Archived - Annual Report to Parliament on the Privacy Act
Canada Border Services Agency 2014-2015

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Chapter One: Privacy Act Report

Introduction

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is pleased to present to Parliament, in accordance with section 72 of the Privacy Act, its annual report on the management of this Act. The report describes the activities that support compliance with the Privacy Act for the fiscal year commencing April 1, 2014, and ending March 31, 2015. During this period, the CBSA continued to build on successful practices implemented in previous years.

“The purpose of the Privacy Act is to extend the present laws of Canada that protect the privacy of individuals with respect to personal information about themselves held by a government institution and that provide individuals with a right of access to that information.”Footnote 1

As stated in subsection 72(1) of the Privacy Act, “The head of every government institution shall prepare for submission to Parliament an annual report on the administration of this Act within the institution during each financial year.”Footnote 2

In fiscal year 2014–2015, the CBSA introduced new procedures and practices that will ensure the continued provision of timely service to Canadians who seek to exercise their right to access personal information under the Privacy Act and that demonstrate leadership in the management of increasingly numerous and complex requests.

Organization

About the Canada Border Services Agency

Since 2003, the CBSA has been an integral part of the Public Safety Canada (PS) portfolio, which was created to ensure coordination across all federal departments and agencies responsible for national security and the safety of Canadians.Footnote 3 The CBSA itself is responsible for providing integrated border services that support national security and public safety priorities and facilitate the free flow of persons and goods, including animals and plants, that meet all requirements under the program legislation.

The CBSA carries out its responsibilities with a workforce of approximately 13,000 employees, including over 7,200 uniformed CBSA officers who provide services at approximately 1,200 points across Canada and at 39 international locations.Footnote 4

Access to Information and Privacy Division

The Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Division comprises five units: an Administration section, two Case Management units, and two Policy units. The Administration section’s function is to receive all incoming requests and consultations, to ensure quality control of all outgoing correspondence, and to support both Case Management units in their day-to-day business. The Case Management units task all branches and regions with retrieval requests and provide daily operational guidance and support to CBSA employees. The ATIP Policy and Governance unit develops policies, tools, and procedures to support ATIP requirements within the CBSA and provides training to employees. The Information Sharing and Collaborative Arrangement Policy unit maintains the policy framework for the CBSA’s information-sharing and domestic written collaborative arrangements (WCA). On average, 53 full-time equivalents, four part-time and casual employees, and four consultants were employed in the ATIP Division during fiscal year 2014–2015.

The ATIP coordinator for the CBSA is the Director of the ATIP Division. The ATIP Division is part of the Corporate Secretariat, which reports to the Vice-President of the Corporate Affairs Branch. Consistent with the best practices identified by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS),Footnote 5 the CBSA’s ATIP coordinator is positioned within three levels of the President and has full delegated authority, reporting directly to the Director General of the Corporate Secretariat, who in turn reports to the Vice-President of the Corporate Affairs Branch.

Key to maintaining compliance with the statutory time requirements of the Privacy Act is the ATIP Division’s ability to obtain personal information from branches and regions in a timely and reliable manner. Supported by a network of 17 ATIP liaison officers across the CBSA, the ATIP Division is well positioned to receive, coordinate, and process requests for personal information under the Privacy Act.  

The ATIP Division works closely with other members of the PS portfolio, including the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Correctional Service of Canada, the Parole Board of Canada, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, to share best practices and develop streamlined processes for the retrieval of jointly held records within the 30-day legislated time frame required to respond to privacy requests.

Activities and Accomplishments

Leadership

The CBSA has always been an active participant in the support and promotion of privacy, and fiscal year 2014–2015 was no exception.

To improve service quality and to continue the modernization of the “Access to Information and Privacy Online Request” service that allows Canadians to submit their requests online, the CBSA recommended to TBS the implementation of additional fields in the portal. These additional fields empower a client to provide information that allows institutions to process requests more efficiently.

To improve the record retrieval process, the ATIP Division established a shared drive that allows ATIP liaison officers to electronically upload records in response to requests. The structure of this shared drive has been designed so that all regions have their own specific folder, enabling liaison officers across Canada to securely share documents and information with the ATIP Division.

