ARCHIVED – Privacy Act,
Access to Information Act

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Annual Report
2007–2008

Part One: Privacy Act

• Introduction
• General information on the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada
• Highlights
• Delegation order
• Delegation of authority under the Privacy Act
• Appendix A
• Report on the Privacy Act
• Appendix B – Supplemental reporting requirements for 2007-2008

Part Two: Access to Information Act

• Introduction
• General information on the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada
• Highlights
• Delegation order
• Delegation of authority under the Access to Information Act
• Appendix A – Statistical Report
• Report on the Access to Information Act
• Appendix B – Supplemental reporting requirements for 2007-2008

Part One
Privacy Act

Introduction

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is pleased to submit to Parliament its 14th Annual Report on the administration of the Privacy Act for the fiscal year commencing April 1, 2007, and ending March 31, 2008.

Section 72 of the Privacy Act requires that the head of every federal government institution submit an annual report to Parliament on the administration of the Act during the fiscal year.

This report describes how CIC fulfilled its privacy responsibilities during the fiscal year 2007-2008.

General information on the department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada

Overview

CIC was created in 1994 to link immigration services and citizenship registration. CIC promotes the unique ideals all Canadians share, which is to help build a stronger Canada.

CIC’s mandate comes from the shared jurisdiction of section 95 of the Constitution Act, 1867, the Citizenship Act, and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

The work of CIC encompasses a broad range of activities. The Department’s diverse mandate:

• Admits immigrants, foreign students, visitors, and temporary workers who help Canada’s prosperity;
• Resettles, protects, and provides a safe haven for refugees;
• Helps newcomers adapt to Canadian society and become Canadian citizens; and
• Manages access to Canada in order to protect the security and health of Canadians and the integrity of Canadian laws.

Privacy activities

The administration of the Privacy Act is the responsibility of the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Division of Corporate Affairs Branch, Corporate Services Sector. The ATIP Division plays a key role in the processing of requests for information and coordinates all activities related to the legislation and the associated regulations, directives and guidelines. The Division is led by a Director who acts as ATIP Coordinator for the Department. The Coordinator plans, develops, and updates policies and procedures related to both Acts and coordinates departmental compliance with legislative obligations. The Division has four units: Client Services; Complex Cases and Issues; Fast Track; and Operations. Each unit is led by a Manager who reports to the Director. The Division is also responsible for coordinating responses to complaints made against the Department under the Canadian Human Rights Act.

CIC supports and maintains a network of ATIP specialists in all branches within the Department. These individuals support the ATIP program delivery at the branch level by providing updates to Info Source, Personal Information Banks, and Privacy Impact Assessments. They also manage a portion of the ATIP requests by searching and collecting records. Finally, our specialists monitor ATIP reports for branch compliance. A coordinator’s handbook and a suggested list of responsibilities for the ATIP specialists are posted on CIC’s internal website.

Requests for personal information made under the Privacy Act are processed on a decentralized basis, the responsibility for disclosure resting primarily with the regional offices, while the in-Canada points of service assist in search and collection of the records. Officials at the regional level are delegated by the Minister pursuant to section 73 of the Privacy Act to apply certain exemptions.

New developments

In 2007-2008, CIC undertook the following initiatives to gain efficiencies and improve client service under the Privacy Act:

• Distribution of promotional messages, workshop presentations, training courses, and awareness sessions to increase the knowledge and understanding of ATIP across the Department. The ATIP Division delivered 22 training and branch specific information sessions across the Department. In addition, the ATIP Division hosted a two-day departmental ATIP coordinators’ conference in November 2007 that was attended by 65 participants.
• Established a partnership with the Information Management Branch to promote awareness of ATIP and information management best practices across the Department.
• Developed client service improvements to assist the public in obtaining information about ATIP by publishing a Client Service Statement on CIC’s Internet. This unit currently responds to about 200 inquiries per month and the numbers are increasing. The ATIP Division is committed to providing the highest quality service as outlined on our weblink (www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/atip/index.asp). We expect to engage our clients further as a way to best focus client service improvements.
• Ongoing maintenance to the ATIP Division’s internal website. This website assists CIC employees in understanding ATIP legislative and policy issues and provides advice and guidance on processing ATIP requests.
• Weekly monitoring of the percentage of overdue files, and a regular reassessment of priorities and redistribution of workloads, in order to maintain a high compliance rate.
• Initial steps towards the development of a Privacy Framework to enhance the management and coordination of privacy issues across the Department. The framework will create a formal structure to improve our personal information management; develop better privacy practices and tools; monitor privacy practices and issues; resolve or mitigate identified privacy risks; and provide accountability and consistency. The expected benefits for CIC are to ensure better privacy practices, increased accountability along with mitigating privacy breaches, and increased compliance with Treasury Board policies.

