Annual Report to Parliament on the Administration of the Access to Information Act April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023

1. Introduction

The Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) presents to Parliament its Annual Report on the Administration of the Access to Information Act (ATIA) for fiscal year April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. This report is prepared and tabled in accordance with section 94 of the Act and section 20 of the Service Fees Act.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Office is responsible for the administration of Access to Information and Privacy Acts and related matters within the department. The department is committed to openness and transparency and making every reasonable effort to assist Canadians to accessing records held within AAFC.

1.1 About Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

AAFC supports the Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector through initiatives that promote innovation and competitiveness. The department provides information, research and technology, policies and programs to help Canada's agriculture, agri-food and agri-based product sectors compete in markets at home and abroad, manage risk and embrace innovation.

The activities of the department extend from the farmer to the consumer, from the farm to global markets, through all phases of sustainably producing, processing and marketing of agriculture and agri-food products.

For more information, please see What we do.

1.2 Purpose of the Access to Information Act

The ATIA gives Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada the right to access information contained in federal government records, subject to certain specific and limited exceptions and provides a mechanism for redress under independent review. The ATIA is intended to complement existing means of obtaining information from, and enable public debate on, its democratic institutions.

2. Organizational structure

2.1 Governance

Administration of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act is the primary responsibility of the AAFC ATIP Office, which is part of the department's Public Affairs Branch (PAB). The ATIP Office processes all requests for information and coordinates all activities related to the Acts, along with associated regulations, directives and guidelines.

The ATIP Office consists of two units — the Operations Unit and the Privacy Compliance Unit (PCU). The Operations Unit works together closely with AAFC officials to process ATIP requests, such as Access requests, Privacy Request, Access Informal requests, Access Consultation requests and Proactive Publications; whereas, the Privacy Compliance Unit supports AAFC officials on privacy-related matters, such as compliance measures, privacy impact assessments and general inquiries.

2.2 Operations unit — mandate and organizational structure

The ATIP Operations unit is responsible for the management, monitoring and processing of various request types, including access to information, privacy requests, consultation requests, informal requests and proactive disclosure. The unit manages and oversees the monitoring and measurement of departmental performance related to the access to information in accordance with legislative timeframes and responds to access to information and privacy complaint investigations.

The AAFC ATIP Office is comprised of a variety of positions that help to support the mandate and operations of both units within the office. When fully staffed, these include:

• Director (1)
• Manager, Access to Information and Privacy Operations (1)
• Manager, Privacy Compliance (1)
• Senior ATIP Analyst (1)
• ATIP Analysts (3)
• Junior ATI Analyst (2)
• Privacy Analyst (2)
• ATIP Officer (1)
• Administrative Support (1)
• Contractor supporting ATIP Operations full-time (1)
• Contractor supporting Privacy Policy part-time (1)
• Students (2)

The cost of administering the ATIP Office (for access to information operational matters as recorded in the Statistical Reports) during the reporting period was $830,910 which included 7.657 full-time employees and 0.600 student person years (or $586,538 in salaries and $221,987 for professional services).

2.2 Proactive publication — organizational structure

The ATIP Office works closely with the Parliamentary Returns Office, the Strategic Policy Branch, Programs Branch and the Deputy Minister's Office as well as PAB's Digital Communications and Translations units to ensure proactive publications are completed and submitted as per the legislation. The Directors for these units each take responsibility for their part in ensuring the proactive publications requirements are met.

3. Delegation of authority

Subsection 95(1) of the ATIA provides for the Minister of AAFC to delegate the powers, duties and functions designated by the ATIA.

The delegation of authority for the administration of the ATIA includes the PAB Assistant Deputy Minister, the Director General, Communications Services and the Director of ATIP and Translation Services, who have full delegated authority to approve exemptions in accordance with the delegation of authority instrument approved by the Minister in October 2023. Certain functions are also delegated to the ATIP Office Managers to enhance efficiency in request processing.

The delegation of authority instrument for the administration of the ATIA is appended hereto at Annex A and Annex B.

