Annual Report to Parliament on the Access to Information Act: 2023 to 2024

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, 2023, and ending March 31, 2024.

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.
• Part 2 sets out the requirements for the proactive publication of information.^{Footnote 1}

As stated in subsections 94(1) and (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

The CBSA has been an integral part of the Public Safety Canada portfolio since December 2003. It is responsible for protecting Canadians and maintaining a peaceful and safe society by 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 16,000 employees, including over 7,900 frontline CBSA officers who provide services at approximately 1,200 points across Canada and at 39 international locations.

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

In accordance with section 95 of the ATIA, the head of a government institution may, by order, delegate any of their powers, duties or functions under this Act to one or more officers or employees of that institution. This includes specific powers and functions to employees within the CBSA's Information Sharing, Access to Information, and Chief Privacy Office.

A copy of the Delegation Order is provided in Annex A.

Positioned within two levels of the President and with direct report to the Vice-President of the Strategic Policy Branch, the Director General of the Information Sharing, Access to Information, and Chief Privacy Office acts as the departmental Chief Privacy Officer with full delegated authority to administer and coordinate the ATIA and the Privacy Act.

The Information Sharing, Access to Information, and Chief Privacy Office's primary role is to ensure that the CBSA is compliant with the requirements of the Privacy Act, ATIA, Customs Act, Security of Canada Information Disclosure Act (SCIDA), and the Avoiding Complicity in Mistreatment by the Foreign Entities Act (ACMFEA). This includes, but is not limited to, providing functional guidance and internal services pertaining to access rights, personal information handling practices, privacy impact assessments, disclosure, and privacy breaches.

The Information Sharing, Access to Information, and Chief Privacy Office builds upon relevant government policies, regulations, and guidelines to bring agency-wide awareness on privacy principles and is the CBSA's main point of contact for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and the Office of the Information Commissioner.

Managed by the Director General with the support of two directors, the workforce is divided into three main groups comprised of seven units: one Intake team, four Case Management units, and two Policy units:

• The Intake team 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 Unit supports program-specific information sharing initiatives, and develops and maintains the CBSA's policy framework for information sharing and written collaborative arrangements.

During FY 2023 to 2024, the Information Sharing, Access to Information, and Chief Privacy Office employed approximately 101 full time equivalents and 36 part time, casual, and student employees.

To support the overall departmental compliance with the ATIA and Privacy Act, the Information Sharing, Access to Information, and Chief Privacy Office seeks advice on legal, public affairs, policy, and operational security matters from other organizations and specialists as required, and consults internally with other CBSA branches and program areas.

Having access to corporate databases and information management systems is key to maintaining compliance with the statutory time requirements of the ATIA. The Information Sharing, Access to Information, and Chief Privacy Office's ability to efficiently obtain records directly from the Global Case Management System, Field Operations Support System, Cognos, Integrated Customs Enforcement System, and the National Case Management System has allowed the CBSA to process more than 40,000 requests in-house.

Furthermore, supported by a network of ATIP liaison officers embedded within 16 offices of primary interest across the regions and branches, the Information Sharing, Access to Information, and Chief Privacy Office is optimally positioned to receive, coordinate, and process requests for information under the ATIA.

Lastly, to share best practices and develop streamlined processes for the retrieval of jointly held records within the 30-day legislated timeframe, the office works closely with the other agencies of the Public Safety portfolio, which include the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Correctional Service of Canada, the Parole Board of Canada, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Activities and accomplishments

1.  Performance

On February 8, 2024, during infrastructure maintenance performed by Shared Services Canada, 40 CBSA servers were impacted. Although most servers were restored, the information contained in the ATIP servers remained inaccessible. Accordingly, Shared Services Canada and the CBSA, in collaboration with experts across the government and private sector vendors, worked together to understand the issue, its impact, and to find solutions.

At the time of the outage, there was a combined total of 16,000 on-time and late unanswered Access and Privacy requests.