External views

Treasury Board Secretariat Management Accountability Framework Assessment Extracts relating to Privacy Issues

Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) provided CIC with an acceptable rating for fiscal year 2006-2007. It was determined that CIC was effective in meeting Privacy Act requirements. Treasury Board’s stated remedies for the Department have, for the most part, been implemented or corrected by CIC.

TBS highlighted that no significant gaps existed in the description of personal information collections. CIC is presently consulting with TBS on five new Personal Information Banks.

TBS, stating that this accomplishment is worthy of noting, highlighted CIC’s third place ranking in the number of institutions receiving the greatest amount of privacy requests in 2006-2007.

The ATIP Division is working closely with the policy and program areas in a horizontal approach to entrench Privacy Impact Assessment policy into the design phase of new policy and program development while providing functional guidance on this issue through the program’s life cycle. This will ensure that program and policy changes take into account privacy risks and impacts.

Office of the Privacy Commissioner – Audit Report

In October of 2007, CIC was praised for good practices in privacy awareness by an audit report of the Privacy Commissioner titled, Assessing the Privacy Impacts of Programs, Plans, and Policies.

Appeals to the Federal Court

No appeals on privacy issues were made to the Federal Court of Canada during this reporting period.

Highlights

Privacy Act

CIC received 5,002 requests under the Privacy Act in 2007-2008, a slight increase from 2006-2007. However, as indicated in the following chart, the substantial increase in the number of pages reviewed over the last three (3) years reflects the increasing complexity of privacy requests. CIC does consult with other federal institutions on a broad number of complex privacy issues that extend into various federal jurisdictions.

Three-year review of Privacy Act requests

Statistical summary of actions taken by CIC in response to requests for information under the Privacy Act[note 1 ]

CIC completed 4,986 privacy requests during this reporting year. Of these, CIC entirely disclosed information in 1,863 cases (37.5%) of all requests. Partially released information was released in 2,152 requests (43%). The remaining 971 requests (19.5%) fell under the categories of nothing disclosed, unable to process, abandoned by applicant, or transferred to another federal institution.

The majority of exemptions applied under the Privacy Act fell under section 26, which is designed to protect the personal information of an individual other than the requestor; section 21, which concerns international affairs and defence; section 22, which deals with law enforcement and investigations; and section 19, which covers personal information obtained in confidence from the government of a foreign state, an international organization, the government of a province, or a municipal or regional government.

Complaints to the Privacy Commissioner were made in only twelve (12) cases in 2007-2008, which represents less than 1% (0.24%) of received requests. This is a substantial decrease from last year (2006-2007) during which forty-three (43) complaints were filed with the Privacy Commissioner. Nine (9) complaints were completed during the reporting period, therefore thirteen (13) will be carried over.

Disclosure of personal information under subsection 8(2)

In accordance with subsection 8(2) of the Privacy Act, under certain circumstances, personal information under the control of the government institution may be disclosed without the consent of the individual to whom the information pertains.

During this reporting period, Citizenship and Immigration Canada disclosed personal information pursuant to subsection 8(2)(a), 8(2)(d), 8(2)(e), 8(2)(f), 8(2)(g), 8(2)(l) and 8(2)(m) of the Privacy Act. It did not disclose personal information pursuant to subsections 8(2)(b, c, h, i, j, k,).

Consultations

In addition to processing requests under the Privacy Act, CIC was also consulted by other federal government institutions in twenty-five (25) cases where the records sought from these institutions related to CIC activities.

Data-matching activities

CIC did not undertake any new data-matching or information sharing activities during the reporting period.

Preliminary privacy impact assessments (PPIAs)

A total of four PPIAs were initiated in 2007-2008.

Privacy impact assessment (PIAs)

A total of four PIAs were completed in 2007-2008.

Privacy impact assessment summaries:

e-Application

The e-Application is a new electronic tool that is currently being developed so that clients can complete, pay for, and submit Citizenship and Immigration service requests online. Beginning in June 2008, the deployment of this tool will be phased in. This first phase will allow eligible foreign students to electronically apply for an Off-Campus Work Permit. In keeping with Treasury Board requirements, the applicant will first be required to create an Access Key account. The applicant will then create a My CIC profile by answering a series of personal questions that will enable CIC to authenticate the applicant against information in the CIC database.

C-14 adoption

On December 23, 2007, Bill C-14 came into force. It amends the Citizenship Act so that children adopted abroad by Canadian citizens may also be granted citizenship without first becoming permanent residents. C-14 applies to children adopted by Canadian citizens after February 14, 1977, regardless of whether they reside in Canada or abroad. To apply for citizenship under this new bill, applicants are required to disclose personal information so that CIC can adequately assess the application.