4. Performance

4.1 Overview

AAFC's ATIP Office has taken significant steps year over year to maintain compliance with the ATIA. This year was no exception as requests processed during this period were responded to within legislated timelines. In the last fiscal year, the ATIP Office received findings and recommendations in response to a previously commissioned Advisory Audit. In this reporting period, the Office made significant efforts to implement a workplan to directly address the results of the audit. This involved addressing three different components — Our People, Our Work and Our Relationships. Over the past fiscal year, these components have included realigning the units based on more defined roles and responsibilities, creating an ATIP Analyst Development Program, revamping AAFC's Privacy Program, streamlining operational processes and preparing for the transition to a new Case Management System.

4.2 ATIP operations

During the 2022-2023 reporting period, the operations unit processed 391 requests (172 access requests, 131 informal requests and 88 consultation requests). This represents an increase of 97 files from the previous reporting year and demonstrates the public's continued interest in AAFC's information. It also shows the department's commitment to ensuring that information is transmitted in a timely fashion in accordance with the ATIA.

Topics of primary interest in 2022-2023 included supply chains, funding agreements, temporary foreign workers, the wine industry, horse slaughter and fertilizer emissions reduction.

Departmental context for 2022-2023

Fiscal year 2022-2023 brought new challenges as AAFC adopts an even stronger focus on innovation to drive a profitable, productive and sustainable agri-food industry that can meet growing global demand for sustainable food.

AAFC has identified priorities that focus on achieving results through initiatives, programs and services to help create an effective, resilient and thriving sector. These efforts support the delivery of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food's mandate letter commitments and broader Government of Canada priorities, including in the areas of policy development and program delivery, support for Canada's food system, sustainable growth and climate resiliency.

In 2022-2023 AAFC:

• Worked with its partners to develop the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership to deliver on sectoral needs in trade and expanding markets; innovation and sustainable growth and the support of diversity and dynamic, evolving sectors;
• Delivered key funding initiatives to agri-sectors across Canada; and
• Continued building on thematic priorities for clean technology programs and innovations while maintaining industry engagement.

The health and well-being of AAFC employees has continued to be a departmental priority and the adoption of hybrid work arrangements was put in place to ensure employees could continue effectively serving the agriculture sector across Canada.

4.3 Access to Information Act performance and statistics for 2022–2023

This section provides an overview of key data on the institution's performance regarding ATIP Operations for the year, as reflected in the institution's Statistical Report for 2022-2023 available below in Annex C.

Informal access request trends

The ATIA is intended to complement and not replace existing procedures for access to government information, to this end:

• Two requests for information were processed informally and the number of pages was not captured in our reporting.
• A total of 131 requests for previously released material were received and responded to during this reporting period: 37 requests were closed within 15 days of receipt; 50 were closed within 16 to 30 days; 21 were closed within 31 to 60 days; and 2 were closed within 61-120 days. Twenty-one (21) were carried over into the next reporting period.
• A total of 25,225 pages were re-released in 2022-2023.
• All of the informal requests were received electronically, with 2 informal requests coming in through the ATIP online portal and 124 coming in via email.

Caseload and carry forward

In this reporting period, AAFC-ATIP had a total of 172 active ATI requests. Of this total, 134 were new ATI requests received in 2022-2023 while 29 were outstanding requests from the previous 2021-2022 reporting period and 9 were outstanding from beyond that. ATIP carried over 71 files to the 2023-2024 fiscal year; nine of which were received in 2021-2022, six in 2020-2021 and two in 2019-2020, which are currently active and remain within legislated timelines (including extensions).

Access to information requests pages processed and disclosed, 2018–2019 to 2022–2023

Source of requests under the Access to Information Act

Of the 134 received in 2022-2023, 100% were received electronically, either from the ATIP on-line portal or by email. Media accounted for 23% of the ATI requests received, followed by the public (17%), academia (16%), private sector businesses and other organizations (8%). There was a marked increase in the number of requesters who declined to identify themselves in a category, from 7% the previous fiscal year to 44% during this reporting period.

Processing time for requests

AAFC-ATIP responded to 101 requests during this reporting period:

• 43 requests were completed within 30 days.
• 16 requests were completed within 60 days; 24 within 120 days; 11 within 180 days.
• 7 requests were completed within 365 days and none took more than 365 days.

