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Introduction
Concerns with CIRNAC’s response to Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) requests revolve around two issues: the response time and the dearth of information released in the end. Both issues come together in this sort of complaint: “I shouldn’t have had to wait so long to receive so little information!”
An internal audit of CIRNAC’s response to information requests in 2014 included management’s plan to act on a recommendation to improve efficiency. On April 10, 2024, we submitted an ATIP request to CIRNAC for an update on the implementation and impact of this plan.1As there seemed to be a problem, I re-submitted the request on April 24, 2024.
Meanwhile, we aim to support the efforts of the Special Interlocutor and others to understand and overcome barriers to access to information pertaining to the history and legacy of relations between First Nations and Canada.
Our first post outlined the context of CIRNAC’s response to ATIP requests, including relevant legislation, policies and procedures, oversight, and reporting obligations. We also released a dataset that consolidated the five Annual Reports (2018-19 to 2022-23) on its administration of the Access to Information Act that CIRNAC has submitted so far to Parliament.
Here we extract and index the individual variables and their associated values from CIRNAC’s Annual Reports on formal ATIP requests.2We disregard data related to informal requests for 2021-22 and 2022-23 (Tabs 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, and 2.5) Our aim is to make it easier for readers to identify every table containing a variable or value of interest.
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List of variables and their associated values
Table 1 lists the variables, their associated values (if any), and the tab(s) within the dataset where they can be found.
Many variables in CIRNAC’s Annual Reports display counts against a list of associated values (e.g. counts for the variable “reporting period” are reported against associated values in the list “more than one previous“, “previous“, “current“, and “next“). In several of these instances, CIRNAC always reports variable counts against the same set of associated values (e.g. counts for the variable “reporting year” are always reported against the set of associated values “2018-19“, “2019-20“, “2020-21“, “2021-22“, and “2022-23“). Sometimes CIRNAC reports pages processed as numbers of pages (“pages processed_01”) and sometimes as counts within different ranges of pages (“pages processed_02”). The remaining variables (e.g. “requests with legal services” and “pages released”) take no specific values and CIRNAC simply report counts.
Table 1 orders the variables into these groups:
- time
- reporting period
- reporting year
- legislated timelines
- negotiated timelines
- wait-time/latency
- input
- requests
- request source
- request channel
- change of status
- request abandoned
- request transferred
- extensions
- extension required to close case
- reason for extension
- reason for not meeting legislated deadlines
- complexities
- consultations
- requests with legal services
- other complexities
- recommendations from consultations/requests with legal services
- pages processed
- output
- no records exist
- pages released
- disposition
- exemptions applied
- exclusions applied
- complaints
- complaints to IC
- reports from IC
- investments
- salaries
- employees
| Variable | Values | Tab |
| TIME | ||
| reporting period | 1.1.1*, 1.1.2*, 7.1.1, 7.1.2 | |
| more than one previous | 1.1.1* | |
| previous | 1.1.1*, 7.1.1 | |
| current | 1.1.1*, 7.1.1, 7.1.2 | |
| next | 1.1.2*, 7.1.2 | |
| reporting year | set: 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 |
[all tabs] |
| legislated timelines | 1.1.2*, 4.6.1**, 4.7.1, 4.7.2 | |
| within | 1.1.2*, 4.6.1** | |
| beyond | 1.1.2*, 4.7.1, 4.7.2 | |
| negotiated timelines | set: within beyond |
7.1.2 |
| wait-time/latency | set: 1-15 days 16-30 days 31-60 days 61-120 days 121-180 days 181-365 days > 365 days |
2.3, 4.1, 4.7.2, 5.2, 7.2, 7.3, 8.1 |
| INPUT | ||
| requests | ||
| received/outstanding | 1.1.1*, 2.1.1, 2.4, 7.1.1 | |
| closed | 1.1.2*, 2.1.2, 4.6.1**, 4.7.2, 7.1.2 | |
| carried over | 1.1.2*, 2.1.2, 7.1.2 | |
| request source | set: public media business organization academia decline to Identify |
1.2 |
| request channel | set: online in-person phone fax |
1.3*, 2.3 |
| CHANGE OF STATUS | ||