The ATIP Division is also responsible for CBSA policies related to the collection and disclosure of information. By working closely with CBSA program areas and multiple PS portfolio partners through the WCA process, the ATIP Division provides disclosure policy functional guidance, clarifies the applicable disclosure authorities of the CBSA, and assists with developing WCA that will best serve the current and future needs of the program area. The Division also establishes processes that provide mutual assurance that personal information is accorded the appropriate protections.

The ATIP Division also represented the CBSA in supporting policy initiatives concerning information sharing led by other departments such as PS and the Department of Justice.

Finally, the CBSA maintains a reading room for individuals from the general public who wish to review the Agency’s publications or other public materials. Individuals may access the reading room by contacting the CBSA’s ATIP Director by telephone at 343-291-7021 or by sending an email to ATIP-AIPRP@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca. The reading room is located at:

Place Vanier Complex, 14th Floor, Tower A
333 North River Road
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0L8

Performance

Fiscal year 2014–2015 saw higher volumes of privacy requests for the CBSA. The high volumes are largely attributable to individuals seeking copies of their history of arrival dates into Canada. In fiscal year 2014–2015, 82.7% of all the privacy requests received by the CBSA came from individuals seeking their Traveller History Report, which is used to support residency requirements for benefits programs administered by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and by Service Canada.

The CBSA also saw record high volumes of privacy requests submitted through the “Access to Information and Privacy Online Request” service. The CBSA received 7,368 requests, which amounted to 57.7% of all privacy requests received by the CBSA, which was an increase of 516% over fiscal year 2013–2014. The Agency is confident that the use of this innovative service will continue to increase in coming years.

The CBSA continued to offer the electronic delivery of responses to privacy requests. Although electronic delivery made up only 7.7% of all formal privacy requests that were either all disclosed or disclosed in part in fiscal year 2014–2015, these requests accounted for 84.2% of all the pages the CBSA disclosed in their entirety or disclosed in part this fiscal year.

The ATIP Division also provided case-by-case policy guidance to CBSA program areas related to the disclosure of information under section 8 of the Privacy Act and section 107 of the Customs Act. In total, the ATIP Division received 313 requests for guidance in fiscal year 2014–2015, representing an increase of 53% over the previous year, in which 205 requests were received.

Education and Training

In fiscal year 2014–2015, the ATIP Division continued to conduct bilingual training sessions that supported the implementation of streamlined processing procedures and built an awareness of ATIP obligations. These sessions are designed to ensure that the participants fully understand their responsibilities under the Privacy Act, with a focus on requests made pursuant to the Act and the duty-to-assist principles. Ten sessions were offered in which 174 National Capital Region (NCR) employees took part. 

CBSA employees also took advantage of the free online course entitled “Managing Information at the Canada Border Services Agency and the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act.” This one-hour online course was designed to provide employees with the basic principles for effectively managing information in their daily work. After completing this course, an employee will have acquired the knowledge to better identify various types of information, learned how requests under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act are handled, and learned about their responsibilities throughout the process. A total of 437 employees completed the online training in fiscal year 2014–2015, a 35% increase over fiscal year 2013–2014.

The ATIP Division also delivered two customized sessions: one on privacy breaches that was well received by 15 employees from the Northern Ontario Region and the other on Info Source that was also well received by 17 employees from the National Security Cases unit. Moreover, the ATIP Division delivered 13 in-class training sessions on section 107 of the Customs Act, as well as basic information-sharing training sessions to 200 employees in the NCR and across the regions.

In addition, the ATIP Division organized two national ATIP liaison officers’ learning events via conference call. The purpose of these conference calls, which convened all 17 ATIP liaison officers across the branches and regions, was to exchange information about challenges and best practices, to discuss the latest policies and procedural developments, and, overall, to improve the ATIP Division/ATIP liaison officer relationship. These conference calls will be offered again next year to support continued improvement and to promote ongoing communication while providing the tools and training required by ATIP liaison officers to perform their duties.

The ATIP Division also developed a communications plan to ensure that CBSA employees are aware of their obligations under the Privacy Act. The plan leverages key dates, such as Data Privacy Day, and other activities at the CBSA that can promote ATIP tools, resources, and awareness.

Finally, the ATIP Division continues to actively participate in the TBS-led ATIP coordinators’ and ATIP practitioners’ meetings. These meetings provide opportunities for employees from the CBSA to liaise with employees from other institutions to discuss various issues and challenges that have been identified by the ATIP community.

