Simple Effort – 02

On this page

• Introduction
• ATI requests
• Pages processed
  • Percentage of requests closed with information disclosed
  • Number of requests for consultation

• Conclusion
• Licence

Introduction

Access to information under the control of Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) and its 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:

1. 1. ISC/CIRNAC’s administration of Canada’s Access to Information Act
   2. Framework for evaluating ISC/CIRNAC’s response to ATI requests
   3. ISC/CIRNAC’s lack of transparency in processing sensitive or high-profile ATI requests
   4. Cost of ISC/CIRNAC’s access to information programs

Our plan for evaluating ISC/CIRNAC’s administration of the Access to Information Act (ATIA) focuses on four key categories of performance:

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

Our evaluation incorporates the government’s latest scheme for classfying a handful of statistics as Key Performance Indicators or Key Data Points framework, plus a selection of supplemental statistics from ISC/CIRNAC’s Annual Statistical Reports and Annual Reports to Parliament.

So far we have evaluated ISC/CIRNAC’s Costs to operate their shared ATIP Directorate.

We now evaluate ISC/CIRNAC’s Effort and Efficiency with respect to the number and disposition of ATI requests processed as well as the number of pages processed/disclosed. Table 1 presents the subset of statistics involved in this analysis compared to the comprehensive evaluation. We will evaluate ISC/CIRNAC’s Effort with respect to consultations with other government institutions and NGOs later.

Table 1. Plan for Evaluating ISC/CIRNAC’s Effort and Efficiency in Administering the ATIA.

Evaluation Component	ID	Statistic
Effort	KDP-2	Requests received during current reporting period
	KDP-3	Requests closed during current reporting period
	KDP-4	Requests carried over to next reporting period
	SUPPL-1	Disposition of requests closed
	KDP-5	Requests closed with information disclosed
	KDP-6	Pages processed for closed requests
	SUPPL-2	Pages processed x Disposition
	SUPPL-3	Pages disclosed for closed requests
	SUPPL-4	Pages disclosed x Disposition
Efficiency	KDP-3 / KDP-1	Requests closed during current reporting period / Cost of ATI program operations
	KDP-5 / KDP-1	Pages processed for closed requests / Cost of ATI program operations
	SUPPL-4 / KDP-1	Pages disclosed for closed requests / Cost of ATI program operations

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ATI Requests

Effort

Table 2 presents the Government’s Key Data Points related to the number of ATI requests (KDP-2, KDP-3, KDP-4) to ISC/CIRNAC between 2018-19 and 2022-23.¹Table 1.1 Number of requests, Treasury Board Secretariat, Statistics on the Access to Information and Privacy Acts, covering 2018-19 to 2022-23.. Note that the number of requests closed during current reporting period (row D) is the sum of closed requests received during the current reporting period (row B) plus closed requests brought forward (or outstanding) from previous reporting period (row A).

Table 2. ATI Requests to ISC/CIRNAC, 2018-19 to 2022-23.

		2018-19		2019-20		2020-21		2021-22		2022-23
		ISC	CIRNAC	ISC	CIRNAC	ISC	CIRNAC	ISC	CIRNAC	ISC	CIRNAC
A	Number of requests brought forward from previous reporting period	50	111	154	156	359	265	377	215	335	216
B	Number of requests received during current reporting period [KDP-2]	499	389	498	333	358	196	444	303	412	227
C	Number of open requests during current reporting period (A + B)	549	500	652	489	717	461	821	518	747	443
D	Number of requests closed during current reporting period [KDP-3]	395	344	302	244	342	236	484	305	435	266
E	Number of requests carried over to next reporting period (C – D) [KDP-4]	154	156	350	245	375	225	337	213	312	177

 

ATI Requests

Effort

Table 2 presents the Government’s Key Data Points related to the number of ATI requests (KDP-2, KDP-3, KDP-4) to ISC/CIRNAC between 2018-19 and 2022-23.²Table 1.1 Number of requests, Treasury Board Secretariat, Statistics on the Access to Information and Privacy Acts, covering 2018-19 to 2022-23.. Note that the number of requests closed during current reporting period (row D) is the sum of closed requests received during the current reporting period (row B) plus closed requests brought forward (or outstanding) from previous reporting period (row A).

Table 2. ATI Requests to ISC/CIRNAC, 2018-19 to 2022-23.

		2018-19		2019-20		2020-21		2021-22		2022-23
		ISC	CIRNAC	ISC	CIRNAC	ISC	CIRNAC	ISC	CIRNAC	ISC	CIRNAC
A	Number of requests brought forward from previous reporting period	50	111	154	156	359	265	377	215	335	216
B	Number of requests received during current reporting period [KDP-2]	499	389	498	333	358	196	444	303	412	227
C	Number of open requests during current reporting period (A + B)	549	500	652	489	717	461	821	518	747	443
D	Number of requests closed during current reporting period [KDP-3]	395	344	302	244	342	236	484	305	435	266
E	Number of requests carried over to next reporting period (C – D) [KDP-4]	154	156	350	245	375	225	337	213	312	177

 

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