	5	0

4.5 Complexity

4.5.1 Relevant pages processed and disclosed for paper and e-record formats

Number of pages processed	Number of pages disclosed	Number of requests
715,580	526,801	15,613

4.5.2 Relevant pages processed per request disposition for paper and e-record formats by size of requests

Disposition	Less Than 100 Pages processed		100-500 Pages processed		501 to 1,000 Pages processed		1001-5000 Pages processed		More Than 5000 Pages processed
	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed
All disclosed	5,856	60,849	47	8,231	1	692	3	4,598	1	7,015
Disclosed in part	7,530	174,440	1,259	245,663	83	56,357	34	67,814	7	55,659
All exempted	17	290	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
All excluded	5	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Request abandoned	719	1,831	28	6,969	11	8,419	5	11,574	1	5,173
Neither confirmed nor denied	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Declined to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	14,133	237,416	1,334	260,863	95	65,468	42	83,986	9	67,847

4.5.3 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for audio formats

Number of minutes processed	Number of minutes disclosed	Number of requests
2,450	999	5

4.5.4 Relevant minutes processed per requests disposition for audio formats by size of requests

Disposition	Less than 60 Minutes processed		60-120 Minutes processed		More than 120 Minutes processed
	Number of requests	Minutes processed	Number of requests	Minutes processed	Number of requests	Minutes processed
All disclosed	0	0	1	79	0	0
Disclosed in part	2	74	0	0	2	2,297
All exempted	0	0	0	0	0	0
All excluded	0	0	0	0	0	0
Request abandoned	0	0	0	0	0	0
Neither confirmed nor denied	0	0	0	0	0	0
Declined to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	2	74	1	79	2	2,297

4.5.5 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for video formats

Number of minutes processed	Number of minutes disclosed	Number of requests
3,406	491	5

4.5.6 Relevant minutes processed per requests disposition for video formats by size of requests

Disposition	Less than 60 minutes processed		60-120 Minutes processed		More than 120 minutes processed
	Number of requests	Minutes processed	Number of requests	Minutes processed	Number of requests	Minutes processed
All disclosed	1	9	1	117	0	0
Disclosed in part	1	10	0	0	2	3,270
All exempted	0	0	0	0	0	0
All excluded	0	0	0	0	0	0
Request abandoned	0	0	0	0	0	0
Neither confirmed nor denied	0	0	0	0	0	0
Declined to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	2	19	1	117	2	3,270

4.5.7 Other complexities

Disposition	Consultation required	Legal advice sought	Other	Total
All disclosed	6	0	0	6
Disclosed in part	51	0	0	51
All exempted	0	1	0	1
All excluded	0	0	0	0
Request abandoned	36	0	0	36
Neither confirmed nor denied	0	0	0	0
Declined to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner	0	0	0	0
Total	93	1	0	94

4.6 Closed requests

4.6.1 Requests closed within legislated timelines

Number of requests closed within legislated timelines	Percentage of requests closed within legislated timelines (%)
14,284	90.0630517

4.7 Deemed refusals

4.7.1 Reasons for not meeting legislated timelines

Number of requests closed past the legislated timelines	Principal reason
	Interference with operations / workload	External consultation	Internal consultation	Other
1,576	796	12	3	765

4.7.2 Requests closed beyond legislated timelines (including any extension taken)

Number of days past legislated timelines	Number of requests past legislated timeline where no extension was taken	Number of requests past legislated timeline where an extension was taken	Total
1 to 15 days	0	0	0
16 to 30 days	0	0	0
31 to 60 days	312	1	313
61 to 120 days	114	348	462
121 to 180 days	35	241	276
181 to 365 days	58	219	277
More than 365 days	93	155	248
Total	612	964	1,576

4.8 Requests for translation

Translation requests	Accepted	Refused	Total
English to french	0	0	0
French to english	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0

Section 5: Extensions

5.1 Reasons for extensions and disposition of requests

Disposition of requests where an extension was taken	9(1)(a) Interference with operations / workload	9(1)(b) Consultation		9(1)(c) Third-party notice
		Section 69	Other
All disclosed	352	0	1	0
Disclosed in part	2,143	1	11	1
All exempted	14	0	0	0
All excluded	3	0	0	0
Request abandoned	135	0	7	1
No records exist	87	0	1	0
Decline to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner	0	0	0	0
Total	2,734	1	20	2

5.2 Length of extensions

Length of extensions	9(1)(a) Interference with operations / workload	9(1)(b) Consultation		9(1)(c) Third-party notice
		Section 69	Other
30 days or less	733	0	2	0
31 to 60 days	1,354	1	5	0
61 to 120 days	622	0	10	1
121 to 180 days	23	0	3	0
181 to 365 days	2	0	0	0
365 days or more	0	0	0	1
Total	2,734	1	20	2

Section 6: Fees

Fee type	Fee collected		Fee waived		Fee refunded
	Number of requests	Amount (dollars)	Number of requests	Amount (dollars)	Number of requests	Amount (dollars)
Application	18,381	$91,905.00	508	$2,540.00	0	$0.00
Other fees	0	$0.00	0	$0.00	0	$0.00
Total	18,381	$91,905.00	508	$2,540.00	0	$0.00