New and Revised Privacy-related Policies and Procedures

During fiscal year 2014–2015, the CBSA continued to revise existing policies and to develop new ones.

The ATIP Division has taken a number of significant measures to enhance and promote ATIP tools that are accessible to CBSA employees. One of these measures is to keep the ATIP intranet site up-to-date and accessible to all CBSA employees. This allows the ATIP Division to quickly share information and best practices and to facilitate collaboration across the Agency. Furthermore, the ATIP Division will explore the possibility of designing a new Wiki page that would allow it to share knowledge of ATIP best practices with CBSA employees.

The ATIP Division has also developed a new consent form for requesters making a request on behalf of someone else. The new form was created specifically to cover all of the basic elements required by an ATIP officer to process a request made by those representing an individual to obtain his or her personal information.

Over the past few years, the CBSA has seen an increase in the number of requesters seeking their audio/video files. In order to process these requests more efficiently, the ATIP Division implemented new standard operating procedures that provide ATIP analysts with a step-by-step method to process these files. 

The CBSA has continued to work diligently to address TBS recommendations to improve its chapter for Info Source. The CBSA content of the chapter for Info Source is now organized by institutional functions, programs, and activities, and all classes of records and personal information banks are aligned under the related programs and activities. The CBSA will continue to update its chapter Info Source in accordance with TBS requirements.

The ATIP Division continued to provide the service of informally reviewing CBSA records for internal programs as if they had been requested under the Privacy Act. The ATIP Division received 133 internal requests of this nature in fiscal year 2014–2015.

In fiscal year 2014–2015, the ATIP Division completed an update of the Policy on the Disclosure of Customs Information to reflect the Agency’s requirements and operational realities. The ATIP Division also revised and expanded the Agency’s public interest disclosure procedures by updating the Operating Procedures for Public Interest Disclosures under 8(2)(m)(i) of the Privacy Act and creating the Operating Procedures for Public Interest Disclosures Under 107(6)(a) of the Customs Act, which address the disclosure of customs information.

The ATIP Division closely monitors the time it takes to process privacy requests. Weekly reports, which show trends and performance, are submitted to the managers of the Case Management units, the Director of the ATIP Division, and the Director General of the Corporate Secretariat. Monthly reports consisting of statistics on the performance of the offices of primary interest are also distributed to all ATIP liaison officers. Finally, quarterly trend reports portraying the overall performance of the Agency are reviewed and discussed during meetings of the Agency’s Executive CommitteeFootnote 6 and are included in the Agency Performance Summary.

Progress on the Privacy Management Framework Action Plan

The Privacy Management Framework (PMF) is based on a gap analysis of how the CBSA administers the privacy program, providing a set of recommendations for training, tools, performance measures, and governance structures to address these gaps. Based on these recommendations, the ATIP Division, in consultation with key program areas, developed and presented in 2011 a three-year action plan to implement the PMF recommendations. Progress was made during fiscal year 2014–2015 by implementing some of the recommendations found in Phase 3 of the PMF, thereby improving transparency, accountability, and leadership in the protection of privacy rights. 

  • Recognizing the importance of the Agency’s privacy obligations, the ATIP Division introduced a Privacy Code of Principles for the CBSA. This document provides a plain language summary of privacy principles to assist employees in effectively managing personal information in their daily work. It is also intended to promote awareness and understanding of privacy issues to avoid, reduce, or manage situations in which a potential or apparent privacy breach can occur. The Privacy Code of Principles was introduced to the ATIP community and was exceptionally well-received by its members, including the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) and TBS. Additionally, many organizations have adopted and modified the document to reflect their own requirements.
  • The CBSA continued to hold Privacy Oversight Committee (POC) meetings in fiscal year 2014–2015. Chaired by the Chief Privacy Officer, the POC consists of executives from key program and corporate areas who meet to review and consider new policies, compliance issues, privacy breaches, privacy impact assessments, and privacy awareness initiatives.

In fiscal year 2015–2016, the CBSA will continue to implement additional recommendations from the PMF that were labelled as low and medium priorities for the Agency. Continuing to implement the PMF and its associated action plan will strengthen the CBSA’s compliance with legislative and policy requirements.

Audits of and investigations into the privacy practices of the Canada Border Services Agency

In 2014–2015, there were no key issues raised as a result of privacy investigations, and no audits were concluded that related to the privacy practices of the CBSA.

