Annual Report to Parliament 2023-2024 - Access to Information Act

Introduction

The National Research Council of Canada's (NRC) annual report to Parliament on the administration of the Access to Information Act (ATIA) is submitted in accordance with section 94 of the ATIA and section 20 of the Service Fees Act. This 40th annual report provides an overview of the activities undertaken by the NRC during the reporting period of April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024. During this time, the NRC did not have any non-operational subsidiaries.

The purpose of the ATIA is to enhance the accountability and transparency of federal institutions to promote an open and democratic society and to enable public debate on the conduct of those institutions. To support that purpose, Part 1 of the ATIA extends the present laws of Canada to provide a right of access to information in records under the control of a government institution. The right of access is provided 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 on the disclosure of government information should be reviewed independently of government. Part 2 of the ATIA sets out requirements for the proactive publication of information.

1. Organizational structure and delegation of authority

From April 1, 2023 to July 23, 2023, the NRC's President delegated full authority for the application and administration of the ATIA to the Vice-President, Business and Professional Services, to the Chief Information Officer and Director General of Knowledge, Information and Technology Services, and to the Director, Library and Information Management Services. Partial authority was delegated to the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Coordinator.

From July 24, 2023 to March 31, 2024, the NRC's President delegated full authority for the application and administration of the ATIA to the Vice-President, Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer, to the Chief Information Officer & Director General of Knowledge, Information and Technology Services, and to the Director, Library and Information Management Services. Partial authority was delegated to the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Coordinator.

Copies of the signed Delegation Orders are included as Annex A.

During this reporting period, the NRC's ATIP Office was part of the Library and Information Management Services Directorate within the Knowledge, Information and Technology Services Branch. The Office had 6 full-time positions: 1 ATIP coordinator, 3 senior ATIP officers, 1 junior ATIP officer and 1 ATIP clerk.

The ATIP Office works closely with the Information Management team, the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) ATIP liaison officers, executive advisors, the Communications Branch and senior management across the NRC.

The ATIP Office is responsible for the coordination and implementation of policies, guidelines and procedures to ensure the organization's compliance with the ATIA. To this end, the Office provides the following services:

• Promotes awareness of the ATIA within the organization
• Processes and manages access to information requests and complaints
• Manages the ATIP electronic case management system
• Processes consultations received from other institutions
• Provides professional advice and guidance to senior management and all departmental staff on the ATIA
• Prepares the annual report to Parliament and the annual statistical report
• Maintains the NRC's Info Source chapter
• Reviews departmental documents (such as audit and evaluation reports prior to their proactive disclosure on the organization's website), parliamentary questions and harassment reports for access-related considerations
• Works collaboratively with departmental officials to fulfill the proative publication requirements under Part 2 of the ATIA and oversees its compliance
• Develops internal procedures
• Participates in forums for the ATIP community, such as the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) ATIP Community meetings and working groups

The NRC also offers facilities where members of the public may obtain and read information on the NRC, including the inspection of manuals used by employees to administer or carry out programs or activities that affect the public. These facilities are located in Building M-55 of the NRC's Montreal Road Campus in Ottawa, Ontario. Other arrangements can be offered if requested.

2. Interpretation of the statistical report and the supplementary statistical report

The complete statistical report on the administration of the ATIA by the NRC from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, is included as Annex B. This section provides an interpretation of the statistics presented in that report.

During the reporting period, the NRC received 46 new access to information requests. There were 31 requests outstanding from previous reporting periods. Of the 77 requests processed during this period, 46 were completed and 31 were carried over to the next reporting period.

The statistical figures, as reflected in chart 1, indicate the number of requests received and processed over the past 3 years. These figures do not include requests processed informally or other types of queries (e.g., requests transferred from the NRC call centre, from other branches, from IRAP) that were also addressed by the ATIP Office.

Chart 1: Volume of access to information requests

Long description of Chart 1: Volume of access to information requests

Chart 1: Volume of access to information requests

Status	2021-2022	2022-2023	2023-2024
Received	79	63	46
Completed	74	74	46
Carried Over	42	31	31

Of the 46 requests completed within the reporting period, 22% of records were all disclosed, 46% were disclosed in part, 30% had no existing records and 2% were closed as abandoned.

Of the 46 requests received, 10 were filed by the media, 8 by academia, 3 by businesses, 4 by organizations, 12 by members of the public and 9 by requestors who declined to identify.