Section 7: Consultations received from other institutions and organizations

7.1 Consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions and organizations

Consultations	Other Government of Canada institutions	Number of pages to review	Other organizations	Number of pages to review
Received during reporting period	281	10,529	1	7
Outstanding from the previous reporting period	96	32,184	2	1
Total	377	42,713	3	8
Closed during the reporting period	222	8,572	3	8
Carried over to next reporting period	155	34,141	0	0
Carried over beyond negotiated timelines	0	0	0	0

7.2 Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions

Recommendation	Number of days required to complete consultation requests
	1 to 15 days	16 to 30 days	31 to 60 days	61 to 120 days	121 to 180 days	181 to 365 days	More than 365 days	Total
Disclose entirely	37	25	26	11	5	4	3	111
Disclose in part	14	25	28	17	4	10	2	100
Exempt entirely	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	6
Exclude entirely	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Consult other institution	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other	3	1	0	0	0	0	1	5
Total	58	53	54	28	9	14	6	222

7.3 Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other organizations outside the Government of Canada

Recommendation	Number of days required to complete consultation requests
	1 to 15 days	16 to 30 days	31 to 60 days	61 to 120 days	121 to 180 days	181 to 365 days	More than 365 days	Total
Disclose entirely	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	3
Disclose in part	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Exempt entirely	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Exclude entirely	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Consult other institution	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	3

Section 8: Completion time of consultations on Cabinet confidences

8.1 Requests with Legal Services

Number of days	Fewer than 100 pages processed		100 to 500 pages processed		501 to 1,000 pages processed		1001 to 5,000 pages processed		More than 5,000 pages processed
	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed
1 to 15	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
16 to 30	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
31 to 60	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
61 to 120	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
121 to 180	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
181 to 365	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
More than 365	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

8.2 Requests with Privy Council Office

Number of days	Fewer than 100 pages processed		100 to 500 pages processed		501 to 1,000 pages processed		1,001 to 5,000 pages processed		More than 5,000 pages processed
	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed
1 to 15	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
16 to 30	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
31 to 60	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
61 to 120	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
121 to 180	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
181 to 365	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
More than 365	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Section 9: Investigations and reports of findings

9.1 Investigations

9.1 Investigations

Section 32 Notice of intention to investigate	Subsection 30(5) Ceased to investigate	Section 35 Formal representations
361	274	11

9.2 Investigations and reports of findings

Section 37(1) Initial reports			Section 37(2) Final reports
Received	Containing recommendations issued by the Information Commissioner	Containing orders issues by the Information Commissioner	Received	Containing recommendations issued by the Information Commissioner	Containing orders issues by the Information Commissioner
6	0	6	68	6	0

Section 10: Court Action

10.1 Court actions on complaints

Section 41
Complainant (1)	Institution (2)	Third Party (3)	Privacy Commissioner (4)	Total
3	0	0	0	3

10.2 Court actions on third party notifications under paragraph 28(1)(b)

Section 44 – under paragraph 28(1)(b)
0

Section 11: Resources related to the Access to Information Act

11.1 Allocated costs

Expenditures		Amount (dollars)
Salaries		$2,962,673
Overtime		$104,358
Goods and services:		$243,564
Professional services contracts	$0
Other	$243,564
Total		$3,310,595

11.2 Human Resources

Resources	Person years dedicated to Access to Information activities
Full-time employees	35.740
Part-time and casual employees	1.220
Regional staff	0.00
Consultants and agency personnel	0.00
Students	0.00
Total	36.960

Annex C: Supplemental statistical report on the Access to Information Act

Section 1: Capacity to receive requests

1.1 The following are the number of weeks the CBSA was able to receive ATIP requests through the different channels.

	Number of weeks
Able to receive requests by mail	52
Able to receive requests by email	52
Able to receive requests through the digital request service	52

Section 2: Capacity to process records

2.1 The following are the number of weeks the CBSA was able to process paper records in different classification levels.

	No capacity	Partial capacity	Full capacity	Total
Unclassified paper records	0	0	52	52
Protected B paper records	0	0	52	52
Secret and Top Secret paper records	0	0	52	52

2.2 Number of weeks the CBSA was able to process electronic records in different classification levels

	No capacity	Partial capacity	Full capacity	Total
Unclassified electronic records	0	0	52	52
Protected B electronic records	0	0	52	52
Secret and Top Secret electronic records	0	0	52	52

Section 3: Open requests and complaints

3.1 The following are the number of open requests that are outstanding from the previous reporting periods.

Fiscal year open requests were received	Open requests that are within legislated timelines as of March 31, 2023	Open requests that are beyond legislated timelines as of March 31, 2023	Total
Received in 2022 to 2023	1,914	3,272	5,186
Received in 2021 to 2022	3	740	743
Received in 2020 to 2021	0	278	278
Received in 2019 to 2020	0	146	146
Received in 2018 to 2019	0	46	46
Received in 2017 to 2018	0	11	11
Received in 2016 to 2017	0	0	0
Received in 2015 to 2016 or earlier	0	0	0
Total	1,917	4,493	6,410

3.2 The following are the number of open complaints with the Information Commissioner that are outstanding from the previous reporting periods.

Fiscal year open	Complaints were received number of open complaints
Received in 2022 to 2023	319
Received in 2021 to 2022	443
Received in 2020 to 2021	59
Received in 2019 to 2020	38
Received in 2018 to 2019	13
Received in 2017 to 2018	8
Received in 2016 to 2017	4
Received in 2015 to 2016 or earlier	2
Total	886