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Section IV: Other Items of Interest

This Section describes the management achievements and reports on the administration of the Act in 2007-2008, both of which have contributed directly to the achievement of one of the four priorities that the Office had set for this fiscal year. More detail about the following priority is reported in Section 1.6 of this Report.

Priorities	Type
Establish and administer a capacity to respond to requests under both the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act, and comply with administrative provisions of those statutes.	New

4.1 Management Achievements

Management activities serve to effectively support the delivery of Program Activity 1. They include: management control and accountability (covering finance, internal audit and evaluation), human resources, information management and technology, communications, and administrative services. Resources associated with internal services have been incorporated to the Program Activity they support. This section presents the management achievements for 2007-2008.

Management Control and Accountability

 

The Office sought and received additional funds to comply with the requirements of the Access to Information Act as amended by the Federal Accountability Act, as well as to establish and maintain an internal audit function. The Office also received funding to undertake a review of operations and funding levels (A-base review) to determine whether current levels may adversely impact the ability of the Office to deliver on the legislative mandate and put the integrity of the program at risk. The A-base review will be undertaken in 2008-2009.

Human Resources

 

As a result of the restructuring of the Office in 2007-2008, a new Human Resources team consisting of additional resources was created. The HR team was responsible for the development of a new sub-delegation authorities instrument, a new Integrated Human Resources Plan aligned with the organizational business planning process and the continued work on the development of the Office staffing monitoring framework.

Other activities and initiatives undertaken this year by the HR team were the on-going revision of all human resources policies as well as the introduction of new policies such as a Formal Recognition Award Program, Performance and Learning Agreements for all employees. In addition, two new human resources committees were established: a Labour-Management Consultation Committee and a Health and Safety Committee.

Information Management / Information Technology (IM/IT)

In 2007-2008, the Office built a computer network infrastructure including construction of a new local area network (LAN) room. The construction involved building a larger LAN room to accommodate more server equipments. As part of this improvement, we also created an internal computer help desk position.

Internal Audit

As indicated above, the Office obtained funds to establish an internal audit function that complies with the Treasury Board Secretariat’s policy and directives while preserving the Office’s independence from government. The function will be established, including the appointment of a chief audit executive, the development of a risk-based internal audit plan, and the establishment of an independent audit committee, by April 1^st, 2009.

Administration

During 2007-2008, the Office partly resolved the accommodation problem by obtaining additional office space. A move took place at the beginning of 2008-2009.

4.2 Reporting on the administration of the Access to Information Act

The Office became subject to the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act on April 1, 2007. In 2007-2008, the Office set up a secretariat – essentially an access to information and privacy office – in the Office's Information Management Division to administer both Acts.  The work of the secretariat involves responding to requests under both Acts, as well as to requests from other institutions considering releasing information generated by the Office (called consultations).

In 2007-2008, we received 93 access requests and 3 privacy requests. We participated in 21 consultations.

The Office secured funding for permanent staffing of the secretariat and to purchase software to support the processing of access and privacy requests. The software will also help the Office to comply with the reporting requirements set out in Treasury Board's policies on access to information and privacy protection, as well as produce the annual reports on administration of the Acts that we will present to Parliament each year.

Complaints

The amendments to the Access to Information Act stemming from the Federal Accountability Act that made the Office subject to the Act did not set out how access to information complaints against the Office would be handled. To ensure that there are proper safeguards in place to prevent the conflict of interest that would arise if we had to investigate ourselves, the Commissioner appointed an ad hoc Commissioner to handle these investigations. The Former Supreme Court of Canada Justice, Honourable Peter de C. Cory agreed to take up this new office establishing guiding principles for it and how it would operate.

In 2007-2008, the Office was notified of 10 access to information complaints. Seven complaints were completed during the year: 4 were not substantiated; 2 were cancelled; 1 was resolved.

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¹ The Office added a rating “partially met” to the Treasury Board Secretariat’s scale that was restricted to the following ratings: successfully met, not met, or exceeded expectations. A commitment that is partially met indicates that some elements were achieved as planned and other elements were either not achieved or delayed.
² The Office selected the following ten (10) institutions: Canada Border Services Agency; Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Department of Justice Canada; Department of National Defence; Health Canada; Library and Archives Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Privy Council Office; Public Works and Government Services Canada; and Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
³ Canada (Attorney General) v. Canada (Information Commissioner) 2007 FC 1024 (T-531-06).
⁴ Canada (Minister of Industry) v. Canada (Information Commissioner), 2007 FCA 212 (A-107-06).
⁵ Canada (Minister of Environment) v. Canada (Information Commissioner), 2007 FCA 404 (A-502-06).
⁶ SNC Lavalin Inc. v. Canada (Minister for International Cooperation), 2007 FCA 397.
⁷ Privacy Commissioner of Canada v. Blood Tribe, S-31755. The decision was issued on July 17, 2008.

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