Paul Allen

Cost of ISC/CIRNAC’s Processing ATIP Requests

Published:

—

in , , ,

Modified:

On this page

Introduction

Access to information under the control of Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) and their predecessors – Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) and Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) – has long been considered problematic and was recently identified as a concern by the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools in her Progress Update Report (November 2022) and Interim Report (June 2023). The release of the Special Interlocutor’s final report had been scheduled for June 2024, but is now expected in the Fall.

Meanwhile, in a series of posts, we aim to support the efforts of the Special Interlocutor and others who are working to overcome barriers to access to information pertaining to the history and legacy of relations between First Nations and Canada.

We began by contextualizing ISC and CIRNAC’s processing of ATIP requests, identifying relevant legislation and regulation, applicable policies and procedures, internal and external oversight mechanisms, reporting obligations, and primary sources of data.

We next adopted a framework for evaluating this prototypical complaint about ISC and CIRNAC’s performance: “I shouldn’t have had to wait so long to receive so little information!” Our framework derives from a 2014 internal audit of AANDC’s processing of ATIP requests and centres on four key variables:

  1. Cost
  2. Effort
  3. Compliance
  4. Efficiency

We extracted ISC- and CIRNAC-related data for 2018-19 to 2022-23 from annual department-level statistics published by the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS). ISC and CIRNAC commented on these data in their Annual Reports to Parliament.1Annual Reports for ISC/CIRNAC were accessed at https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1575132098314/1575132118001 and https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1575131323136/1575131374706, respectively, on June 15, 2024.

[top]

Cost

Since November 30, 2017, ISC and CIRNAC have used a shared Access to Information and Privacy Directorate (Directorate) to administer the Access to Information Act (ATIA) and the Privacy Act (PA). Fiscal 2018-19 was the Departments’ first full year of operation and their detailed Annual Reports for this period allow us to piece together how costs and human resources were allocated in this shared services environment.2Links to ISC/CIRNAC’s 2018-19 Annual Reports on their administration of the ATIA and PA were accessed at https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1575132098314/1575132118001 and https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1575131323136/1575131374706, respectively, on July 5, 2024.

Table 1 summarizes costs and human resources allocated by ISC and CIRNAC to their shared ATIP Directorate. In their first full year of reporting under the Access to Information Act (ATIA) and Privacy Act (PA), allocated costs and human resources were split 50:50 between ISC and CIRNAC and 80:20 between administering the ATIA and PA.3Some totals included in the 2018-19 Annual Reports are omitted in later Annual Reports. We estimateed missing values using the following equivalences in the 2018-19 Annual Report: ATIP Directorate = ISC Share of Directorate + CIRNAC Share of Directorate (row A = row B + row C); and Department Share of Directorate = ATIA Administration + PA Administration (row B = row B.1 + row B.2 and row C = row C.1 + row C.2).

Table 1. Summary of Costs and Human Resources Allocated to ATIP Directorate.
2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23
Cost FTEs Cost FTEs Cost FTEs Cost FTEs Cost FTEs
TOTAL
A ATIP Directorate $1,603,740 23.000 $1,841,301 23.290 $2,234,522 26.094 $3,019,643 21.58 $3,008,002 33.76
A.1
(B.1 + C.1)		 ATIA Administration $1,284,168 18.400 $1,432,727 18.500 $1,841,757 18.904 $2,300,203 15.580 $2,309,709 27.232
A.2
(B.2 + C.2)		 PA Administration $319,572 4.600 $408,574 4.780 $496,074 7.190 $719,440 6.000 $698,293 6.528
ISC
B
(B.1 + B.2)		 Share of Directorate $801,870 11.500 $1,350,625 16.840 $1,156,526 14.245 $1,699,078 11.290 $1,650,672 18.626
B.1 ATIA Administration $642,084 9.200 $1,000,186 12.770 $810,511 9.677 $1,138,761 7.790 $1,135,515 13.617
B.2 PA Administration $159,786 2.300 $350,439 4.070 $346,015 4.568 $560,317 3.500 $515,157 5.009
CIRNAC
C
(C.1 + C.2)		 Share of Directorate $801,870 11.500 $490,676 6.440 $1,181,305 11.849 $1,320,565 10.290 $1,357,330 15.134
C.1 ATIA Administration $642,084 9.200 $432,541 5.730 $1,031,246 9.227 $1,161,442 7.790 $1,174,194 13.615
C.2 PA Administration $159,786 2.300 $58,135 0.710 $150,059 2.622 $159,123 2.500 $183,136 1.519