Chart 2: Access to information requests received by source

Long description of Chart 2: Access to information requests received by source

Chart 2: Access to information requests received by source

Source	Amount
Media	10
Academia	8
Business	3
Organization	4
Public	12
Decline to identify	9

As a result of the posted summaries of completed access to information requests, the NRC received additional informal requests for previously released information. The ATIP Office processed 43 informal requests (not subject to the ATIA) in this reporting period. This was a decrease of 69%, as compared to 139 informal requests received in the 2022-2023 reporting period.

Chart 3: Volume of informal access to information requests

Long description for Chart 3: Volume of informal access to information requests

Chart 3: Volume of informal access to information requests

Year	Volume of informal access to information requests
2019-2020	26
2020-2021	22
2021-2022	29
2022-2023	139
2023-2024	43

In terms of topics, the subject matter of the 46 access to information requests received during this reporting period related to various activities across the organization including:

• Grants and contributions, primarily related to IRAP
• Contracting, including call-ups and purchase orders
• Program research
• Other (including management correspondence and other specific requests)

With regard to completion times, out of the 46 requests completed during this reporting period, 26 were completed within 30 days, 5 were completed within 31 to 60 days, 7 were completed between 61 and 120 days, 4 were completed in 121 to 180 days, 1 was completed between 181 and 365 days, and 3 were completed in excess of 365 days.

All levels of the NRC worked diligently to ensure that statutory deadlines were met to the greatest extent possible, resulting in a 93% compliance within legislated timelines.

Chart 4: Timelines and extensions – completed requests

Long description for Chart 4: Timelines and extensions – completed requests

Chart 4: Timelines and extensions – completed requests

Days	Completed requests
Over 365 days	3
181 to 365 days	1
121 to 180 days	4
61 to 120 days	7
31 to 60 days	5
1 to 30 days	26

During the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 reporting periods, the NRC played a key role in relation to the coronavirus pandemic by hosting the secretariat for the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force (VTF). As a result, the volume of records and the complexity of the information needing to be reviewed significantly increased, which contributed to a delay in the processing of requests. The ATIP Office made considerable efforts in 2023 and 2024 to close backlog requests and succeeded in closing an additional 3 requests from the outstanding 22 backlog files at the beginning of the reporting period.

Section 9 of the ATIA allows institutions to extend the time limit for the processing of requests in the following cases:

• The request is for a large number of records or necessitates a search through a large number of records and meeting the original time limit would unreasonably interfere with the operations of the government institution
• Consultations are necessary to comply with the request that cannot reasonably be completed within the original time limit
• As a result of the third party notice process carried out under section 27 of the ATIA

The NRC invoked an extension in the case of 37 requests. The extensions involved records containing confidential information which necessitated consultations with other institutions, organizations and third parties; as well as in cases for which meeting the original time limit of 30 days would have unreasonably interfered with the operations of the NRC.

Sections 4.2 and 4.3 of the Statistical Report focus on the application of exemptions and exclusions under the ATIA. During this reporting period, the most commonly invoked exemptions by the NRC were as follows:

• Section 19 (Personal information)
• Section20 (Third party information)
• Section 21 (Advice, etc.)

As a government agency, the NRC is asked by other Government of Canada institutions, as well as other organizations (such as universities and provincial governments) for its input regarding disclosure of information about or originating with the NRC. During this reporting year, the NRC received 56 consultation requests from other Government of Canada institutions, and 1 consultation request from another organization. This compares with 52 from other Government of Canada institutions and 2 from other organizations received in reporting year 2022-2023, as well as 71 from other Government of Canada institutions and 1 from other organizations received in reporting year 2021-2022. Providing timely responses to consultations represents a significant portion of the ATIP Office workload.

Chart 5: Consultation requests received by source

Long description for Chart 5: Consultation requests received by source

Chart 5: Consultation requests received by source

Year	Other organizations	Other Government of Canada Institutions
2023-2024	1	56
2022-2023	2	52
2021-2022	1	71

The ATIP Office works closely with the offices of primary interest at the NRC to respond effectively to these requests.

With regard for the provisions of the ATIA, and within the framework of its responsibilities and general roles, the NRC's ATIP Office reviewed a total of 121 parliamentary questions received during this reporting period, compared to 114 reviewed in 2022-2023 and 110 reviewed in 2021-2022.

Chart 6: Parliamentary questions

Long description for Chart 6: Parliamentary questions

Chart 6: Parliamentary questions

Years	Parliamentary questions
2021-2022	110
2022-2023	114
2023-2024	121

For the 2023-2024 reporting period, the NRC was asked to complete a supplementary statistical report, which is included as Annex C.