Using the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat ATIP Online Request Service, 4,000 unanswered requests were recovered, and within 10 days, the CBSA's ATIP Office returned to a full pre-outage capacity. The CBSA immediately notified the Information Commissioner and the Privacy Commissioner, and on February 21, issued the first of two media releases to inform the public about the outage, delays in processing ATIP requests electronically, and the agency's ongoing efforts to restore the affected systems. The news release also indicated that the inaccessible information has not been deleted and no security breach was identified, and encouraged requesters to continue submitting new ATIP requests through the online portal.

The CBSA continued to bolster its capacity to process requests impacted by the situation while working closely with Shared Services Canada, the Information Commissioner, and the Privacy Commissioner to ensure that the access rights of all requesters were respected.

Following an internal review of the incident, no security or privacy breaches were identified.

No requester information or records collected to respond to requests was lost; however, all the data or information was recovered in a large single package without context or framework, making it impossible to decipher which requests it corresponds to. Shared Services Canada attempted, through the use of robotics, data analytics, and artificial intelligence, to create new linkages between the requester information and the associated files; however neither department was able to connect the information to specific requests.

As a consequence, the accuracy of statistical data was impacted. Nonetheless, the CBSA completed the statistical reports to the best of its ability using multiple data sources such as pre and post-outage records, manually documented processing data, and internal statistics recorded prior to the outage.

During FY 2023 to 2024, the CBSA continued to experience record high volumes of access to information requests. The volume is largely attributable to individuals seeking copies of their immigration file.

In November 2023, the CBSA migrated from the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada legacy platform and on-boarded to the government-wide portal for Access to Information and Privacy requests hosted by Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, joining 260+ other federal institutions on the portal to provide increasingly single-window service to requesters.

By fiscal year end, the CBSA procured a new and modernized Access to Information and Privacy software processing tool to enable Access to Information and Privacy experts to spend more time on quality of service and less time on manipulation of documents in antiquated formats and systems.

In pursuing the modernization of its ATIP program, the CBSA continued to develop the use of Robotic Process Automation tools to enable the registration of new incoming access to information and privacy requests without the requirement for human intervention. Work on expanding the use of Robotic Process Automation tools to perform other routine processes that will create further efficiencies to enhance responsiveness to increasing volume is underway.

Lastly, pursuant to section 96 of the ATIA, the CBSA has not provided, nor received, services related to any power, duty or function conferred or imposed on the CBSA under the ATIA to or from another government institution that is under the responsibility of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

2.  Education and training

In FY 2023 to 2024, the Information Sharing, Access to Information, and Chief Privacy Office continued to provide support and guidance to CBSA employees, adapt to numerous changes, and explore alternative measures to delivery. Specifically, the Office delivered 11 privacy sessions to 295 participants. These 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 Canada School of Public Service's Access to Information and Privacy Fundamentals (COR502) course also remained on the CBSA list of mandatory training. The course must be successfully completed, within six months of joining the CBSA, by all persons employed by the CBSA on a full-time, part-time, or seasonal basis and who occupy an indeterminate, term, casual, or student position.

Moreover, 28 in-person and virtual information sharing training sessions on the disclosure of personal information pursuant to section 107 of the Customs Act, section 8 of the Privacy Act, and other relevant legislation were delivered to a total of 1337 CBSA officials located in headquarters and regional offices. As a prerequisite, the CBSA also developed an information sharing introductory online course.

To raise employees' awareness of their obligations under the ATIA and promote ATIP tools and resources, the CBSA continued to leverage the daily newsletter to communicate important information with employees.

The CBSA, as represented by the Chief Privacy Office, holds a membership to the ATIP Community Development Office (APCDO) and is an active participant in the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat-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 colleagues from other institutions to discuss various issues and challenges that have been identified by the ATIP community.

