Annual Report to Parliament 2010-2011

PART II - REPORT ON THE ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT

REQUESTS UNDER THE ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT

I. Statistical Report

The annual statistical report for fiscal year 2010-2011 is included at the end of this chapter.

II. Interpretation of the Statistical Report

• 1. Informal Requests
  
  The policy of the ATIP Office is to process requests on an informal basis when records have already been released in response to previous Access to Information requests or where the documents could be released in their entirety.
  
  Twenty-nine (29) informal requests were received during the period under review. In addition to these, one (1) formal request was treated informally with the consent of the applicant, bringing the total number of informal requests processed to thirty (30).
  
  
• 2. Formal Requests Processed
  
  Three hundred and thirty-four (334) requests were received during the period under review. In addition, forty-seven (47) requests were outstanding from previous years, for a total of three hundred and eighty-one (381).
  
  
• 3. Sources of Requests Received
  
  The public was the largest group of requesters, followed by business and the media. The following table provides a comparison with the previous years:
  
  

  	2010-2011	2009-2010	2008-2009
  Academia	0.6%	1.5%	1.7%
  Organizations	11.7%	6.2%	3.8%
  Media	21.9%	21.9%	38.1%
  Business	23.7%	22.2%	18%
  Public	42.2%	48.2%	38.4%
  Total	100%	100%	100%

  
  Description
• 4. Requests Completed
  
  Three hundred and twenty six (326) access requests were completed during the 2010-2011 fiscal year; fifty-five (55) requests were carried forward to be completed in fiscal year 2011-2012.
• 5. Disposition of Requests Completed
  
  

  	Number of Requests	Percentage
  All disclosed	49	15.0%
  Disclosed in part	133	40.8%
  Nothing disclosed (excluded/exempted)	16	4.9%
  Unable to process	79	24.2%
  Abandoned by applicant	34	10.4%
  Transferred	14	4.3%
  Treated informally	1	0.3%
  Total	326	100%

  
  Description
  1. Unable to Process
     
     Seventy-nine (79) requests could not be processed as no relevant records existed under the control of the Department of Justice.
     
     
  2. Abandoned
     
     Thirty-four (34) requests were abandoned. In the majority of cases, the applicants did not pursue the requests, either by withdrawing them or by not providing the clarification requested. In a few of the cases, the applicants were unwilling to pay the required fees.
     
     
  3. Transferred
     
     Fourteen (14) requests were transferred to other government institutions having a greater interest in the subject matter of the request.
     
     
  4. Processed informally
     
     Furthermore, one (1) formal request was processed informally with the consent of the requester.
• 6. Extensions
  
  One hundred and fifteen (115) requests had their time limit extended, as follows:

  Number of days	Number of requests
  30	20
  31 or over	95

  Of the one hundred and fifteen (115) extended requests, thirty-five (35) included extensions under paragraph 9(1)(a) (large number of records or search through a large number of records), seventy-five (75) included extensions under paragraph 9(1)(b) (consultations with other institutions) and five (5) included extensions under paragraph 9(1)(c) (consultations with third parties).
  
  
  Description
• 7. Completion Time
  
  The time required to process the requests is summarized below:

  	Number of Requests	Percentage
  30 days or under	238	73.01%
  31 to 60 days	21	6.44%
  61 to 120 days	18	5.52%
  121 days or over	49	15.03%
  Total	326	100%

  
  Description
• 8. Method of Access
  
  Access to the relevant documents was given, in whole or in part, in response to one hundred and eighty-two (182) requests. Copies were provided in all cases on either CD-ROM or in paper form.
• 9. Fee Waivers
  
  The policy of the Department of Justice is to waive the reproduction fees under 200 sheets (double-sided = 400 pages), whether the request is processed formally or informally. However, when more than 200 sheets are released, fees are calculated for the total number of sheets. For extensive or complex requests, search and preparation fees are charged as determined on a case-by-case basis. The Department of Justice offers the applicants the possibility of receiving the release package on CD-ROM at no charge, an option which tends to be more widely accepted.
  
  During the reporting period, the Department of Justice waived a total of $2,899.60 in reproduction fees.

III. Consultations by Other Federal Institutions or Departments

One thousand two hundred and fifty-one (1251) consultation requests were received from other federal institutions during the fiscal year covered by this report. During this reporting period, Justice completed one thousand, one hundred and eighty-three (1183) consultations from other federal government institutions or departments.

Memoranda of Understanding were created to strengthen our commitment towards better service delivery with the institutions that consult the Department of Justice.

IV. Complaints and Investigations

The complaint findings are defined as follows:

• Resolved: Well-founded complaints resolved by remedial action satisfactory to the Commissioner.
  