Over these five years, total annual cost of the ATIP Directorate (row A) increased by $1,404,262 (or 88%). Separate annual costs allocated for administering the Access to Information Act (row A.1) and Privacy Act (row A.2) increased by $1,025,541 (or 80%) and $378,721 (or 119%), respectively. Over the same period, ISC’s total annual cost to operate the ATIP Directorate (row B) increased by $555,460 (or 69%); CIRNAC’s cost (row C) increased by $848,802 (or 106%).4Split of the total annual cost of the ATIP Directorate allocated for administering the Access to Information Act (row A.1/row A) vs Privacy Act (row A.2/ row A) ranged from 76:24 to 80:20. Split of the total annual cost of the ATIP Directorate between ISC (row B/row A) and CIRNAC (row C/row A) ranged from 50:50 to 73:27.

These increases are 2 – 3 times greater than the 40% (or $27,168,035) increase in total cost of ATI operations reported for all institutions on Canada.5Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada, Access to Information and Privacy Statistical Report for 2022–23, Figure 8: total cost of ATI program operations, 2013–14 to 2022–23. Access at https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/access-information-privacy/statistics-atip/information-privacy-statistical-report-2022-2023.html on July 15, 2024.

Table 2 provides more details about costs and human resources allocated by ISC and CIRNAC to their administration of the ATIA and PA combined.

Table 2. Details of Costs and Human Resources Allocated to ATIP Directorate.
2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23
COSTS ISC CIRNAC ISC CIRNAC ISC CIRNAC ISC CIRNAC ISC CIRNAC
Salaries $729,680 $729,680 $1,256,477 $475,649 $1,035,632 $1,038,059 $1,130,095 $978,635 $1,407,317 $1,149,921
Overtime $1,960 $1,960 $13,458 $5,351 $43,602 $42,358 $28,066 $20,780 $83,333 $60,017
Professional services contracts $11,190 $11,190 $78,420 $7,676 $72,344 $88,487 $506,570 $284,370 $128,893 $128,894
Other $59,040 $59,040 $2,207 $2,000 $4,948 $12,401 $34,347 $36,780 $31,129 $18,498
Total $801,870 $801,870 $1,350,625 $490,676 $1,156,526 $1,181,305 $1,699,078 $1,320,565 $1,650,672 $1,431,026
RESOURCES (FTEs)
Full-time employees 11.000 11.000 14.670 5.720 13.676 10.775 9.290 9.290 16.826 13.338
Part-time and casual employees 0.010 0.000 0.070 0.220 0.274 0.274 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Regional staff 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 1.250 1.250
Consultants and agency personnel 0.000 0.000 1.000 0.510 0.295 0.800 2.000 1.000 0.550 0.546
Students 0.500 0.500 0.100 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Total 11.510 11.500 16.840 6.450 14.245 11.849 11.290 10.290 18.626 15.134

Table 3 presents the cost and human resources for staffing and consultants allocated by ISC and CIRNAC to the ATIP Directorate.6Figures are derived from Table 2 above. For staffing, cost includes salaries and overtime; FTEs include full-time, part-time, casual and regional staff and students. For consultants, cost include professional services contracts; FTEs include consultants/agency personnel.