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

The CBSA continues to balance the right of access and program delivery with identity verification to provide an ATIP process to Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and foreign nationals. Mitigating the risk of privacy breaches while delivering government services is vital. As such, per Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Privacy Implementation Notice 2022-02, the CBSA developed an ATIP ID Verification Policy to formalize and enhance its practices in response to the extension order, and to ensure that identity documentation is adequately verified. Additionally, the CBSA continued to revise its existing policy suite and related procedures and guidelines.

As required by the Directive on the Administration of the ATIA and as part of the open government initiative, the CBSA continued to post monthly summaries of completed access to information requests on the Government of Canada's mandated website^{Footnote 4}. These requests do not include personal information or any other information that would be exempted or excluded under the ATIA or that could reveal a requester's identity.

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 5} 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.

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 though they had been requested under the ATIA.

As previously stated, the CBSA falls under the Public Safety Portfolio. Accordingly, Public Safety is responsible for proactively publishing QPNs on behalf of the CBSA on the open government website.^{Footnote 6}

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; 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.

4.  Reading room

The CBSA, in accordance with the ATIA, maintains a reading room for applicants who wish to review material in person. Access to the reading room can be requested by contacting the CBSA's Information Sharing, Access to Information, and Chief Privacy Office by telephone at 343-291-7021 or email at 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

From April 2017 to February 2020, the Information Commissioner observed a considerable increase in Access to Information requests to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada for records related to immigration applications. This increase led to a corresponding rise in complaints related to immigration-related information, thus prompting the Office of the Information Commissioner to launch a systemic investigation that was concluded in May 2021.

Three years after the Information Commissioner's systemic investigation into Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, requesters continue to use the access to information system to obtain information related to their immigration applications. These requests were concurrently submitted to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the CBSA as both departments have access to the same data through shared tools. Consequently, ATIP offices within both institutions were faced with ongoing challenges despite Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada's efforts to introduce a more efficient method for providing requesters with information concerning their applications beyond the ATIA.

Since then, the CBSA experienced its own substantial surge in requests, rising from 4,935 requests for immigration records during FY 2020 to 2021 to 32,500 in the last fiscal year, marking a 558.56% growth over a three-year period.

Therefore, in February 2023, the Office of the Information Commissioner launched a second systemic investigation into immigration-related Access to Information requests against the CBSA due to a surge in complaints claiming that the CBSA was not responding to requests within the legislated timelines under the ATIA. The anticipated release date for the results of the investigation is spring 2024.

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

In FY 2023 to 2024, the CBSA received 13,277 new ATIA requests, a 29.70% decrease from the previous reporting period. This decrease in numbers compared to previous fiscal year is largely due to more requests being submitted via the AORS portal as privacy requests rather than ATIA requests.

A total of 13,452 requests were completed during the 2023 to 2024 reporting period. At first glance, the number of requests completed for FY 2023 to 2024 shows a slight decline compared to last year's report; however, when measured against the number of requests received during the same reporting period, the number of completed requests exceeds the number of requests received.

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. Despite the substantial number of requests received annually, the CBSA has consistently succeeded in maintaining its position as one of the top performing institutions, as evidenced by the five year trend depicted in the chart below.

Text description

Access to information requests received/completed

Fiscal year	Requests received	Completed requests
2019 to 2020	8,223	7,953
2020 to 2021	7,568	7,261
2021 to 2022	11,457	10,015
2022 to 2023	18,889	15,860
2023 to 2024	13,277	13,452

2.  Completion time

As previously stated, a total of 13,452 requests were completed during FY 2023 to 2024; however due to the temporary outage in February that impacted agency data, a breakdown of completion time is only available for 11,283 of these completed requests.

The chart below presents the response times for the 11,283 requests that the CBSA completed during this fiscal year.

Text description

Response times for the requests that the CBSA completed this fiscal year (days)

Completion time (days)	Number of requests
121 or more	793
61 to 120	466
31 to 60	1,153
30 or less	8,871

Of the 11,283 completed requests, 4,356 records, representing 38.60% of requests, were fully disclosed and 4,917, representing 43.58% of requests, were partially disclosed.