Extensions

During the reporting period, 68 of the 101 closed requests required time extensions due to the volume of relevant records requiring review, or in order to undertake consultations with third parties or other government departments.

Consultations completed from other institutions

For this reporting period, AAFC completed a total of 79 consultation requests — 72 from other federal institutions and 7 from other levels of government. Nine consultation requests were carried forward to the next fiscal year with negotiated timelines.

The number of consultation files processed this reporting period was higher (from 68 in 2021–2022), as were the number of pages reviewed by AAFC for other institutions, totalling 2,905 this year, having increased from 2,177 in 2021–2022.

Disposition of completed requests

Of the total caseload, AAFC completed 101 Access Requests for the 2022-23 reporting period:

• 24.75%, or 25 files, were "all disclosed" and 53.47%, or 54 files, were "disclosed in part".
• No files were "all exempted" or "all excluded".
• "No records exist" responses were provided for 11 requests, or 10.89%.
• Three requests, or 2.97%, were transferred to other federal institutions.
• Eight requests, or 7.92%, were abandoned by the applicants.
• There were no files with the following dispositions:
  • "Neither confirmed nor denied"; or
  • "Declined to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner".

Exemptions or exclusions invoked

Since 2019-2020, the three exemptions most commonly used by AAFC during the reporting period were subsection 19(1) (personal information), paragraph 20(1)(b) (confidential third-party information) and section 21 (operations of government, advice, etc.).

The ATIA does not apply to published material, material available to the public for purchase, or for public reference (section 68), nor does it apply to confidences of the King's Privy Council (section 69). Requests containing proposed exclusions under section 69 require consultation with the Department of Justice and, in some cases, the Privy Council Office.

In 2021-2022, two requests had records pursuant to confidences of the King's Privy Council.

Complaints

The ATIA provides a system of review to help ensure federal institutions comply with their obligations. Under this system of review, a requester may file a complaint with the Information Commissioner of Canada who will investigate the matter on behalf of the requester. These investigations relate to matters such as exemptions invoked on records, extensions to the original 30-day time frame and potential missing records. After the complaint investigation is carried out, the Commissioner issues a finding on the matter and determines whether an institution handled the request appropriately and whether further action is required.

• Two new complaints (Section 32 Notice of Intention to Investigate) were received in 2022-2023.
• No Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) recommendations or Orders were received in 2022-2023 for Section 37(1) Initial Reports.

AAFC's ATIP Office worked collaboratively with the OIC to close six complaint investigations. The Commissioner deemed that one was not well founded and the other five were discontinued.

In all six cases, no further action was recommended by the Information Commissioner following the investigations. Two complaints were carried forward to the 2023-2024 reporting period — one received in 2022-2023; one received in 2018-2019 both have since been closed.

No court actions in relation to AAFC's obligations under the ATIA were carried out during the reporting period.

Translations

No translations were required to respond to requests in 2022-2023.

Format of information released

• Of the requests that were fully or partially disclosed, all 79 were released as electronic copies as per the ATIP Office's paperless processes using E-post.

5. Training and awareness

5.1 Departmental access to information training

The ATIP Office continues to invest in its people and is focused on enhancing departmental capacity by offering a wide range of ATIP-related training courses. These offerings ensure that staff and management understand their roles and responsibilities with respect to the Access to Information Act and Privacy Act and related policies, including closely linked subjects such as information management.

Regular course offerings are available to AAFC employees throughout the year in individual or group sessions.

During the 2022-2023 reporting period, 15 training sessions were delivered to the department, reaching a total of 261 employees. There were 5 more sessions offered in this reporting period, compared to the last reporting period. The revised training materials also allowed for a more robust training program to be delivered this year.

An employee engagement plan was designed and began implementation in 2022-2023. It consists of three areas — updating/implementing the AAFC Employee Training Program, launching an Awareness Campaign and strengthening the network of various AAFC groups (for example, Officers of Primary Interest (OPIs), Legal, Information Management). AAFC-ATIP can be expected to provide a further update on this program in the next reporting period.