Table 3. Cost and Human Resources for Staffing and Consultants Allocated to ATIP Directorate.
2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23
STAFFING ISC CIRNAC ISC CIRNAC ISC CIRNAC ISC CIRNAC ISC CIRNAC
Cost $731,640 $731,640 $1,269,935 $481,000 $1,079,234 $1,080,417 $1,158,161 $999,415 $1,490,650 $1,209,938
FTEs 11.510 11.500 14.840 5.940 13.950 11.049 9.290 9.290 18.076 14.588
Cost/FTE $63,566 $63,621 $85,575 $80,976 $77,364 $97,784 $124,667 $107,580 $82,466 $82,941
CONSULTANTS
Cost $11,190 $11,190 $78,420 $7,676 $72,344 $88,487 $506,570 $284,370 $128,893 $128,894
FTEs 0.000 0.000 1.000 0.510 0.295 0.800 2.000 1.000 0.550 0.546
Cost/FTE — — $78,420 $15,051 $245,234 $110,609 $253,285 $284,370 $234,351 $236,070

From 2018-19 to 2022-23, total annual costs for staffing (ISC and CIRNAC combined) increased by $1,237,308 (or 104%); total annual resources for staffing increased by 9.654 FTEs (or 42%). Compared to 2018-19, average cost per staffing FTE in 2022-23 increased by $19,085 (or 30%). There is no explanation of even greater increases in average cost per staffing FTE in 2020-21/2021-22 – increases that were rolled back in 2022-23. Were these increases somehow related to COVID-19?

Over these five years, total annual costs for consultants (ISC and CIRNAC combined) varied from a low of $22,380 in 2018-19 to a high of $790,940 in 2021-22. In 2021-23/2022-23, the average cost per consultant FTE was $256,037. Annual Reports from this time explain simply that consultants were hired to help in reducing backlog files. Was the use of highly-paid consultants to process ATIP requests somehow related to COVID-19?

UPDATE:

On July 11, 2024, we submitted four ATIP requests to CIRNAC seeking records related to the use of consultants in 2019-20 to 2022-23, including:

  • Calls for expressions of interest, requests for proposals, etc.
  • Contracts (original and amended)
  • Progress reports (interim and final).

On July 14, 2024, we submitted two ATIP requests to CIRNAC seeking records related to the remarkable increase in staffing costs in 2020-21 and 2021-22 and the rollback of these increases in 2022-23.

Conclusion

Our framework for evaluating ISC’s and CIRNAC’s processing of ATIP requests under the Access to Information Act and Privacy Act performance centres on four key variables:

  1. Cost
  2. Effort
  3. Compliance
  4. Efficiency

Our analysis of cost relies on data from annual statistics published by the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) and Annual Reports to Parliament published by ISC and CIRNAC in 2018-19 to 2022-23.

Over these five years, total annual cost of the ATIP Directorate shared by ISC and CIRNAC increased by $1,404,262 (or 88%). Separate annual costs allocated for administering the Access to Information Act (row A.1) and Privacy Act (row A.2) increased by $1,025,541 (or 80%) and $378,721 (or 119%), respectively. These increases were 2 – 3 times greater than the 40% (or $27,168,035) increase in total cost of ATI operations reported for all institutions on Canada during the same period.

These increases largely reflected costs for staffing and consultants. Total annual costs for staffing increased by $1,237,308 (or 104%); total annual resources for staffing increased by 9.654 FTEs (or 42%). Compared to 2018-19, average cost per staffing FTE in 2022-23 increased by $19,085 (or 30%). Even greater increases in average cost per staffing FTE in 2020-21/2021-22 were rolled back in 2022-23.

Total annual costs for consultants varied from a low of $22,380 in 2018-19 to a high of $790,940 in 2021-22. In 2021-23/2022-23, the average cost per consultant FTE was $256,037. Annual Reports from this time explain simply that consultants were hired to help in reducing backlog files.

We have asked CIRNAC for records that might explain temporary spikes in the average cost per staffing FTE in 2021-22/2022-23 and the use of highly-paid consultants to process ATIP requests during this period.

[top]

Licence

We are publishing this material under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence. If you find use for our work, please credit Paul Allen (https://paulallen.ca).

[top]