In January 2013, the OPC announced its intention to conduct an audit of the systematic challenges related to the use of portable electronic storage devices within federal institutions. As part of its audit planning process, the OPC conducted a survey regarding the use of portable storage devices by 49 federal institutions, including the CBSA. The survey was designed to facilitate the selection of 20 entities for audit examination.

Based on this survey, the CBSA was selected by the OPC for review in 2014–2015. The purpose of the audit was to examine the frameworks in place to govern the use of portable electronic devices, with the objective of contributing to enhancing privacy protections.

The OPC’s report of its findings for this audit is expected to be published in fiscal year 2015–2016.

Privacy Impact Assessments

In fiscal year 2014-2015, the CBSA completed three privacy impact assessments (PIAs) initiated in previous years. The three completed PIAs are:

  • Recourse Content Management System;
  • Automated Border Clearance Program; and
  • Customs Mutual Administration Assistance Agreements.

These PIAs were submitted to the OPC for review and comments. 

Recourse Content Management System

The Recourse Directorate provides the business community and individuals with an accessible mechanism to seek an impartial review of trade decisions, enforcement actions, prohibited goods, late accounting penalties, and membership cancellations or rejections from a trusted program administered by the CBSA. The program ensures that the decisions taken by CBSA officials are fair, transparent, and reflect accurately the policies and the legislation administered by the Agency. A PIA summary was posted on the CBSA ATIP section.

Automated Border Clearance program

The Automated Border Clearance (ABC) program represents a major change for the CBSA in its delivery of primary processing of travellers arriving at major Canadian airports.The ABC program is an innovative concept that streamlines a portion of the border clearance process for Canadian citizens with a valid Canadian passport and permanent residents (PR) of Canada with a valid Canadian PR card by having them use self-service kiosks as an alternative to the traditional processing by border services officers. 

The ABC program offers a secure and viable alternative for the processing of eligible travellers by the CBSA. ABC kiosks are easy to use and allow for reduced border wait times, reduced congestion in customs halls, increased processing capacity, and increased client satisfaction. A PIA summary was posted on the CBSA ATIP section.

Customs Mutual Assistance Agreements between the Government of Canada and other foreign governments

The CBSA works with foreign customs administrations to effectively combat customs fraud and related activities through sharing of customs information, as defined and restricted by the Customs Act. The exchange of customs information is supported by a Customs Mutual Assistance Agreement (CMAA), which is a standard and established international means of enhancing collaboration on customs matters and provides a legal framework for the exchange of information among customs administrations. When CMAAs are brought into force, they are legally binding treaties governed by international public law and represent a high level of commitment and trust between the two signing parties. 

CMAAs provide Canada with a legal basis to share customs information to prevent, investigate, and combat customs offences, particularly customs fraud, and to provide reciprocal mutual assistance to ensure the proper application of customs laws. A PIA summary was posted on the CBSA ATIP section.

Disclosures Made Pursuant to Paragraph 8(2)(e) of the Privacy Act

During the 2014–2015 fiscal year, 752 disclosures pursuant to paragraph 8(2)(e) of the Privacy Act were made by the CBSA.

Disclosures Made Pursuant to Paragraph 8(2)(m) of the Privacy Act

During the 2014–2015 fiscal year, nine disclosures pursuant to paragraph 8(2)(m) of the Privacy Act were made by the CBSA. In each of these cases, the only fact disclosed was that the individuals were being removed from Canada in accordance with the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

These disclosures served to demonstrate that the objectives and integrity of the immigration system and the protection of the health and safety of Canadians were being maintained. It is in the public interest to demonstrate that the CBSA is carrying out its mandate. The balance between the public’s need to know and protection of an individual’s privacy is of utmost concern to the CBSA, and in each of these cases, it was determined that public interest in the disclosure of these individual’s removal status outweighed any injury to the individuals. 

In all cases, the OPC was notified before the disclosures were made.

Delegation Order

See Annex A for a signed copy of the delegation order.

Chapter Two: Statistical Report

Statistical report and Supplemental Reporting Requirements

See Annex B for the CBSA's statistical report on the Privacy Act.

Interpretation of the Statistical reports

Overview

In fiscal year 2014–2015, the CBSA continued to refine its practices to maintain a high level of service to requesters. Statistics suggest these refinements had a positive effect, as evidenced by a continued high completion rate of requests within the legislated timelines.

