Archived - 2021 to 2022 Annual Report on the Privacy Act

On this page

• 1) Introduction
• 2) How requests were processed under the Privacy Act
• 3) Complaints and investigations
• 4) Court cases
• 5) Other reporting requirements under the Privacy Act
• Appendix A: Statistical reports
  • Statistical report on the Privacy Act
  • Supplemental statistical report on the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act
• Appendix B: Delegation order

1) Introduction

The Privacy Act (hereafter referred to as the act) gives Canadian citizens, and other individuals present in Canada, the right to access their own personal information held by the Government of Canada. The act also protects the privacy of individuals by respecting parameters relating to the collection, use, disclosure, retention and disposal of personal information held by federal government institutions.

In accordance with section 72 of the act, the head of every government institution prepares an annual report on the administration of the act within that institution. This report describes how the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) administered the act for fiscal year 2021 to 2022.

The CFIA is mandated to safeguard Canada's food supply and the plants and animals upon which safe and high-quality food depends. As part of its commitment to openness and transparency, the CFIA recognizes the right to access information in government records and is making every reasonable effort to help anyone making a request.

About the Canadian Food Inspection Agency

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is 1 of Canada's largest science-based, regulatory agencies. The CFIA is led by its President, who reports to the Minister of Health, and is made up of approximately 7,212 employees working across Canada's 5 operational regions: Atlantic, Quebec, the National Capital Region, Ontario and the West. CFIA employees are dedicated to safeguarding food safety, animal and plant health to enhance Canada's environment, economy, and the health and well-being of all Canadians.

The CFIA develops program requirements and delivers inspection and other services to:

• prevent and manage food safety risks
• protect plant resources from pests, diseases and invasive species
• prevent and manage animal and zoonotic diseases
• contribute to consumer protection
• contribute to market access for Canada's food, plants, animals and their products

The CFIA bases its activities on science, effective risk management, commitment to service and efficiency, and collaboration with domestic and international organizations that share its objectives.

The CFIA is responsible for administering and enforcing 11 federal statutes and 23 regulations that govern the safety and labelling of food sold in Canada and support a sustainable plant and animal resource base.

The CFIA shares many areas of responsibility with other federal departments and agencies, provincial, territorial and municipal authorities, and other stakeholders. Within this complex operating environment, the CFIA works with its partners to implement food safety measures, manage food, animal and plant risks and emergencies, and promote the development of food safety and disease control systems to maintain the safety of Canada's high-quality agriculture, agri-food, aquaculture and fishery products.

The CFIA's activities include:

• verifying the compliance of imported products
• registering and inspecting establishments
• testing food, animals and plants, and their related products
• approving the use of many agricultural inputs

The CFIA also provides scientific advice, develops new technologies, provides testing services, and conducts regulatory research. Its responsibilities and strategic outcomes are illustrated in the Departmental Results Framework, which reflects how the CFIA allocates and manages its resources to achieve the corresponding expected results.

Administration of the act

The administration of the act is the primary responsibility of the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Office, which is part of the Communications and Public Affairs Branch. The ATIP Office processes all requests for personal information and coordinates all activities related to the act, associated regulations, directives and guidelines.

Resources

The ATIP Office is headed by a Director who reports to the Executive Director, Communications Services and Strategic Planning. During the reporting period, there were 13.520 full-time, part-time or student equivalents and 1.468 persons (consultants) dedicated to the ATIP Office. In addition to the ATIP Office resources, there are also dedicated ATIP advisor positions in the core branches who report on branch-related ATIP issues and activities. These branch advisors work with the ATIP Office to ensure an efficient and effective process to respond to applicants in a timely manner.

An estimated $118,870 in salary costs and $48,736 in operating costs were incurred by the ATIP Office to administer the Privacy Act for the reporting period. These costs do not include resources within each branch such as the ATIP advisors, or any other expenditures incurred by the branches and program areas to meet the requirements of the act.

Staff training and awareness

The ATIP Office provided 2 training sessions to 38 employees in the National Capital Region during fiscal year 2021 to 2022. The purpose of this training was to increase awareness of the act, clarify requirements under the act, and highlight processes that support the CFIA in meeting its obligations.

In addition to the training delivered by the ATIP Office, branch ATIP advisors provided awareness sessions within their respective branches. The work of the branch ATIP advisors was complemented and facilitated through weekly touch base meetings with ATIP management and monthly meetings where operational issues – including training and awareness – were discussed and plans were formulated for resolution.

Policies, guidelines and procedures

The CFIA continuously works on process improvements to provide greater oversight and accountability for ATIP activities. The activities related to ATIP are reviewed quarterly and updates regarding request volumes and performance are provided to the offices of both the Ministers of Health and Agriculture and Agri-Food, CFIA's senior management cadre and key internal partners.

The CFIA participated in a pilot to offer online request services in January 2014 in response to the Government of Canada's commitment to "Open Government". It enables Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada and individuals currently present in Canada to submit privacy requests online for information held by the CFIA. For the period spanning April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022, the CFIA received 28 privacy requests through this system.

Throughout 2021 to 2022, Canada continued to employ sweeping measures in response to the world-wide COVID-19 pandemic. In accordance with measures to control and prevent the spread of COVID-19, the CFIA's ATIP Office continued to leverage the work-from-home protocols developed as part of its 2019 to 2020 digital standard operating procedures initiative to deliver its mandate via a remote work delivery model.