ATIP Analyst Development Program

As part of the Our People action plan, the ATIP Office has introduced the ATIP Analyst Recruitment and Development Program, aimed at expanding opportunities within AAFC-ATIP and retaining talent and expertise within the department. The goal of the program is to have a capable workforce that has the opportunity to grow within the AAFC ATIP Office. Entry-level participants receive training in both ATIP operations and privacy policy and can become eligible for promotion as qualifications and experience are gained over a set period of time.

6. ATIP operations policies, guidelines and procedures

The ATIP Office streamlined processes and approvals in order to improve efficiencies and timeliness for OPIs, clients and requesters from the general public. Examples of some of these improvements are:

• Realignment of the ATIP Office structure and review of roles and responsibilities;
• Re-launch of a departmental ATIP working group with key branch representatives;
• Streamlining approvals throughout the process based on roles and responsibilities;
• Development of a new requests workflow, with a focus on intake, tasking, consistency with service standards and clarification process with requestors;
• Implementation of new checks and balances;
• Design and implementation of updated templates and creation of evergreen toolkit;
• Implementation of new planning tool for file status; and
• Design of new approach for OPIs and subject matter experts to launch in the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

7. Proactive publication under Part 2 of the ATIA

7.1 Proactive disclosure

While implementing the proactive disclosure requirements of the ATIA, the ATIP Office has continued to engage with and provide support to departmental stakeholders at all levels to ensure compliance and to create necessary procedures and guidelines where and when applicable. Departmental contracts over $10,000, Parliamentary Committee appearance binders, briefing note titles, grants and contributions, question period cards, reclassifications of positions, transition books and travel and hospitality information is posted to AAFC's Transparency and corporate reporting page.

Summaries of AAFC's completed access to information requests may be found on the Government of Canada's Open Government website in compliance with TBS requirements.

7.2 Parliamentary questions, motion papers, audits and publications

The AAFC ATIP Office has a role in promoting access to government data and information for all citizens and protecting personal information. Through this lens, the ATIP Office provided advice on and reviewed three (3) written questions to Parliament, applying the ATIA principles prior to disclosure or publication. No motions for the production of papers were reviewed in 2021-2022.

Ten audit reports were reviewed in this reporting period, a significant increase from two audit reports in 2021-2022. In the 2022-2023 fiscal year, the reviewed audit reports were concerned with various areas, including the Evaluation of AgriInvest, the Evaluation of AgriStability, Evaluation of the Collaborative Framework and the Evaluation of the AgriMarketing Program.

8. Initiatives and projects to improve access to information

AAFC strives to be a leader in innovative, effective technology and develop intelligent business practices and has been at the forefront of pilot testing new technologies for ATI requests.

Innovating the client experience meant adding more value to the client's relationship with the ATIP Office. While there are many ways to do this, the ATIP Office's focus during this reporting period has been to foster a stronger connection with internal clients, making meeting the department's legislative requirements under the ATIA more efficient and timely.

8.1 Digital processing of ATIP requests

Building off of the work that started in 2020 with the digitization of its business and operations across the department, the ATIP Office continues to find innovative solutions to meet the call to action from the President of the Treasury Board's Report to Parliament on the review of the Access to Information Act, Improving Service for Canadians.

During this reporting period the ATIP Office laid the ground work for the procurement of a new case management and redaction solution that employs new leading-edge technologies. This will further streamline the processing of ATIP requests while improving the final product.

The AAFC ATIP Office is positioned to begin onboarding the new software in fiscal year 2023–2024 and be fully onboarded the following year. The ATIP office is working closely with information technology counterparts and is engaged in various working groups in order to prepare a smooth transition. A change management strategy will be implemented to reduce impacts on operations throughout the department.

The planning and development for this project was completed in 2022-2023 and it's implementation will be reported on in the 2023–2024 reporting period.

8.2 Access to Information and Privacy Online Request System

Following the TBS-run pilot for "ATIP Online Version 3" in the previous fiscal year, AAFC fully adopted and successfully transitioned to this portal in July 2022. This new system has been an important step in AAFC streamlining and modernizing its ATIP operations for the long-term. We now look to the improved functionality of version 4 with the ability to communicate securely with requester within the system.

