2018-2019 Departmental Results Report

Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada

Original signed by

The Honourable David Lametti, P.C., Q.C., M.P.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Caroline Maynard
Information Commissioner of Canada

ISSN 2561-2697

Table of contents

• Commissioner’s message
• Results at a glance
• Results: what we achieved
  • Core responsibility
    • Government transparency
  • Internal Services
• Analysis of trends in spending and human resources
  • Actual expenditures
  • Actual human resources
  • Expenditures by vote
  • Government of Canada spending and activities
  • Financial statements and financial statements highlights
    • Financial statements
    • Financial statements highlights
• Supplementary information
  • Corporate information
  • Reporting Framework
  • Supporting information on the Program Inventory
  • Supplementary information tables
  • Federal tax expenditures
  • Organizational contact information
• Appendix: definitions

Commissioner’s message

I am pleased to present the Office of the Information Commissioner’s Departmental Results Report for 2018–19, my first full year as Commissioner.

I began the year by setting clear priorities to guide my office’s work. As I had hoped, my team achieved excellent results, as this report shows, and set a firm foundation for the rest of my seven-year mandate.

My key priority for 2018–19 was to address the inventory of complaints. Dedication and strong leadership by my staff—supplemented by temporary investigators engaged with one-year funding—resulted in a 76‑percent jump in investigations completed.

Meetings and consultations with the access community and senior institutional leaders solidified good working relationships and emphasized collaboration as essential to achieving results for Canadians. In turn, my office promptly reached out to complainants to focus investigations on exactly the information they sought, and issued a stream of guidance for institutions and complainants on how my office works and interprets the Access to Information Act.

In addition, my staff continued to monitor the progress of Bill C-58 and prepared to take on any new responsibilities the Bill proposed for my office.

In 2019–20, I am dedicating $3 million in temporary funding announced in Budget 2019 to further reduce the number of outstanding complaints on the books. This will help eliminate the backlog of pre-C-58 complaints as promptly as possible. This is of crucial importance now that the amendments to the Act have become law, since my office has to treat existing and new complaints under two different legislative schemes.

My team and I will spare no effort to avoid developing a backlog under the post‑C-58 system, but there is no sign that the incoming complaint volume is going to lessen anytime soon.

My new order-making powers, innovative new processes and an increase in resources to implement the amendments will help ensure my office stays ahead of demand.

That being said, the longstanding lack of sufficient permanent funding for all the work my office must do—particularly since my office received twice as many complaints in the first four months of the year compared to the same period in 2018–19—is a significant concern, one that I am addressing as an urgent priority. My continuing ability to deliver results and provide value for Canadians depends on it.

Results at a glance

The Commissioner set four priorities for the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) at the start of her mandate: to address the backlog of outstanding complaints, to prepare to implement Bill C-58, to increase the transparency of OIC operations, and to enhance collaboration with institutions.

With actual spending of $14.5 million and 84 actual full-time equivalents, the OIC achieved significant results under each of these priorities:

• completed 76-percent more investigations than in the previous year and met investigations-related performance targets;
• had all essential elements in place to operationalize the Commissioner’s new responsibilities as soon as Bill C-58 received Royal Assent;
• developed numerous documents and other tools to shed light on the investigations process and the Commissioner’s interpretation of the Access to Information Act; and
• met frequently (the Commissioner and senior OIC officials) with counterparts at institutions and in the access community to stress compliance with the Act, solicit collaboration in the name of resolving complaints, and gather information about challenges and best practices.

The Commissioner restructured the organization and launched a review of the investigations process to achieve efficiencies, and appeared before the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs to recommend four amendments to Bill C-58.

Teams from across the OIC continued to work together to support the OIC’s program, including developing innovative solutions for carrying out new responsibilities under Bill C-58. This included testing Canada Post’s ePost Connect service to facilitate communication and document submission by institutions and complainants in certain circumstances. Representatives from all business units met throughout the year to discuss and plan for the impact on operations of the Bill C-58 amendments, including the increased proactive disclosure and publication requirements.

The OIC secured $3 million in temporary funding to continue to reduce the inventory of complaints in 2019–20. Corporate Services staff managed the fit-up of additional office space and renovations to the existing offices to increase organizational efficiency, particularly in light of new responsibilities the OIC must carry out resulting from Bill C-58.

For more information on the OIC’s plans, priorities and results achieved, see the “Results: what we achieved” section of this report.

Results: what we achieved

Core responsibility

Government transparency

Description

The Information Commissioner is the first level of independent review of government decisions relating to requests for access to information under the control of government institutions. The Access to Information Act requires the Commissioner to investigate all the complaints she receives. The second level of independent review is the Federal Court.