| request abandoned | 4.1, 4.4, 4.51***, 4.5.2, 4.5.7, 5.1 | |
| request transferred | 4.1 | |
| EXTENSIONS | ||
| extension required to close | set: closed with extension taken closed with no extension taken |
4.7.2 |
| reason for extension | set: interference with operations / workload 9(1)(b) consultation – section 69 9(1)(b)_1 consultation – other 9(1)(c) third-party notice |
5.1 |
| reason for not meeting legislated deadlines | set: interference with operations / workload external consultation internal consultation other |
4.7.1 |
| COMPLEXITIES | ||
| consultations | ||
| Government of Canada institutions | 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 7.2 | |
| other organizations | 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 7.3 | |
| requests with legal services | 8.1 | |
| recommendations from consultation/legal request | set: disclose entirely disclose in part exempt entirely exclude entirely consult other institution other |
7.2, 7.3 |
| other complexities | set: consultation required assessment of fees legal advice sought other |
4.5.7 |
| PAGES PROCESSED | ||
| pages processed_01 | 4.5.1***, 7.1.1, 7.1.2 | |
| pages processed_02 | set: < 100 100 to 500 501 to 1,000 1,001 to 5,000 > 5,000 |
2.4, 4.5.2, 8.1 |
| OUTPUT | ||
| no records exist | 4.1, 5.1 | |
| pages released | 2.4, 2.5, 4.5.1***, 8.1 | |
| disposition | set: all disclosed disclosed in part all exempted all excluded |
4.1, 4.5.1***, 4.5.2, 4.5.7, 5.1 |
| exemptions applied | set of 33 categories | 4.2 |
| exclusions applied | set of 22 categories | 4.3 |
| COMPLAINTS | ||
| complaints to IC | set: 32 IC notice of intention to investigate 30(5) IC ceased to investigate 35 formal representations to IC required |
9.1 |
| reports from IC | set: 37(1) initial reports containing recommendations issued by IC 37(1) initial reports containing orders issued by IC 37(2) final reports containing recommendations issued by IC 37(2) final reports containing orders issued by IC |
9.2 |
| INVESTMENTS | ||
| salaries | set: base overtime professional services contracts |
11.1 |
| employees | set: full-time staff part-time and casual staff regional staff consultants and agency personnel students |
11.2 |
* 2021-22 and 2022-23 only.
*** 2018-19 and 2019-20 only.
** 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 only.
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Index of variables
Table 2 provides a Tab index for these variables and their associated values (both ordered alphabetically). For brevity’s sake, to designate instances where CIRNAC always reports a variable’s counts against the same set of associated values, we add curly brackets to the variable’s name.
| Variable | Value | Tabs |
| complaints to IC {} | 9.1 | |
| consultations | Government of Canada institutions | 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 7.2 |
| other organizations | 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 7.3 | |
| disposition {} | 4.1, 4.5.1***, 4.5.2, 4.5.7, 5.1, 5.2 | |
| employees {} | 11.2 | |
| exclusions applied {} | 4.3 | |
| exemptions applied {} | 4.2 | |
| extension required {} | 4.7.2, 7.2 | |
| legislated timelines | beyond | 1.1.2*, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 7.2 |
| within | 1.1.2*, 4.6.1** | |
| negotiated timelines {} | 7.1.2 | |
| no records exist | 4.1, 5.1 | |
| other complexities {} | 4.5.7 | |
| pages processed_01 | 7.1.1, 7.1.2 | |
| pages processed_02 {} | 4.5.2, 5.2, 8.1 | |
| pages released | 4.5.1***, 5.1, 8.1 | |
| reason for extension {} | 5.1 | |
| reason for not meeting legislated deadlines {} | 4.7.1 | |
| recommendations from consultation/legal request {} | 7.2, 7.3 | |
| reporting period | current | 1.1.1*, 1.2, 7.1.1, 7.1.2 |
| more than one previous | 1.1.1* | |
| next | 1.1.2*, 7.1.2 | |
| previous | 1.1.1*, 7.1.1 | |
| reports from IC {} | 9.2 | |
| request abandoned | 4.1, 4.5.1***, 4.5.2, 4.5.7, 5.1, 5.2 | |
| request channel {} | 1.3* | |
| request source {} | 1.2 | |
| request transferred | 4.1 | |
| requests with legal services | 8.1 | |
| requests | carried over | 1.1.2*, 7.1.2 |
| closed | 1.1.2*, 4.6.1**, 4.7.2, 7.1.2, 7.2 | |
| received/outstanding | 1.1.1*, 7.1.1 | |
| salaries {} | 11.1 | |
| wait-time/latency {} | 4.1, 4.7.2, 5.2, 7.2, 7.3, 8.1 |
* 2021-22 and 2022-23 only.
** 2018-19 and 2019-20 only.
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Licence
We are publishing this survey of CIRNAC’s Annual Reports 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).