8.3 Development program

As reported on in 2022-2023, the ATIP Office has introduced the ATIP Analyst Recruitment and Development Program, aimed at expanding opportunities within AAFC-ATIP and retaining talent and expertise within the department. In Q3 of 2022-2023 the program officially launched with two current employees joining the program mid-stream and a new junior analyst recruited. AAFC-ATIP can be expected to provide a further update on this program in the next reporting period.

8.4 Advisory audit response

The AAFC ATIP Office sought the assistance of the AAFC Office of Audit and Evaluation (OAE) in 2021 to undertake an advisory engagement reviewing the ATIP Office's current management and operations. The review's objective was to analyze the AAFC ATIP Office functions and identify areas for improvement in its overall management and operations.

AAFC's ATIP completed its Action Plan in 2022-2023 which focused on Our People, Our Work and Our Relationships. Each pillar had several action items and many of actions are woven through this report (process, engagement, training etc.)

9. Summary of key issues and actions taken on complaints

As described in section 4.3, AAFC-ATIP worked closely with the OIC in order to resolve the majority of the outstanding complaints, leaving one remaining complaint that was carried over into 2023-2024.

The department received two new complaints during the 2022-2023 fiscal year, both were refusal complaints. One was a deemed refusal complaint that was ceased by the OIC as the requester had received their records by the time the investigation was initiated. The other complaint, was a refusal complaint for missing records, which was deemed to be resolved by the Information Commissioner as not well founded after another thorough search and documentation was provided.

Of the six complaints that were closed during the last fiscal year, AAFC proactively engaged with the OIC to tackle our backlog of complaints. New searches were conducted and additional portions of records were disclosed in some cases. The ATIP Office continues to prioritize the open and collaborative working relationship with the OIC moving forward.

10. 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 ATIA (as recorded in Annex C), the information below is reported in accordance with the requirements of section 20 of the Service Fees Act.

• Enabling authority: ATIA
• Fee payable: $5.00 application fee is the only fee charged for an ATI request
• Total revenue: $670.00
• Total fees waived: $0
• Cost of operating the program: $830,910

11. Monitoring compliance

The Operations unit uses an automated system to monitor the processing of ATIP requests. The workflow case management tool tracks all actions and due dates, stores relevant records requiring review, maintains audit logs, promotes the use of standard templates, allows extensive search capability to facilitate analysis and generates progress and statistical reports.

Senior management is kept apprised of the Access to Information activities through a weekly status report that is prepared by the ATIP Office and shared with various OPIs and governance bodies. This report and related discussions serve to remind branches of their pending due dates for records retrieval and flags:

• New requests received;
• The lead branch responsible;
• Request- and action-specific due dates;
• Requests due in the coming 2 weeks; and
• Areas where advice and direction can be provided by the ATIP Office.

12. Conclusion

Fiscal year 2022-2023 produced many engagement opportunities for AAFC's ATIP Operations unit and saw a development plan to streamline the unit's internal processes, recruitment and development of human resources and investments in technology to assist with efficient processing of requests.

This year, staffing challenges had an impact on the volume of requests the ATIP office could process. Measures have been put in place to fill vacancies with qualified analysts in order to minimize the impact on operations moving forward.

AAFC continues to be committed to both the spirit and the intent of the ATIA to enhance the accountability and transparency of Government in order to promote an open and democratic society and to enable public debate on the conduct of all federal institutions. To this end all requests were responded to within established service standards of 90% compliance.

Looking forward, the AAFC ATIP Office will continue to streamline processes, implement digital strategies and support the department to meet the call to action from the Information Commissioner and President of the Treasury Board to fulfill its commitment toward legislative requirements, openness and the protection of personal information.

13. Annex A — Access to Information Act Designation Order, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, pursuant to section 95 of the Access to Information Act, hereby designates the persons of the department holding the positions set out in the schedule hereto, or the persons occupying on an acting basis those positions, to exercise the powers and perform the duties and functions of the Minister as the head of a government institution under the sections of the Act set out in the schedule opposite each position. This Designation Order supersedes all previous Designation Orders.