Biometrics field trial

The Biometrics Field Trial was a pilot test involving fingerprint and facial recognition technologies initiated by CIC in partnership with the Canada Border Services Agency between October 2006 and April 2007. During the trial period, biometric technologies were implemented to process temporary resident visa applications in Hong Kong and Seattle, and biometric verification was tested at two ports of entry into Canada. The results of the trial have been used to explore the possibility of implementing biometrics into Canada’s immigration program.

Immigration-contribution accountability measurement system (iCAMS)

Immigration-Contribution Accountability Measurement System (iCAMS) is an Internet-based database that was created to collect information about CIC’s settlement and resettlement contribution program services. The system is designed to capture program data on a per-client basis from all service provider organizations delivering LINC and RAP. A number of safeguards are in place to ensure that the information gathered through iCAMS remains private.

PIA summaries are available on CIC’s website and can be found at www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/atip/pia/index.asp.

Delegation Order

_______________________________
The Honorable Diane Finley, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
L’hon. Diane Finley, c.p., député
Ministre de la Citoyenneté et de l’Immigration

Delegation of authority under the Privacy Act and the Privacy Regulations

Official document

* Includes acting appointments and assignments to these positions made pursuant to the Public Service Employment Act and regulations.

Legend:

Appendix A

The following statistics summarize the activities undertaken by CIC under the Privacy Act in the year under review.

Report on the Privacy Act

TBS/SCT 350-63 (Rev. 1999/03)

Appendix B

Supplemental Reporting Requirements for 2007-2008

Privacy Act

Treasury Board Secretariat is monitoring compliance with the Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) Policy (which came into effect on May 2, 2002) through a variety of means. Institutions are therefore required to report the following information for the 2007-2008 reporting period.

Part Two
Access to Information Act

Introduction

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is pleased to submit to Parliament its 14th Annual Report on the administration of the Access to Information Act for the fiscal year commencing April 1, 2007, and ending March 31, 2008.

Section 72 of the Access to Information Act requires that the head of every federal government institution submit an annual report to Parliament on the administration of the Act during the fiscal year.

This report describes how CIC fulfilled its access responsibilities during the fiscal year 2007-2008.

General information on the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada

Overview

CIC was created in 1994 to link immigration services and citizenship registration. CIC promotes unique ideals all Canadians share, which is to help build a stronger Canada.

CIC’s mandate comes from the shared jurisdiction of section 95 of the Constitution Act, 1867, the Citizenship Act, and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

The work of CIC encompasses a broad range of activities. The Department’s diverse mandate:

• Admits immigrants, foreign students, visitors, and temporary workers who help Canada’s prosperity;
• Resettles, protects, and provides a safe haven for refugees;
• Helps newcomers adapt to Canadian society and become Canadian citizens; and
• Manages access to Canada in order to protect the security and health of Canadians and the integrity of Canadian laws.

Access to Information Activities

The administration of the Access to Information Act is the responsibility of the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Division of Corporate Affairs Branch, Corporate Services Sector. The ATIP Division plays a key role in the processing of requests for information and coordinates all activities related to the legislation and the associated regulations, directives and guidelines. The Division is led by a Director who acts as ATIP Coordinator for the Department. The Coordinator plans, develops, and updates policies and procedures related to both Acts and coordinates departmental compliance with legislative obligations. The Division has four units: Client Services; Complex Cases and Issues; Fast Track; and Operations. Each unit is led by a Manager who reports to the Director. The Division is also responsible for coordinating responses to complaints made against the Department under the Canadian Human Rights Act.

CIC supports and maintains a network of ATIP specialists in all branches within the Department who manage a portion of the ATIP requests by searching and collecting ATIP records. Finally, our specialists monitor ATIP reports for branch compliance. A coordinator’s handbook and a suggested list of responsibilities for the ATIP specialists are posted on CIC’s internal website.

New Developments

In 2007-2008, CIC undertook the following initiatives to gain efficiencies and improve client service under the Access to Information Act:

• Distribution of promotional messages, workshop presentations, training courses, and awareness sessions to increase the knowledge and understanding of ATIP across the Department. The ATIP Division delivered 22 training and branch specific information sessions across the Department. In addition, the ATIP Division hosted a two-day departmental ATIP coordinators’ conference in November 2007 that welcomed 65 participants.
• Established a partnership with the Information Management Branch to promote awareness of ATIP and information management best practices across the Department.
• Developed client service improvements to assist the public in obtaining information about ATIP by publishing a Client Service Statement on CIC’s Internet. This unit currently responds to about 200 inquiries per month and the numbers are increasing. The ATIP Division is committed to providing the highest quality service as outlined on our weblink (www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/atip/index.asp). We expect to engage our clients further as a way to best focus client service improvements.
• Ongoing maintenance to the ATIP Division’s internal website which assists CIC employees in understanding ATIP legislative and policy issues and which provides advice and guidance on processing ATIP requests.
• Monthly reporting to senior management on performance in meeting deadlines.
• Weekly monitoring of the percentage of overdue files, and a regular reassessment of priorities and redistribution of workloads, in order to maintain a good rate of compliance.