The chart below provides an overview of the disposition of these completed requests. Please consult Annex B for the full details.

Text description

Disposition of completed requests

Fully disclosed	38.60%
Partially disclosed	43.58%
No records exist	2.55%
Request abandoned	14.59%
Other	0.80%

As for the 745 requests carried over to FY 2023 to 2024, 250 were on time and 495 were late.

3.  Extensions

As a result of the temporary system outage in February, the CBSA was unable to retrieve the necessary data for FY 2023 to 2024. Accordingly, the number of extensions applied between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024 is unavailable for this reporting period.

4.  Consultations received from other institutions and organizations

Per the preceding section, due to the temporary system outage in February, the CBSA was unable to retrieve the necessary data for FY 2023 to 2024. Accordingly, the number of consultations received from other institutions and organizations between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024 is unavailable for this reporting period.

5.  Completion time of consultations on Cabinet confidences

Although Cabinet Confidences are excluded from the application of the ATIA (section 69), Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat policies require agencies and departments to consult their legal services to determine if requested information should be excluded. In case of 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).

Per the preceding section, the CBSA was unable to report the completion time of consultations on Cabinet confidences for this reporting period.

6.  Complaints and investigations

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

In FY 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024, a noticeable rise in the number of complaints was observed compared to previous years. On February 9, 2023, the Information Commissioner initiated a systemic investigation into the significant increase in complaints submitted to the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada since April 1, 2021, alleging that CBSA is not responding to access requests within the legislated time limits. As the majority of the complaints received by the CBSA is related to requesters seeking their immigration records, the Information Commissioner's investigation focuses mainly on access requests for records related to immigration application files. The Information Commissioner's findings are expected in fiscal year 2024 to 2025.

More precisely, in 2023 to 2024, the CBSA received 762 complaints, which represent 5.73% of the 13,277 access to information requests received. While the complaints originated from various parties, 586 complaints, representing 76.90% of the total, were received from immigration consultants seeking access to immigration related records for their clients.

By March 31, 2024, the CBSA had addressed 356 complaints, representing 46.72% of the overall total of complaints received.

Text description

Outstanding Active Complaints

Fiscal Year	Active complaints
2019 to 2020	38
2020 to 2021	59
2021 to 2022	443
2022 to 2023	319
2023 to 2024	762

See Annex C for details related to the number of complaints.

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 application fee is the only fee charged for an access to information request
• Total revenue: The total fee revenue for this reporting period is $65,505
• Fees waived: The total amount of fees waived for this reporting period is $295. 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 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 $2,530,878

8.  Conclusion

The achievements portrayed in this report reflect the CBSA's commitment to ensuring that every reasonable effort was made to meet its obligations under the ATIA. The CBSA strives to provide Canadians with the information to which they have a right to 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

Annex B: Statistical report

Statistical report on the Access to Information Act

Name of institution: Canada Border Services Agency

Reporting period: April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024

Section 1: Requests under the Access to Information Act

Section 2: Informal requests

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

Section 4: Requests closed during the reporting period

4.5 Complexity

4.6 Closed requests

4.7 Deemed refusals

Section 5: Extensions

Section 6: Fees

Section 7: Consultations received from other institutions and organizations

Section 8: Completion time of consultations on Cabinet confidences

Section 9: Investigations and reports of findings

9.1 Investigations

Section 10: Court Action

Section 11: Resources related to the Access to Information Act

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

Statistical report on the Access to Information Act

Name of institution: Canada Border Services Agency

Reporting period: April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024

Section 1: Open requests and complaints under the Access to Information Act

Section 2: Open requests and complaints under the Privacy Act

Section 3: Social Insurance Number (SIN)

Section 4: Universal Access under the Privacy Act