While the closure of CFIA offices in various locations limited the ability to retrieve hard copy records in a limited number of cases, and technological challenges associated with employing a remote work delivery model slowed processing speeds, the agency's ATIP office was able to remain fully operational throughout 2021 to 2022. When necessary, and appropriate, process modifications were employed to maintain service and open communication with requesters. An example was the ATIP Office's expanded use of interim releases when the retrieval of all records (that is, hard copy records) was delayed by COVID-related office closures. By utilizing interim releases, the ATIP Office was able to provide requesters with all electronic records, which typically comprise the majority of records associated with requests, and advise that any outstanding hard copy records would follow once pandemic measures allowed for their retrieval.

2) How requests were processed under the Privacy Act

The CFIA received 30 new privacy requests under the Privacy Act between April 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022. This represents an increase of 33% from the previous reporting period. There were 3 outstanding requests from the previous year, increasing the total to 33 requests that required processing. A total of 21 requests were completed during the reporting period leaving a total of 12 to be carried forward in fiscal year 2022 to 2023. These 21 requests represented a total of 13,149 pages that were reviewed and 5,000 that were released pursuant to the act. Throughout the reporting period, the ATIP Office maintained a service standard of 81% of the requests closed on time.

Decreases in performance with respect to the processing of privacy requests are primarily attributed to the pandemic. Technological challenges with delivering privacy services remotely slowed the ATIP Office's progress in processing requests. Further, the ATIP Office was challenged with the loss of key personnel for extended periods as team members managed pandemic-related matters in their personal lives. Lastly, the ATIP Office was challenged at times to prioritize specialized privacy services and advice to internal clients working to design and implement programmatic responses to pandemic-imposed issues and requirements. An example of this was the need for the ATIP Office to provide scarce privacy resources to enable rapid responses regarding privacy-related issues during the design and implementation of measures related to the mandatory vaccination of agency employees.

The following table outlines the cycle of privacy requests at CFIA for the last 5 fiscal years.

The following table outlines the cycle of informal privacy requests received at CFIA for the last 5 fiscal years.

Consultations

There were no consultations received from other institutions during the reporting period.

Completion times and extensions

The 21 requests completed in 2021 to 2022 were processed in the following timeframes:

• 15 within 30 days or less (71%)
• 3 within 31 to 60 days (14%)
• 1 within 61 to 120 days (5%)
• 0 within 121 to 180 days (0%)
• 2 within 181 to 365 days (10%)

Information relating to the performance of responding to requests is reported on a quarterly basis to CFIA's senior management cadre.

Disposition of completed requests

The disposition of the 21 completed requests consisted of releases broken down as follows:

• 4 were fully disclosed (19%)
• 9 were partially disclosed (43%)
• 2 consisted of a request where no records existed (9%)
• 6 were abandoned (29%)

All requesters received copies of the requested information as opposed to reviewing the information on site.

Exemptions and exclusions

The CFIA invoked exemptions pursuant to the act a total of 8 times. The exemptions invoked were as follows:

• 7 for personal information (s. 26)
• 1 law enforcement and investigation (s. 22)

The CFIA did not exclude any information under the act.

3) Complaints and investigations

The CFIA did not receive any complaints from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) as a result of privacy requests in 2021 to 2022.

4) Court cases

There were no applications filed with the Federal Court of Canada for the fiscal year 2021 to 2022.

5) Other reporting requirements under the Privacy Act

Privacy breaches

There was 1 privacy breach that occurred during the reporting period which was considered to be a material breach and 3 non material breaches.

Privacy Impact Assessments

There were no Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA) completed during the reporting period.

Disclosures under section 8(2)(m) of the act

There were no disclosures made pursuant to section 8(2)(m) of the Privacy Act during the fiscal year 2021 to 2022. Section 8(2)(m) relates to the disclosure of personal information for any purpose where, in the opinion of the head of the institution, clearly outweighs any invasion of privacy that could result from the disclosure, or would clearly benefit the individual to whom the information relates.

Appendix A: Statistical reports

Statistical report on the Privacy Act

Name of institution: Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Reporting period: April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022

Section 1: Requests under the Privacy Act

Section 2: Informal requests

Section 3: Requests closed during the reporting period

3.5 Complexity

3.6 Closed requests

3.7 Deemed refusals

Section 6: Extensions

Section 7: Consultations received from other institutions and organizations

Section 8: Completion time of consultations on Cabinet confidences

Section 10: Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) and Personal Information Banks (PIBs)

Section 11: Privacy breaches

Section 12: Resources related to the Privacy Act

Supplemental statistical report on the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act

Name of institution: Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Reporting period: April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022

Section 1: Capacity to receive requests under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act

Section 2: Capacity to process records under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act

Section 3: Open requests and complaints under the Access to Information Act

Section 4: Open requests and complaints under the Privacy Act

Appendix B: Delegation order

Access to Information Act and Privacy Act delegation orders

The President of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency pursuant to section 95 of the Access to Information Act and section 73 of the Privacy Act, hereby designates the persons holding the 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 President as the head of the Canadian Food Inspection 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.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency Delegation Schedule

Original signed by:

Dr. Siddika Mithani, Ph.D.
President, Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Ottawa, Canada
May 10, 2021