  
• Not Resolved: Complaints well-founded but not resolved, and where the Commissioner sought consent from the requester to pursue the matters in Federal Court.
  
  
• Not Substantiated: Complaints considered not being well-founded.
  
  
• Discontinued: Complaints discontinued, on request from the complainant, prior to a final resolution of the case.

The following table summarizes the reasons for the complaints and the results of the investigations:

	10-11	Closed during reporting period				On-going
Reason for complaint	Received	Discontinued	Not well founded	Settled	Well founded
Delay	0	0	0	0	0	1
Extension	4	0	4	2	0	1
Fees	2	0	0	0	0	2
Language	0	0	0	0	0	0
Miscellaneous	1	0	0	1	0	2
Publications	0	0	0	0	0	0
Refusal - 69	6	2	2	0	0	4
Refusal - Exemption	12	1	5	6	1	19
Refusal - General	1	0	0	1	0	6
Subtotal		3	11	10	1
Total	26	25				35

• 1. Complaints filed
  
  Twenty-six (26) complaints were lodged with the Information Commissioner during the reporting period.
  
  
• 2. Completed Investigations
  
  Twenty-five (25) investigations were completed, including some of which had been carried forward from previous years. Out of the twenty-five (25), ten (10) complaints were resolved to the satisfaction of the Information Commissioner. One (1) was well-founded. Furthermore, eleven (11) complaints were not substantiated and three (3) were discontinued.
  
  
• 3. On-going Investigations
  
  At the end of the fiscal year, thirty-five (35) complaints were still under investigation by the Office of the Information Commissioner.
  
  
• 4. Review by the Federal Court of Canada
  
  Three (3) new applications were filed before the Federal Court pursuant to section 41 of the ATIA during this fiscal year.
  
  Three (3) other previously ongoing section 41 applications before the Court were discontinued by the applicant during this same period.
  
  
• 5. Review by the Federal Court of Appeal
  
  An application to the Federal Court of Appeal was received during the previous fiscal year for which the appeal was dismissed this fiscal year.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT

Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act

Institution: Department of Justice

Reporting Period: 2010-04-01 to 2011-03-31

Source:

Media	73
Academia	2
Business	79
Organization	39
Public	141

Part I: Requests under the Access to Information Act

Received during reporting period	334
Outstanding from previous period	47
TOTAL	381
Completed during reporting period	326
Carried forward	55

Part II: Disposition of Requests Completed

All disclosed	49
Disclosed in part	133
Nothing disclosed (excluded)	9
Nothing disclosed (exempt)	7
Transferred	14
Unable to process	79
Abandoned by applicant	34
Treated informally	1
TOTAL	326

Part III: Exemptions Invoked

S. 13(1)(a)	11
(b)	1
(c)	5
(d)	0
S. 14	21
S. 15(1) International relations	3
Defence	33
Subversive activities	0
S. 16(1)(a)	4
(b)	2
(c)	10
(d)	0
S. 16(2)	5
S. 16(3)	0
S. 17	4
S. 18(a)	0
(b)	2
(c)	0
(d)	1
S. 19(1)	109
S. 20(1)(a)	1
(b)	6
(c)	9
(d)	1
S. 21(1)(a)	59
(b)	53
(c)	9
(d)	5
S. 22	5
S. 23	94
S. 24	2
S. 26	4

Part IV: Exclusions Cited

S. 68(a)	9
(b)	0
(c)	0
S. 69(1)(a)	11
(b)	1
(c)	1
(d)	3
(e)	18
(f)	4
(g)	32

Part V: Completion Time

30 days or under	238
31 to 60 days	21
61 to 120 days	18
121 days or over	49

Part VI: Extensions

	30 Days or Under	31 Days or Over
Searching	4	31
Consultation	16	59
Third party	0	5
TOTAL	20	95

Part VII: Translations

Translations requested		0
Translations prepared	English to French	0
	French to English	0

Part VIII: Method of Access

Copies given	182
Examination	0
Copies and examination	0

Part IX : Fees

Net Fees Collected
Application fees	$1,630.00
Reproduction	$2,440.60
Searching	$2,108.00
Preparation	0
Computer processing	0
TOTAL	$6,187.00

Fees Waived	No. of Times	$
$ 25.00 or under	123	$757.40
Over $ 25.00	20	$2,142.20$

Part X: Costs

Financial (All Reasons)
Salary	$1,482,815.22
Administration (O and M)	$81,476.37
TOTAL	$1,564,292.60

Person Year Utilization (All Reasons)
Person year (decimal format)	22

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