Date:

Name: Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

14. Annex B — Delegation of authority instrument for the administration of the Access to Information Act

Sections of the Access to Information Act	Powers, duties or functions	Deputy Minister, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada	Assistant Deputy Minister, Public Affairs Branch	Director General, Communications Services	Director, ATIP and Translation Services
	All powers, duties and functions under the Access to Information Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. A-1 (prior to and following June 21, 2019) and related regulations (prior to and following June 21, 2019).	X	X	X	X

Sections of the Access to Information Act	Powers, duties or functions	Assistant Deputy Minister, Public Affairs Branch	Director General, Communications Services	Director, ATIP and Translation Services	ATI Manager
4(2.1)	Responsibility of government institutions.	x	x	x	x
6.1(1)	Reasons for declining to act on request	X	X	X	-
6.1(1.3), (1.4), (2)	Notice — suspension, end of suspension.	X	X	X	-
7(a)	Notice where access is requested.	X	X	X	X
7(b)	Giving access to records	X	X	X	X
8(1)	Transfer of request	X	X	X	X
9	Extension of time limits.	X	X	X	X
11(2)	To waive requirement for payment or to refund.	X	X	X	X
12(2)(b)	Language of access.	X	X	X	X
12(3)(b)	Access in an alternative format.	X	X	X	X
13	To exempt information obtained in confidence.	X	X	X	X
13(2)	To disclose with consent of the other government.	X	X	X	X
14	To exempt information re: federal - Provincial affairs.	X	X	X	X
15	To exempt information re: International affairs and defence.	X	X	X	X
16	To exempt information re: Law enforcement and investigations.	X	X	X	X
16.5	To exempt information re: Public Servant Disclosure Act	X	X	X	X
17	To exempt information re: Safety of individuals.	X	X	X	X
18	To exempt information re: Economic interests of Canada.	X	X	X	X
19	Personal information.	X	X	X	X
20	To exempt third party information.	X	X	X	X
21	To exempt information re: Operations of Government.	X	X	X	X
22	To exempt information re: Testing procedures, tests and audits.	X	X	X	X
22.1	To exempt information re: Internal Audits	X	X	X	X
23	Protected information — Solicitors, advocates and notaries.	X	X	X	X
23.1	Protected information — Patents and trademarks.	X	X	X	X
24	To exempt information re: Statutory prohibitions.	X	X	X	X
25	Severability	X	X	X	X
26	Refusal of access where information is to be published.	X	X	X	X
27(1)	To notify third party of intent to disclose.	X	X	X	X
27(4)	To extend time limit for third party notification process.	X	X	X	X
28(1)(b)	Review representations of third parties.	X	X	X	X
28(2)	To waive the requirement of third parties providing representations in writing.	X	X	X	X
28(4)	To notify third party of decision.	X	X	X	X
33	Notice to Information Commissioner of notices to third parties.	X	X	X	-
35(2)(b)	Right to make representations to the Information Commissioner.	X	X	X	-
37(1)(c)	Notice to the Commissioner to implement an order or recommendation.	X	X	X	-
37(4)	To provide access to complainant pursuant to Information Commissioner's recommendation.	X	X	X	-
41(2)	Review by Federal Court — Government institution.	X	X	X	-
43(2)	Service of notice of application to Federal Court for review.	X	X	X	-
44(2)	Notice to requester of application for review by third party	X	X	X	-
52(2)(b), (3)	Special rules for hearing	X	X	X	-
82	Proactive disclosure, travel expenses	X	X	X	-
83	Proactive disclosure, hospitality	X	X	X	-
84	Proactive disclosure, reports tabled in Parliament	X	X	X	-
85	Proactive disclosure, reclassification of positions	X	X	X	-
86	Proactive disclosure, contracts	X	X	X	-
87	Proactive disclosure, grants and contributions	X	X	X	-
88	Proactive disclosure, briefing materials	X	X	X	-
90	Proactive disclosure, publication not required	X	X	X	-
94	Annual report	X	X	X	-
96(3)	Notice of Provision of services related to access to information	X	X	X	-
96(4)	Fees for services	X	X	X	-
96(5)	Spending authority	X	X	X	-
6(1)	Transfer of request	X	X	X	X
7(2)	Search and preparation fees	X	X	X	-
7(3)	Production and programming fees	X	X	X	-
8	Providing access to record(s)	X	X	X	X
8.1	Limitation in respect of format	X	X	X	X

