Backgrounder - Department of National Defence

Requests

• Number of requests decreased by 11% from the previous FY.
• Most requests were completed in 30 days or less or 121 days or more in 2022-23.
• In 2022-23, 858 requests were in deemed refusal.
• In FY 2022-23, most requests (58%) were from the public.
• Exemptions most often invoked: 19(1), 15(1), 21(1), 20(1).
• According to DND, its performance decreased this FY for the following reasons:
  • Increased media attention and public interest relating to Departmental priorities such as Sexual Misconduct and class action lawsuits affect Offices of Primary Interest (OPI) ability to retrieve records. Timely review by the ATIP office is further impacted by the complexities inherent in this sensitive and complex information.
  • ATIP staffing challenges continue due to a competitive job market. Staff turnover at all levels reduces operational efficiency while new employees onboard and learn. Hiring and training new employees creates additional workload for ATIP management and support services. Efforts continue to recruit and retain talented individuals to staff vacant positions.
• According to DND, in FY 2022-23, National Defence responded to 1833 informal requests, which represented a 180% increase over the previous reporting period. Approximately 65.5% of these cases were processed to respond to a single individual.

Complaints

• Two complainants are responsible for 22% of the DND complaints since 2019-20.
• 2019-20 was a high in registered complaints against DND. This was the result of a large number of complaints from two complainants comprising 56% of the complaints registered that year.
• Most complaints concern sections 15, 16, 19, 20, 21 and 23.
• Outcomes:
  • Well-founded = 268
  • Cease to investigate, resolved/resolved = 179
  • Discontinued = 117
  • Not well-founded = 78
  • Cease to investigate, unnecessary = 3
  • Refuse to investigate = 2

Inventory

• There is a total of 2,836 complaints pending at the OIC.
• The OIC has 97 pending complaints against DND.
• In FY 23-24, there are 50 pending admin complaints and 47 pending refusal complaints.
• All but one of the pending complaints pre-2023-24 are refusal complaints.

Complaints pending

Institution		Complaints pending
1	Canada Border Services Agency	536
2	Privy Council Office	253
3	Immigration, Refugees & Citizenship Canada	250
4	Royal Canadian Mounted Police	241
5	Global Affairs	231
6	Library and Archives Canada	162
7	Canada Revenue Agency	132
8	Public Services & Procurement Canada	107
9	National Defence	97
10	Transport Canada	68
11	Health Canada	65
12	Indigenous Services Canada	48
13	Justice	46
14	Employment and Social Development Canada	46
15	Canadian Security Intelligence Service	43
16	Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada	36
17	Correctional Services Canada	33
18	Canadian Heritage	31
19	Public Safety	31
20	Finance	27

Orders

• 53 since 2019 – 47 admin; 6 refusal (outcomes from June 2019 to February 2024).