Results

The Commissioner set four priorities for the OIC for 2018–19, the first full year of her mandate: to address the backlog of outstanding complaints; to prepare to implement Bill C-58; to increase the transparency of OIC operations; and to enhance collaboration with institutions.

With $2.9 million in temporary funding received through Budget 2018, the OIC engaged additional staff to complete investigations of complaints in the inventory, which stood at nearly 3,500 files at the start of 2018–19.

The OIC also reviewed and revamped its investigation process and the structure of the investigations group. Smaller teams, each with one or two embedded Legal Services staff, resulted in more efficient and effective investigations, and specialization on types of files and institutions.

Together, these efforts culminated in the OIC’s closing 2,608 complaints over the year, a near-record number and a 76-percent increase from the previous year. However, the OIC also received 5 percent more new complaints, which cut into the overall decrease in the inventory achieved.

Bill C-58 progressed through Parliament over the year. The Commissioner raised four concerns about the Bill when she appeared before the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs in October 2018.

Representatives from all business units at the OIC met throughout the year to discuss and plan for the impact on operations of the Bill C-58 amendments, including increased proactive disclosure and publication requirements. In addition, staff from the investigations group, Legal Services and Communications collaborated to develop processes, procedures and interpretive guidance to be ready to implement the changes to OIC business the Bill contained as soon as it received Royal Assent.

As part of a larger effort to increase the transparency of operations by communicating more regularly and more clearly with institutions and complainants, the OIC also developed accessible guidance on aspects of the OIC’s work unaffected by Bill C-58. In particular, the OIC developed a new website in which the information is organized more intuitively, offering easier access to information to help complainants and institutions navigate the investigations process and understand the OIC’s work.

Complementing these activities, the Commissioner and senior OIC officials met with their counterparts at institutions and with members of the access community throughout the year. The goal of these meetings was to solicit institutions’ collaboration with OIC investigations, and to gather challenges and best practices. In addition, the OIC reached out promptly to complainants to ensure investigations were focused on the exact information they sought.

The Commissioner also tapped into the expertise and experience of her international counterparts, attending the International Conference of Information Commissioners in South Africa in March. In particular, she set out to learn about their best practices and technology, and to understand how they approach investigations and eliminating their inventories.

The OIC met or exceeded two of its four targets for its performance indicators, as set out in the table, below. In particular, the OIC reduced the median time it took to complete investigations into administrative complaints and recouped some of the increase in the median time to complete investigations into more complex refusal files that had occurred the previous year. Institutions accepted fewer of the Commissioner’s recommendations than in previous years. The lower percentage is largely due two institutions with whom the OIC had multiple complaints declining to take some of the actions the Commissioner recommended to resolve complaints.

In light of improved investigations processes and the changes brought about by Bill C-58, including that the Commissioner now has the power to order institutions to resolve complaints in a particular way, the OIC will be reviewing and adjusting these targets, as required, during 2019–20.

Results achieved

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The difference between planned and actual full-time equivalents was due to positions remaining vacant throughout the year resulting from employee turnover (which equalled the new hiring the OIC did over the same period), retirements and long-term leave. The OIC did not use the one-year supplementary funding to staff positions but rather to engage consultants through Temporary Help Services.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the OIC’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.

Internal Services

Description

Internal Services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of Programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. These services are: Management and Oversight Services; Human Resources Management Services; Financial Management Services; Information Management Services; Information Technology Services; Real Property Management Services; Materiel Management Services; Communications Services and Acquisition Management Services.

Results

The OIC’s Corporate Services branch plays an integral support role for the program. In 2018–19, that was evident in the joint work between the investigations and information technology groups on several projects. In particular, the teams collaborated to source, test and implement a tool to facilitate communication and document submission by complainants and institutions when institutions seek the Commissioner’s permission to decline to act on requests they judge to be vexatious, in bad faith or otherwise an abuse of the access system. Selecting Canada Post’s ePost Connect solution, the OIC had this functionality up and ready to use as soon as Bill C-58 became law.

Similarly, the IT group continued to make improvements to the online complaint form, based on feedback from complainants and OIC program staff, and developed additional functionality. 

The OIC secured $3 million in temporary funding though Budget 2019 so the OIC can retain the services of high-performing temporary investigators in 2019–20. This will allow the OIC to work to eliminate the complaints inventory. Doing so as quickly as possible is essential, since the OIC has two streams of complaints to complete—those received before Bill C-58 received Royal Assent and those received after.

