Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) Addendum Summary for the Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings (CRDP)

Section 1 - PIA Addendum Overview:

  1. Name of program or activity:
    Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings
  2. Institution responsible for delivering the program or activity:
    Department of Justice Canada
  3. Government official responsible for the privacy impact assessment:
    Director of the Family Law Assistance Services
  4. Head of institution/delegate:
    Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy Sector
  5. Description of program or activity:

    The CRDP was established within the Department of Justice Canada through regulations made pursuant to the Divorce Act. The CRDP assists the provincial/territorial (PT) courts in determining whether they have jurisdiction to hear a divorce proceeding under the Divorce Act by detecting duplicate divorce proceedings.

    Canadian courts must register each divorce application they receive with the CRDP and inform the CRDP whenever a divorce is granted or a divorce proceeding is dismissed, discontinued or transferred to another court. The CRDP records this information in its database. The CRDP detects duplicate divorce proceedings by comparing newly registered information with existing data contained in its database.

    The CRDP notifies courts when it identifies duplicate divorce proceedings for the parties to a divorce proceeding. It also sends a clearance certificate to the court when a duplicate divorce proceeding has not been detected. This clearance certificate allows the case to proceed.

    The information retained in the CRDP’s databank is collected from court officials through:

    • A Registration of Divorce Proceedings Form when a divorce proceeding is filed with the court or when it is being transferred to that court; and
    • A Disposition Report at the conclusion of the divorce proceedings or when a file is being transferred from the court to another court before the conclusion of the divorce proceedings in question.

    The information collected from PT Courts for the purpose of administering this program is limited to the information required to fulfill the CRDP’s mandate as prescribed by the Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings Regulations (CRDP Regulations).

  6. Description of the class of record associated with the program or activity:
    Family Law Assistance Services
  7. Personal information bank:
    Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings (JUS PPU 005)
  8. Legal authority for the program or activity:
    • Section 26(1) (a) of the Divorce Act
    • Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings Regulations
  9. Summary of the project/initiative/change:
    Changes were made to the CRDP Regulations in order to:
    • Provide clarity and transparency about the role of the CRDP and its activities;
    • Ensure that the CRDP Regulations are consistent with the Policy Direction to Modernize the Government of Canada’s Sex and Gender Information Practices (Policy Direction); and
    • Ensure that the CRDP collects accurate, appropriate and relevant information about divorcing spouses for the purpose of detecting duplicate divorce proceedings.

    The Government of Canada and the public will benefit from the changes as they will improve the operational functioning of the CRDP by ensuring that the CRDP receives the most relevant and accurate information about the spouses to detect duplicate divorce proceedings. Obtaining more accurate information may improve the system’s ability to detect duplicate divorce proceedings. In addition, by clarifying the CRDP’s role and activities, the regulatory changes will improve the CRDP’s efficiency by reducing the time that it spends responding to requests that are beyond its mandate. Furthermore, the amendments ensure that the CRDP Regulations are consistent with the Policy Direction to Modernize the Government of Canada’s Sex and Gender Information Practices.

Section 2 - PIA Risk Area Identification and Categorization

The following section summarizes risks that were identified in the PIA regarding the changes made to the CRDP. A risk assessment was provided for the CRDP PIA.

There are no further risks identified in this PIA Addendum.

Conclusion

There are no risks associated with the amendments to the CRDP Regulations.