15. Annex C — Statistical report on the Access to Information Act

Name of institution: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Reporting period: 4/1/2022 to 3/31/2023

Section 1: Requests under the Access to Information Act

1.1 Number of requests

1.2 Sources of requests

1.3 Channels of requests

Section 2: Informal requests

2.1 Number of informal requests

2.2 Channels of informal requests

2.3 Completion time of informal requests

2.4 Pages released informally

2.5 Pages re-released informally

Section 3: Applications to the Information Commissioner on declining to act on requests All data values in this table are zero.

Section 4: Requests closed during the reporting period

4.1 Disposition and completion time

Disposition of Requests	Completion Time
	1 to 15 days	16 to 30 days	31 to 60 days	61 to 120 days	121 to 180 days	181 to 365 days	More than 365 days	Total
All disclosed	2	16	5	1	1	0	0	25
Disclosed in part	4	3	10	23	9	5	0	54
All exempted	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
All excluded	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
No records exist	1	9	1	0	0	0	0	11
Request transferred	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
Request abandoned	4	1	0	0	1	2	0	8
Neither confirmed nor denied	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Declined to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	14	29	16	24	11	7	0	101

4.2 Exemptions

4.3 Exclusions

4.4 Format of information released

Paper	Electronic				Other
	E-record	Data set	Video	Audio
0	79	0	0	0	0

4.5 Complexity

4.5.1 Relevant pages processed and disclosed for paper and e-record formats

Number of pages processed	Number of pages disclosed	Number of requests
29,618	19,383	87

4.5.2 Relevant pages processed per request disposition for paper and e-record formats by size of requests

4.5.3 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for audio formats All data values in this table are zero.

4.5.4 Relevant minutes processed per request disposition for audio formats by size of request All data values in this table are zero.

Disposition	Fewer than 60 minutes processed		60 to 120 minutes processed		More than 120 minutes processed
	Number of requests	Minutes processed	Number of requests	Minutes processed	Number of requests	Minutes processed
All disclosed	0	0	0	0	0	0
Disclosed in part	0	0	0	0	0	0
All exempted	0	0	0	0	0	0
All excluded	0	0	0	0	0	0
Request abandoned	0	0	0	0	0	0
Neither confirmed nor denied	0	0	0	0	0	0
Declined to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	0	0	0

4.5.5 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for video formats All data values in this table are zero.

4.5.6 Relevant minutes processed per request disposition for video formats by size of request All data values in this table are zero.

Disposition	Fewer than 60 minutes processed		60 to 120 minutes processed		More than 120 minutes processed
	Number of requests	Minutes processed	Number of requests	Minutes processed	Number of requests	Minutes processed
All disclosed	0	0	0	0	0	0
Disclosed in part	0	0	0	0	0	0
All exempted	0	0	0	0	0	0
All excluded	0	0	0	0	0	0
Request abandoned	0	0	0	0	0	0
Neither confirmed nor denied	0	0	0	0	0	0
Declined to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	0	0	0

4.5.7 Other complexities

Disposition	Consultation required	Legal advice sought	Other	Total
All disclosed	12	0	1	13
Disclosed in part	42	0	4	46
All exempted	0	0	0	0
All excluded	0	0	0	0
Request abandoned	0	0	0	0
Neither confirmed nor denied	0	0	0	0
Declined to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner	0	0	0	0
Total	54	0	5	59

4.6 Closed requests

4.6.1 Requests closed within legislated timelines

• Number of requests closed within legislated timelines: 96
• Percentage of requests closed within legislated timelines (%): 95.04950495

4.7 Deemed refusals

4.7.1 Reasons for not meeting legislated timelines

Number of requests closed past the legislated timelines	Principal reason
	Interference with operations/workload	External consultation	Internal consultation	Other
5	0	1	4	0

4.7.2 Requests closed beyond legislated timelines (including any extension taken)

Number of days past legislated timelines	Number of requests past legislated timeline where no extension was taken	Number of requests past legislated timeline where an extension was taken	Total
1 to 15 days	0	3	3
16 to 30 days	0	1	1
31 to 60 days	0	0	0
61 to 120 days	0	1	1
121 to 180 days	0	0	0
181 to 365 days	0	0	0
More than 365 days	0	0	0
Total	0	5	5