Corporate Services staff managed the fit-up of additional office space and renovations to the existing offices to increase organizational efficiency, particularly in light of new responsibilities the OIC must carry out resulting from Bill C-58.

The Audit and Evaluation Committee updated the OIC’s risk-based audit plan, to ensure that the internal audits to be carried out in the coming years are the most effective for the organization. The Committee also passed a new charter that clearly sets out its role and responsibilities in supporting the Commissioner, and focused on succession planning for the position of Committee chair, which is to turn over in 2019–20.

The Human Resources group continued to prioritize responding to Phoenix-related compensation problems, and to carry out staffing actions promptly, not only to fill existing vacancies but also to build anticipatory pools of qualified candidates to take on the OIC’s new responsibilities under Bill C-58. To that end, the OIC updated its investigator development program, which allows junior investigators to receive training, mentoring and experience with increasing complex investigations, such that they can progress to higher levels within the investigations group. Human Resources also supported the restructuring of the investigations group to facilitate taking on the new responsibilities.

The OIC stepped up its internal communications activities—through in-person and online vehicles—to ensure employees have the information they need to be successful and effective.

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The increase in resources for internal services was required to keep up with the ongoing workload and to carry out projects to meet the organization’s corporate obligations.

Analysis of trends in spending and human resources

Actual expenditures

Spending trend

Text Version

Spending Trend

Fiscal year	Statutory	Voted	Total
2016–17	1,104,509	11,818,751	12,923,260
2017–18	1,120,946	12,507,692	13,628,638
2018–19	1,134,443	13,317,275	14,451,718
2019–20	1,256,257	10,209,556	11,465,813
2020–21	1,256,257	10,209,556	11,465,813
2021–22	1,256,257	10,209,556	11,465,813

The above figure illustrates the OIC’s spending each year from 2016–17 to 2021–22. The OIC spent $14.5 million in 2018–19 to carry out its program and meet its strategic outcome. The vast majority of the OIC’s spending (70 percent) is for salaries and associated employee costs. The Information Commissioner is committed to ensuring that the OIC uses its financial resources in the most strategic and responsible manner to continue to improve service delivery and ensure that investigations and other activities aimed at enhancing government openness and transparency have the most impact.

The OIC received $3.4 million in temporary funding in 2016–17 in order to reduce the number of complaints in the inventory. The OIC spent $2.9 million of this funding that year. The remaining $0.5 million was re-profiled to 2017–18 and spent during that year. The OIC received $2.9 million in temporary funding for 2018–19, also for inventory reduction.

The spending graph does not include the additional $1.7 million (including 20 percent for the employee benefit plan and 13 percent Public Services and Procurement Canada accommodation premium) in permanent funding to implement the amendments under Bill C-58 expected to be received in 2019–20. With the additional permanent funds forthcoming, the OIC will increase the number of full-time equivalents in the program in order to deliver on the amendments contained in Bill C-58. By augmenting its investigative capacity, the OIC will be better equipped to ensure that the information rights of Canadians are respected.

Budgetary performance summary for Core Responsibilities and Internal Services (dollars)

Actual human resources

Human resources summary for Core Responsibilities and Internal Services (full‑time equivalents)

Expenditures by vote

For information on the OIC’s organizational voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada 2018–2019.

Government of Canada spending and activities

Information on the alignment of the OIC’s spending with the Government of Canada’s spending and activities is available in the GC InfoBase.

Financial statements and financial statements highlights

Financial statements

The OIC’s financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2019, are available on the OIC’s website.

Financial statements highlights

Condensed Statement of Operations (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2019 (dollars)

The actual net cost of operations in 2018–19 was higher than planned due to the OIC’s securing temporary additional funding after that year’s figures were published.

The actual net cost of operations in 2018–19 was higher than in 2017–18 due to the OIC’s securing more temporary funding ($2.9 million in 2018–19 from Budget 2018 compared to $1.8 million in 2017–18 in funds re-profiled from 2016–17).

Condensed Statement of Financial Position (unaudited) as of March 31, 2019 (dollars)

Total net liabilities for 2018–19 were $2.7 million, a decrease of $0.1 million from 2017–18. This decrease is mainly explained by a drop in the year-end accounts payable as a result of the OIC continuing to improve its processes and internal controls for timely processing and accounting of transactions throughout the year, and a decrease of investments unpaid at year-end. The decrease in accounts payable was partially offset by an increase in salaries payable because of underpayments through Phoenix.

The year-over-year increase in the total non-financial assets is the result of an increase in prepaid expenses and tangible capital assets of $0.1 million for the fit-up of additional office space and renovations to the existing offices to increase organizational efficiency, particularly in light of new responsibilities the OIC must carry out resulting from Bill C-58.