Requests Processed Under the Privacy Act

The CBSA received 12,769 privacy requests in fiscal year 2014–2015, which was an increase of 7.4% over the previous year. Moreover, the CBSA responded to 12,024 Privacy Act requests, representing 85.4% of the total number of requests received and outstanding from the previous reporting period. 

Over the past five years, the CBSA has experienced a significant increase in the number of requests.  In 2010–2011, the CBSA received 2,896 requests. By comparison, the Agency received 12,769 requests in 2014–2015. This increase is largely attributable to requests for the Traveller History Report referenced earlier in this report. 

Privacy Requests Received/Completed

Traveller History Report Workload

Completion Time

Of the 12,024 requests completed during fiscal year 2014–2015, the CBSA responded to 9,643 requests within 30 days or less, or 80.2% of all the requests completed. The CBSA responded to 2,180 requests (18.1%) within 31 to 60 days and 127 requests (1.1%) within 61 to 120 days. There were 74 requests (0.6%) that required 121 days or more to be completed.

Completion Time

Of all the requests completed, the CBSA was successful in responding to 97.4% of them within the legislated timelines. This result reflects the CBSA’s commitment to ensuring that every reasonable effort is made to complete the requests as soon as possible.

Section 15 of the Privacy Act allows departments to extend the 30-day legislated deadline of a request if the request cannot be completed because:

  • meeting the original time limit unreasonably interferes with the operations of the government institution;
  • consultations are necessary and cannot be completed within the original time limit; or
  • additional time is necessary for translation or for converting the records into an alternative format.

In total, 317 extensions were applied for in fiscal year 2014–2015. This represents a decrease of 13.6% in extensions in comparison to the previous fiscal year. For a more specific breakdown of the type of extensions applied for in fiscal year 2014–2015, please refer to Annex B of this report.

Disposition of Requests Completed

Of the 12,024 requests completed in fiscal year 2014–2015, the CBSA provided responsive records for 91.3% (10,982 requests) and exempted all records for 0.1% (5 requests).  For 4.2% of the requests completed (509 requests), there were no responsive records, and for the remaining 4.4% of requests completed (528 requests), the requests were abandoned by the requester.

Dispostion of Completed Requests

Complaints and Investigations

Subsection 29(1) of the Privacy Act describes how the OPC receives and investigates complaints from individuals regarding their personal information held by a government institution. Examples of complaints the OPC may choose to investigate include a refusal of access to personal information; an allegation that personal information about them held by a government institution has been misused or wrongfully disclosed; or individuals given access to personal information not in the official language requested.

Throughout fiscal year 2014–2015, 36 Privacy Act complaints were filed against the CBSA, which represents a decrease of 65% compared to fiscal year 2013–2014. An assessment of the complaints filed against the CBSA does not reveal any particular pattern or specific reason for the decrease in complaints. It should also be noted that the number of complaints filed relate to 0.2% of the privacy requests completed during this period. The complaints received during the fiscal year were related to the following issues: time delay (15); application of exemptions or exclusions (6); use and disclosure (10); refusal to disclose (1); extension (1); and miscellaneous (3).  

Complaints Received

Of the 22 complaints resolved in fiscal year 2014–2015, 13 were deemed well-founded, six were deemed not well-founded, and three were discontinued. Where complaints are substantiated, the matter is reviewed by the delegated managers and processes are adjusted if required.

Appeals

There was no appeal made to the Federal Court during the 2014–2015 fiscal year.

Privacy Breaches

There were no material privacy breaches reported during the 2014–2015 fiscal year.

Conclusion

The achievements and successes portrayed in this report reflect the CBSA’s commitment to ensuring that every reasonable effort is made to meet its obligations under the Privacy Act. The CBSA strives to provide Canadians with their personal information to which they have a right in a timely and helpful manner, while protecting the privacy rights of all Canadians. Innovative approaches and careful planning will help the Agency to continue this success in the future.

Annex A – Delegation Order

The Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, pursuant to section 73 of the Access to Information Act and section 73 of the Privacy Act, hereby designates the persons holding positions set out in the schedule hereto, or the persons occupying on an acting basis those positions, to exercise the powers, duties and functions of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness as the head of Canada Border Services Agency under the provisions of the Act and related regulations set out in the schedule opposite each position. This designation replaces all previous delegation orders.