3. Reporting on access to information fees for the purposes of the Service Fees Act

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 Access to Information Act, 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 amount: $5 application fee
• Total revenue: $185
• In accordance with the Interim Directive on the Administration of the Access to Information Act, issued on May 5, 2016, and the changes to the ATIA that came into force on June 21, 2019, the NRC waives all fees prescribed by the Act and Regulations, other than the $5 application fee set out in paragraph 7(1)(a) of the Regulations
• Fees waived: the application fee for 9 requests was waived during this reporting period
• Cost of operating the program: $354,693

4. Access to information-related training and education

To increase the knowledge and understanding of the ATIA across the NRC, training and awareness sessions are delivered to NRC employees. These sessions provide basic information on the purpose and provisions of the ATIA, roles and responsibilities, as well as general best practices for information management. All training sessions include information on the identification and management of personal information and the Privacy Act. During this reporting period, the ATIP Office delivered 8 training sessions to a total of 192 employees located in the National Capital Region and in regional offices. This increase in training compared to previous years contributed to the NRC achieving a 100% compliance rate.

In support of ATIP activity across the NRC, tools and guidance are updated regularly and are made available on the NRC's external and internal websites.

The ATIP Office continually works to sensitize and educate employees, third parties and requesters on the requirements of the ATIA through ongoing dialogue and bilateral discussions. During the reporting period, the ATIP coordinator and officers responded to numerous enquiries from colleagues (e.g., IRAP, management), providing advice and guidance on various access-related matters.

Throughout this reporting period, the ATIP coordinator and officers attended ATIP community meetings and various training sessions offered by the TBS.

5. Procedures, guidelines and directives

The NRC did not implement any new or revised access to information policies, guidelines or procedures during the reporting period.

6. Complaints, investigations and audits

Three complaints against the NRC were filed with the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) during the period covered by this report. These complaints were in relation to extensions sought or exemptions invoked by the NRC. In support of the OIC's investigative process, the ATIP Office transferred all necessary records for their review. At the end of the reporting period, 3 complaints were unresolved.

There were no court cases and no audits of the NRC under the ATIA during this reporting period.

7. Monitoring of access to information requests

In keeping with TBS policies and directives, the ATIP Office has established internal procedures and business practices to ensure the efficient and timely processing of access to information requests, while making every effort to assist applicants in the most expeditious manner without regard for their identity. The Office continues to collaborate with program officials to streamline the need for consultations both within the NRC and with other government departments.

The ATIP Office uses a case management system that tracks both active and closed requests. This system is designed to follow the legislative deadlines.

The ATIP Office holds weekly meetings to discuss request-related activities, determine timelines and ensure that all team members are informed of the status of files. Weekly meetings also take place with the Director, Library and Information Management Services.

A report of active ATIP files (which maintains the privacy of the requesters' identities) is shared with the NRC senior management team every week and a more detailed report is provided to delegated authorities. A weekly report is also shared with the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.

8. Proactive publication under Part 2 of the ATIA

The NRC is a government institution listed in Schedule II of the Financial Administration Act. As such, the NRC is subject to sections 82 to 84 and 86 to 88 of Part 2 of the ATIA which stipulates that government entities are required to publish proactively travel expenses, hospitality expenses, reports tabled in parliament, contracts, grants and contributions and briefing materials.

The ATIP Office works in collaboration with groups responsible for each proactive publication requirement to fulfill these legislative obligations. These groups have established processes to ensure accurate, complete and timely publishing.

In the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the NRC met the proactive publication requirements at a compliance rate of 100%.

The following table lists the sections of Part 2 of the ATIA that the NRC is subject to:

Annex A: Delegation order

Access to Information and Privacy Act Delegation Order

The President of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), pursuant to section 95 of the Access to Information Act and section 73 of the Privacy Act, hereby designates the persons holding the positions set out in the schedule hereto, or the persons occupying on an acting basis those positions, to exercise the powers, duties and functions of the President as the head of the NRC, under the sections of the Acts and related regulations set out in the schedule opposite each position. This designation replaces all previous designation orders.

Dated at the City of Ottawa
4 May 2021

Iain Stewart
President of the National Research Council of Canada

Dated at the City of Ottawa
24 July 2023

Iain Stewart
President of the National Research Council of Canada

Annex B: Statistical report

Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act

Name of institution: National Research Council Canada

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

Annex C: Supplemental statistical report

Supplemental statistical report on the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act

Name of institution: National Research Council Canada

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