Supplementary information

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister: Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Institutional head: Caroline Maynard, Information Commissioner of Canada

Ministerial portfolio: Department of Justice Canada

Enabling instrument: Access to Information Act (RSC, 1985, C-1)

Year of incorporation/commencement: 1983

Other: For administrative purposes, the Minister of Justice is responsible for submitting the organization’s Departmental Plan and Departmental Results Report.

Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

“Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do” is available on the OIC’s website.

For information on the mandate letter commitments that relate to the activities of the OIC, see the mandate letters of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and the President of the Treasury Board.

Operating context and key risks

Information on operating context and key risks is available on the OIC’s website.

Reporting Framework

The OIC’s Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory of record for 2018–19 are shown below.

Text Version

This image depicts the reporting framework of the Office of the Information Commissioner by breaking down the components into the boxes.

A green box on the top of the graphic acts as the header. It contains the text Core Responsibility: Government Transparency. Below this header are series of six green boxes and a single grey box.

The first green box is aligned on the left side below the header and contains the text Departmental Result: Canadians receive timely resolution of complaints about how federal institutions process access to information requests.To the right this box are two smaller boxes containing the following text: Indicator: Median turnaround time for administrative cases; and Indicator: Median turnaround time for refusal cases.

The second cluster of three boxes is configured the same as those described above, that is to say one large box aligned to the left and two smaller boxes to the right, the text contained in the box on the left is: Departmental Result: Institutions meet their obligations under the Access to Information Act and adopt measures to address institutional and systemic issues affecting access to information. The first box on the right contains the text: Indicator: Percentage of recommendations from investigations of complaints that are adopted. The second box on the right contains the text: Indicator: Percentage of recommendations from systemic investigations that are adopted.

The single grey box is located on the bottom of the image and is also aligned on the left but has no other boxes to its right. It contains the text: Compliance with access to information obligations.

There are three other light grey boxes that border the left and right of the aforementioned boxes. The text contained runs vertically and they act as sub-headers or titles for the clusters of boxes. On the left of the six green boxes is a light grey box containing the title Departmental Results Framework. Just below this and to the left of the dark grey box is the light grey box containing the title Program inventory.

Finally, there is a light grey box that runs vertically the length of the entire right side of the image containing the title Internal Services.

Supporting information on the Program Inventory

Financial, human resources and performance information for the OIC’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on the OIC’s website:

• Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy
• Gender-based analysis plus

Federal tax expenditures

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs. The tax measures presented in this report are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

Organizational contact information

France Labine
Deputy Commissioner, Corporate Services, Strategic Planning and Transformation Services
Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
30 Victoria Street
Gatineau QC  K1A 1H3

Tel.: 819-994-8181
Fax: 819-994-1768
Email: france.labine@ci-oic.gc.ca 
Website: www.ci-oic.gc.ca

Appendix: definitions

appropriation (crédit)

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

Core Responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a Core Responsibility are reflected in one or more related Departmental Results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)

A report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a three‑year period. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

Departmental Result (résultat ministériel)

A Departmental Result represents the change or changes that the department seeks to influence. A Departmental Result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

Departmental Result Indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)

A factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a Departmental Result.

Departmental Results Framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

Consists of the department’s Core Responsibilities, Departmental Results and Departmental Result Indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on an appropriated department’s actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

experimentation (expérimentation)

Activities that seek to explore, test and compare the effects and impacts of policies, interventions and approaches, to inform evidence-based decision-making, by learning what works and what does not.

full‑time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person‑year charge against a departmental budget. Full‑time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS+])

An analytical process used to help identify the potential impacts of policies, Programs and services on diverse groups of women, men and gender differences. We all have multiple identity factors that intersect to make us who we are; GBA+ considers many other identity factors, such as race, ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2018–19 Departmental Results Report, those high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2015 Speech from the Throne, namely: Growth for the Middle Class; Open and Transparent Government;  A Clean Environment and a Strong Economy; Diversity is Canada’s Strength; and Security and Opportunity.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative where two or more departments are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

non‑budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)

What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)

A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement)

The process of communicating evidence‑based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision making, accountability and transparency.

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

priority (priorité)

A plan or project that an organization has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired Strategic Outcome(s) or Departmental Results.

program (programme)

Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

result (résultat)

An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization’s influence.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

Strategic Outcome (résultat stratégique)

A long‑term and enduring benefit to Canadians that is linked to the organization’s mandate, vision and core functions.

target (cible)

A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The Vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.