Schedule Canada Border Services Agency
Position Access to Information Act and Regulations Privacy Act and Regulations
President Full Authority Full Authority
Executive Vice-President Full Authority Full Authority
Vice-President, Corporate Affairs Branch Full Authority Full Authority
Director-General, Corporate Secretariat Full Authority Full Authority
Director, ATIP Division Full Authority Full Authority
Manager, ATIP Division Full Authority Full Authority 
(except 8(2)(m))
Team Leader, ATIP Division Full Authority Full Authority 
(except 8(2)(m))

Annex B – Statistical Report on the Privacy Act

Part 1 — Requests under the Privacy Act

  Number of Requests
Received during reporting period 12769
Outstanding from previous reporting period 1310
Total 14079
Closed during reporting period 12024
Carried over to next reporting period 2055

Part 2 — Requests closed during the reporting period

2.1 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 191 7143 1484 8 8 0 0 8834
Disclosed in part 51 1315 604 117 25 23 13 2148
All exempted 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 5
All excluded 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
No records exist 49 371 86 1 2 0 0 509
Request abandoned 503 17 5 0 0 0 3 528
Neither confirmed nor denied 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 794 8849 2180 127 35 23 16 12024

2.2 Exemptions

Section Number of requests
18(2) 0
19(1)(a) 315
19(1)(b) 54
19(1)(c) 25
19(1)(d) 69
19(1)(e) 0
19(1)(f) 0
20 0
21 518
Section Number of requests
22(1)(a)(i) 29
22(1)(a)(ii) 18
22(1)(a)(iii) 9
22(1)(b) 952
22(1)(c) 6
22(2) 6
22.1 0
22.2 0
22.3 0
Section Number of requests
23(a) 0
23(b) 0
24(a) 0
24(b) 1
25 2
26 1836
27 208
28 0

2.3 Exclusions

Section Number of requests
69(1)(a) 0
69(1)(b) 0
69.1 0
Section Number of requests
70(1) 0
70(1)(a) 0
70(1)(b) 0
70(1)(c) 0
Section Number of requests
70(1)(d) 0
70(1)(e) 0
70(1)(f) 0
70.1 0

2.4 Format of information released

Disposition Paper Electronic Other formats
All disclosed 8793 40 1
Disclosed in part 1343 801 4
Total 10136 841 5

2.5 Complexity

2.5.1 Relevant pages processed and disclosed
Disposition of requests Number of pages processed Number of pages disclosed Number of requests
All disclosed 27725 27725 8834
Disclosed in part 312721 241122 2148
All exempted 1053 0 5
All excluded 0 0 0
Request abandoned 6858 0 528
Neither confirmed nor denied 0 0 0
Total 348357 268847 11515
2.5.2 Relevant pages processed and disclosed by size of requests
Disposition Less than 100 pages processed 101-500 pages processed 501-1000 pages processed 1001-5000 pages processed More than 5000 pages processed
Number of Requests Pages disclosed Number of Requests Pages disclosed Number of Requests Pages disclosed Number of Requests Pages disclosed Number of Requests Pages disclosed
All disclosed 8826 26230 8 1495 0 0 0 0 0 0
Disclosed in part 1477 23819 516 91510 97 53080 56 60485 2 12228
All exempted 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
All excluded 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Request abandoned 525 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0
Neither confirmed nor denied 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 10830 50049 526 93005 99 53080 58 60485 2 12228
2.5.3 Other complexities
Disposition Consultation required Legal advice sought Interwoven Information Other Total
All disclosed 0 0 0 0 0
Disclosed in part 182 0 1824 0 2006
All exempted 2 0 1 0 3
All excluded 0 0 0 0 0
Request abandoned 1 0 11 0 12
Neither confirmed nor denied 0 0 0 0 0
Total 185 0 1836 0 2021

2.6 Deemed refusals

2.6.1 Reasons for not meeting statutory deadline
Number of requests closed past the statutory deadline Principal Reason
Workload External consultation Internal consultation Other
315 313 1 1 0

2.6.2 Number of days past deadline

Number of days past deadline Number of requests past deadline where no extension was taken Number of requests past deadline where an extension was taken Total
1 to 15 days 156 16 172
16 to 30 days 25 7 32
31 to 60 days 15 10 25
61 to 120 days 27 15 42
121 to 180 days 10 6 16
181 to 365 days 9 5 14
More than 365 days 1 13 14
Total 243 72 315

