INTRODUCTION
The Office of the Correctional Investigator is pleased to submit to Parliament its annual report on the administration of the Privacy Act (PA) for the fiscal year commencing on April 1, 2021 and ending March 31, 2022. This report is submitted in accordance with section 72 of the Act. This report is tabled in Parliament by the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.
The Privacy Act took effect on July 1, 1983. The PA extends to individuals the right of access to information held by the government, about themselves, subject to certain specific and limited exceptions. The Act also protects individuals’ personal information and gives individuals substantial control over its collection, use and disclosure.
OUR MANDATE
The Office of the Correctional Investigator is mandated by Part III of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act as an Ombudsman for federal offenders. The primary function of the Office is to investigate and bring resolution to individual offender complaints. The Office as well, has a responsibility to review and make recommendations on the Correctional Service's policies and procedures associated with the areas of individual complaints to ensure that systemic areas of concern are identified and appropriately addressed.
OUR MISSION
As the ombudsman for federally sentenced offenders, the Office of the Correctional Investigator serves Canadians and contributes to safe, lawful and humane corrections through independent oversight of the Correctional Service of Canada by providing accessible, impartial and timely investigation of individual and systemic concerns. While an independent organization, the Office of the Correctional Investigator is part of the Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness portfolio.
PRIVACY ACTIVITIES
The Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness is the designated head of the institution for the Privacy Act. The Correctional Investigator has been delegated full authority under the Privacy Act by the Minister. Full authority under the Act has also been delegated to the Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator. The delegation of authority to administer the Act was confirmed by the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness on November 30, 2015 (see Appendix C).
While the responsibilities of ATIP Coordinator are assigned to the Director and Legal Counsel, the actual processing of requests and any associated activities are generally carried out by a consultant. Given the limited number of requests, it is felt that this is the most cost-effective utilization of resources and delivery of these activities.
The ATIP Coordinator is accountable for the development, coordination and implementation of effective policies, guidelines, systems and procedures to ensure the OCI’s responsibilities under the Privacy Act are met and to enable appropriate processing and proper disclosure of information. The Coordinator is also responsible for related policies, systems and procedures emanating from the Act.
The main activities of the ATIP Coordinator include:
- Processing requests under the Act;
- Developing and maintaining policies, procedures and guidelines to ensure the Act is respected;
- Promoting awareness of the Act to ensure the organization’s responsiveness to the obligations imposed on the government;
- Monitoring the Office’s compliance with the Act, regulations and relevant procedures and policies;
- Preparing annual reports to Parliament and other statutory reports, as well as other material that may be required by central agencies;
- Representing the Office in dealings with the Treasury Board Secretariat, the Privacy Commissioner and other government agencies regarding the application of the Act as they relate to the OCI; and
- Supporting the Office in meeting its commitments in relation to greater openness and transparency through proactive disclosure of information and the disclosure of information through informal avenues.
The OCI is not subject to any agreements under section 73.1 of the Privacy Act.
DURING THE REPORTING PERIOD
Twenty-seven (27) requests were received and there were three (3) outstanding requests from the previous reporting period. Of these requests;
Twenty-one (21) were disclosed in part (70%)
Three (3) were disclosed in their entirety (10%)
None were exempted in their entirety
One (1) was abandoned (3.33%)
Three (3) had no existing records (10%)
Two (2) were carried forward to the next reporting period (6.66%)
One (1) request was outstanding from the 2020-2021 reporting period and was not completed within the legislated timeline.
There were no consultations received.
Due to our requesters being incarcerated individuals, receiving requests by mail remains a leading way to receive requests for the Office. However, we have found that lawyers and organizations who are representing inmates are using the online portal to submit requests.
Only two (2) extensions were taken for consultations with another government department. In order to alleviate extensive delays when consulting with the Correctional Service of Canada, the Office and CSC have come to an agreement that consultations will only be done when absolutely necessary.
The Office could not meet the statutory response time for seventeen (17) requests during the reporting period. However, the Office was able to respond to eleven (11) requests in the first 30 days.
The OCI responded to 39% of requests within the legislated timelines. Although our office has been able to receive new requests both by mail and electronically, completing requests within legislated timelines presented challenges. The reasons for delay included a substantially higher number of pages responsive to the received requests, COVID-19 priorities within the institutions; limited access to the main office and to printed files and documents; and challenges related to the health of staff members. Since a majority of requesters are under custody and have no access to electronic communications, the administrative process of a number of requests require presence in the workplace, which was limited due to physical distancing measures.
Monitoring, by the ATIP Coordinator, of the time required to process these privacy requests was completed in preparing the historical trend analysis below. The Executive Director and the ATIP Coordinator are advised by way of a briefing note when requests are not closed within the required time limits. The briefing note advises of the reason for the late response.
No training sessions were provided during the reporting period. Advice, guidance and recommendations were provided by the consultant on an as required basis to Management and staff.
The new retrieval process implemented last year continues to be streamlined and improved, however, the move to a work-from-home environment continues to present challenges.
There were no material privacy breaches reported this year.
The OCI received two (2) complaints during the reporting year. Both complaints have been completed and were deemed well-founded and resolved.
No Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) were completed; no new data sharing activities took place and the Office made no disclosures of personal information pursuant to subsection 8(2)(m) of the Privacy Act. There are no new collection or new consistent uses of Social Insurance Numbers.
COVID-19 RELATED MEASURES
The OCI continues to function in a state of emergency along with the rest of the Federal Government. Our office transitioned well to a work-from-home environment however delays were experienced in implementing new procedures once we understood that the stay-at-home orders were going to be have a long-term impact.
As previously mentioned, the office has experienced some delays with response times during this period due to other ATIP offices not being able to respond to consultations on time as well as the office managing other state of emergency priorities.
COSTS
For 2021-2022, the costs directly associated with the administration of the Privacy Act are estimated at $33,499.
Staff $ 7,752
Consultant fees $24,351
Other $1,396
The associated employee resources for 2021-2022 are estimated at 0.287 FTE for administering the Privacy Act.
FIVE-YEAR HISTORICAL TREND ANALYSIS
Over a five-year period, from 2017-18 to 2021-22, the OCI received an average of seventeen (17) requests annually.
Over the last five years, the OCI has maintained a 73% completion rate of requests processed between 1-60 days.
With regards to the number of pages processed, an average of one thousand, seven hundred and fifteen (1,715) are processed per year.
The most frequently used exemptions remain:
- 26 at 60%
- 22(1)(c) at 19%
- 21(1)(c) at 8%
A total of twenty-six (26) extensions for consultations were recorded for an average of five (5) per reporting period. A total of two (2) consultations were received from other government organizations.
This baseline data will continue to be used in future years to assess trends, inform ongoing improvement in the processing of Privacy requests and implement corrective measures where necessary.
APPENDIX A: Delegation Order
APPENDIX B: Statistical Report
APPENDIX C: Supplemental Statistical Report