External Views

Treasury Board Secretariat Management Accountability Framework
Assessment Extracts Relating to Access to Information Issues

Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) provided CIC with an acceptable rating for fiscal year 2006-2007. It was determined that CIC was effective in meeting the requirements of the Access to Information Act. Treasury Board’s stated remedies for the Department have, for the most part, been implemented or corrected by CIC.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s commitment to such effective administration of ATIP is particularly notable given that the Department received the greatest number of access to information requests in 2006-2007 of all federal government institutions. CIC makes the Info Source exercise a priority and is presently undertaking an extensive review to ensure accurate classes of records descriptions and Personal Information Banks.

Appeals to the Federal Court

No appeals to the Federal Court of Canada were made during this reporting period on ATIP issues.

Highlights

Access to Information Act

CIC, with 11,434 requests under the Access to Information Act in 2007-2008, continues to be the most accessed federal government department. Despite increasing volumes, the Department continues to maintain a high rate of compliance (93.9%) and responds to more requests each year. During the reporting period, CIC responded to 11,600 requests and thereby reduced its carry-forward by almost 200 files.

The following chart indicates a continuing increase in ATI requests received by CIC over the past three (3) years. Along with the increase in requests, the following chart also shows an increase of 23% in the number of pages reviewed compared to previous fiscal years. Requests for increasingly complex information requiring external consultations and implicating several internal branches requires extensive time and effort by the organization and ATIP officials. CIC does consult with other federal institutions on a broad number of complex issues that extend into various federal jurisdictions.

Three-year review of Access to Information Act requests

Federal Accountability Act

CIC has undertaken to educate the Department on changes relating to the Federal Accountability Act. One of the main themes is the duty to assist requestors, without regard to identity, in receiving the information they seek. During the reporting period, the ATIP Division processed 189 informal requests in the spirit of duty to assist. Informal requests are also processed by other areas of the Department or regional offices.

Statistical Summary of Actions Taken by CIC in Response to Requests for Information Under the Access to Information Act[note 2]

This section summarizes the activities undertaken by CIC under the Access to Information Act in the year under review.

The majority of exemptions invoked under the Access to Information Act fell under three sections: subsection 15(1), which covers international relations, defence and subversive activities was invoked in 6,550 cases (42.4% of all exemptions); subsection 19(1), which is designed to protect the personal information of an individual other than the requestor was invoked in 5,645 cases (36.5% of the total exemptions); and section 16, which deals with law enforcement and investigations was invoked in 1,634 cases (10.5% of all exemptions).

Performance

CIC met deadlines for 93.9% of the requests received over the course of the year. Of the 11,600 requests processed in 2007-2008, more than half (7,479) were processed within thirty days. Another 3,338 requests were processed within sixty days.

During the reporting period, CIC was notified by the Office of the Information Commissioner of thirty-one (31) complaints made against the Department. This represents less than 1% (0.27%) of requests received (11,434), a small decrease from last year where forty (40) complaints were filed. According to our ATIP reporting system, thirty-eight (38) complaints were completed during the reporting period, therefore twenty (20) will be carried over to the next fiscal year.

Consultations

other federal government institutions in 142 cases where the records sought from these institutions related to CIC activities.

Access Data

The majority of CIC’s client base under the Access to Information Act originated from immigration consultants (34%), lawyers (31%), and the public (26%). The remaining nine (9) percent of requests came from organizations, academia, political parties, businesses, and media.

Delegation Order

_______________________________
L’hon. Diane Finley, c.p., député
Ministre de la Citoyenneté et de l’Immigration
The Honorable Diane Finley, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration

Delegation of authority under the Privacy Act and the Privacy
Regulations

Official document

* Includes acting appointments and assignments to these positions made pursuant to the Public Service Employment Act and regulations.

Legend:

Appendix A

Statistical Summary of Actions Taken by CIC in Response to Requests for Information Under the Access to Information Act

This section summarizes the activities undertaken by CIC under the Access to Information Act in the year under review.

Report on the Access to Information Act

TBS/SCT 350-62 (Rev. 1999/03)

Appendix B

Supplemental Reporting Requirements for 2007-2008

Access to Information Act

In addition to the reporting requirements addressed in form TBS/SCT 350-62 “Report on the Access to Information Act”, institutions are required to report on the following using this form:

________________

1. Review Appendix A for CIC’s complete Privacy Act statistical review for fiscal years 2007–2008.

2. Review Appendix B for CIC’s complete Access to Information Act statistical review for fiscal years 2007–2008.

© Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2008
Cat. no. Ci1-4/2008
978-0-662-05877-9