2.7 Requests for translation

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

Part 3 — Disclosures under subsection 8(2) and 8(5)

Paragraph 8(2)(e) Paragraph 8(2)(m) Paragraph 8(5) Total
752 9 9 770

Part 4 — Requests for correction of personal information and notations

 Disposition for correction requests received Number
Notations attached 18
Requests for correction accepted 1
Total 19

Part 5 — Extensions

5.1 Reasons for extensions and disposition of requests

Disposition of requests where an extension was taken 15(a)(i) Interference with operations 15(a)(ii) Consultation 15(b) Translation or conversion
Section 70 Other
All disclosed 3 0 2 0
Disclosed in part 153 0 149 0
All exempted 0 0 1 0
All excluded 0 0 0 0
No records exist 0 0 0 0
Request abandoned 5 0 4 0
Total 161 0 156 0

5.2 Length of extensions

Length of extensions 15(a)(i) Interference with operations 15(a)(ii) Consultation 15(b) Translation purposes
Section 70 Other
1 to 15 days 1 0 3 0
16 to 30 days 160 0 153 0
Total 161 0 156 0

Part 6 — Consultations received from other institutions and organizations

6.1 Consultations received from other government institutions and organizations

Consultations Other government of Canada institutions Number of pages to review Other organizations Number of pages to review
Received during reporting period 76 2559 0 0
Outstanding from the previous reporting period 7 60 0 0
Total 83 2619 0 0
Closed during the reporting period 79 2345 0 0
Pending at the end of the reporting period 4 274 0 0

6.2 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
All disclosed 10 12 5 0 0 0 0 27
Disclosed in part 8 27 6 4 1 0 0 46
All exempted 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 4
All excluded 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Consult other institution 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
Total 22 40 12 4 1 0 0 79

6.3 Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other organizations

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
All disclosed 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Disclosed in part 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
All exempted 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
All excluded 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 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Part 7 — Completion time of consultations on Cabinet confidences

7.1 Requests with legal services

Number of Days Fewer Than 100 Pages Processed 101-500 Pages Processed 501-1000 Pages Processed 1001-5000 Pages Processed More than 5000 Pages Processed
Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed
1 to 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
16 to 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
31 to 60 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
61 to 120 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
121 to 180 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
181 to 365 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More than 365 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

7.2 Requests with Privy Council Office

Number of Days Fewer Than 100 Pages Processed 101-500 Pages Processed 501-1000 Pages Processed 1001-5000 Pages Processed More than 5000 Pages Processed
Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed Number of requests Pages disclosed
1 to 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
16 to 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
31 to 60 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
61 to 120 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
121 to 180 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
181 to 365 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More than 365 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Part 8 - Complaints and investigations notices received

Section 31 Section 33 Section 35 Court action Total
36 26 22 0 84

Part 9 - Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs)

Number of PIA(s) completed 3

Part 10 — Resources related to the Privacy Act

10.1 Costs

Expenditures Amount
Salaries $4,063,693
Overtime $128,949

Goods and Services

$990,347
  • Professional services contracts
$913,155  
  • Other
$77,192
Total $5,182,989

10.2 Human Resources

Resources Dedicated full-time
Full-time employees 52.86
Part-time and casual employees 4.21
Regional staff 0.00
Consultants and agency personnel 4.00
Students 0.00
Total 61.07
Note: Enter values to two decimal places.

Footnotes

Footnote 1

Privacy Act R.S., 1985, Chapter P-21, p. 1

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Footnote 2

Ibid., p. 42–43

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Footnote 3

PS webpage, About Public Safety Canada, accessed May 25, 2015.

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Footnote 4

CBSA webpage, About the CBSA – What we do, accessed May 6, 2015.

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Footnote 5

TBS webpage, Report on the TBS Study of Best Practices for Access to Information Requests Subject to Particular Processing, accessed May 6, 2015.

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Footnote 6

The Executive Committee (EC) is the CBSA’s senior management decision-making forum responsible for the overall strategic management and direction of the Agency’s policy, program, and corporate responsibilities. Membership on the EC is as follows: President, Executive Vice-President, Vice-Presidents, Associate Vice-Presidents, Senior General Counsel, Director General of Internal Audit and Program Evaluation, and Director General of the Corporate Secretariat.

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