4.8 Requests for translation All data values in this table are zero.

Translation requests	Accepted	Refused	Total
English to French	0	0	0
French to English	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0

Section 5: Extensions

5.1 Reasons for extensions and disposition of requests

Disposition of requests where an extension was taken	9(1)(a) Interference with operations/ workload	9(1) (b)Consultation		9(1)(c) Third-party notice
		Section 69	Other
All disclosed	2	0	0	1
Disclosed in part	23	3	22	17
All exempted	0	0	0	0
All excluded	0	0	0	0
Request abandoned	0	0	0	0
No records exist	0	0	0	0
Declined to act with the approval of the Information Commissioner	0	0	0	0
Total	25	3	22	18

5.2 Length of extensions

Length of extensions	9(1)(a) interference with operations/ workload	9(1) (b)Consultation		9(1)(c) Third-Party Notice
		Section 69	Other
30 days or less	0	1	5	4
31 to 60 days	23	2	11	10
61 to 120 days	1	0	3	2
121 to 180 days	1	0	1	0
181 to 365 days	0	0	2	2
365 days or more	0	0	0	0
Total	25	3	22	18

Section 6: Fees

Fee type	Fee collected		Fee waived		Fee refunded
	Number of requests	Amount ($)	Number of requests	Amount ($)	Number of requests	Amount ($)
Application	134	670.00	0	0.00	0	0.00
Other fees	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00
Total	134	670.00	0	0.00	0	0.00

Section 7: Consultations received from other institutions and organizations

7.1 Consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions and other organizations

Consultations	Other Government of Canada institutions	Number of pages to review	Other organizations	Number of pages to review
Received during the reporting period	75	2,731	8	45
Outstanding from the previous reporting period	5	129	0	0
Total	80	2,860	8	45
Closed during the reporting period	72	2,841	7	45
Carried over within negotiated timelines	8	19	1	0
Carried over beyond negotiated timelines	0	0	0	0

7.2 Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions

Recommendation	Number of days required to complete consultation requests
	1 to 15 days	16 to 30 days	31 to 60 days	61 to 120 days	121 to 180 days	181 to 365 days	More than 365 days	Total
Disclose entirely	6	28	10	1	0	0	0	45
Disclose in part	0	11	12	1	0	0	0	24
Exempt entirely	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Exclude entirely	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
Consult other institution	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Other	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Total	7	40	23	2	0	0	0	72

7.3 Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other organizations outside the Government of Canada

Recommendation	Number of days required to complete consultation requests
	1 to 15 days	16 to 30 days	31 to 60 days	61 to 120 days	121 to 180 days	181 to 365 days	More than 365 days	Total
Disclose entirely	0	5	1	0	0	0	0	6
Disclose in part	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Exempt entirely	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Exclude entirely	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Consult other institution	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1	5	1	0	0	0	0	7

Section 8: Completion time of consultations

8.1 Requests with Legal Services

8.2 Requests with Privy Council Office All data values in this table are zero.

Section 9: Investigations and reports of finding

9.1 Investigations

• Section 32 Notice of intention to investigate: 3
• Subsection 30(5) Ceased to investigate: 4
• Section 35 Formal representations: 0

9.2 Investigations and reports of finding

Section 37(1) Initial reports			Section 37(2) Final reports
Received	Containing recommendations issued by the Information Commissioner	Containing orders issued by the Information Commissioner	Received	Containing recommendations issued by the Information Commissioner	Containing orders issued by the Information Commissioner
0	0	0	0	1	0

Section 10: Court action

10.1 Court actions on complaints All data values in this table are zero.

Section 41
Complainant (1)	Institution (2)	Third Party (3)	Privacy Commissioner (4)	Total
0	0	0	0	0

10.2 Court actions on third party notifications under paragraph 28(1)(b)

• Section 44 – under paragraph 28(1)(b): 0

Section 11: Resources related to the Access to Information Act

11.1 Allocated costs

11.2 Human Resources