Administration of the Access to Information Act Annual Report 2021–22

On this page

• Introduction
• About FINTRAC
• The Access to Information and Privacy Office
• Delegation of Authority
• Statistical Overview and Accomplishments
  • Performance of Access Request Case Activity
  • Source of Access Requests
  • Disposition of Completed Access Requests
  • Completion Times and Extensions of Access Requests
  • Consultations under the Act
  • Impact of COVID-19
  • Complaints and Investigations of Access Requests
  • Informal Requests
• Reporting on Access to Information fees for the purposes of the Service Fees Act
• ATIP Awareness and Education
• New Access to Information-related Policies, Guidelines, Procedures, or Initiatives
• Access to Information Program Performance and Monitoring
• Closing
• Annex A – Director and Chief Executive Officer’s Delegation Order

Introduction

This report to Parliament, which is prepared and tabled in accordance with Section 94 of the Access to Information Act and section 20 of the Service Fees Act, describes the activities of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) in administering these acts during fiscal year 2020–21. This report should be considered along with FINTRAC’s 2021–22 Annual Report on the Administration of the Privacy Act, which is tabled separately.

The purpose of the Access to Information Act (hereafter the “Act”) is to provide a right of access to information held by government institutions in accordance with three principles: information should be available to the public; necessary exceptions to the right of access should be limited and specific; and decisions on the disclosure of government information should be reviewed independently of government.

About FINTRAC

FINTRAC is Canada’s financial intelligence unit and anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regulator. It plays a critical role in combatting money laundering, terrorism financing, and threats to the security of Canada. The Centre has two core responsibilities framed around a duty to protect the personal information with which it is entrusted.

First, the Centre is responsible for ensuring compliance with Part 1 and 1.1 of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act and its associated regulations. This legal framework establishes obligations for reporting entities to develop a compliance regime in order to identify clients, monitor business relationships, keep records, and report certain types of financial transactions. These compliance obligations allow for certain economic activities to be more transparent, which helps prevent and deter nefarious individuals and organizations from using Canada’s legitimate economy to launder the proceeds of their crimes or finance terrorist activities. FINTRAC is committed to working with businesses to help them understand and comply with their obligations. The Centre also maintains a registry of money services businesses in Canada and foreign money services businesses that direct and provide services to persons and entities in Canada.

Second, FINTRAC is mandated by the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act to generate actionable financial intelligence that assists Canada's police, law enforcement, national security agencies, and international partners in combatting money laundering, terrorism financing, and threats to the security of Canada. In addition, the Centre produces strategic financial intelligence for federal policy and decision-makers, the security and intelligence community, reporting entities across the country, international partners, and other stakeholders. FINTRAC's strategic intelligence provides a wide analytic perspective on the nature, scope, and threat posed by money laundering and terrorism financing.

The Access to Information and Privacy Office

FINTRAC’s Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Office is responsible for leading, coordinating, and undertaking the Centre’s access to information and privacy responsibilities. The ATIP Office is part of FINTRAC’s Communications Group and led by the Centre’s Head of Communications, who reports directly to FINTRAC’s Director and Chief Executive Officer. The Head of Communications, who is also the Centre’s Chief Privacy Officer, is responsible for the overall management of all access to information and privacy matters within FINTRAC.

FINTRAC’s ATIP Office consists of an ATIP Coordinator and two Senior ATIP Advisors. Key responsibilities of the ATIP Office include:

• developing and implementing policies, procedures, and guidelines to ensure FINTRAC’s compliance with the Act and the Privacy Act;
• ensuring the timely processing of access and privacy requests, and meeting proactive disclosure obligations;
• providing advice, guidance, and awareness activities to FINTRAC employees, contractors, and students on ATIP-related matters;
• representing FINTRAC in its discussions and negotiations with external stakeholders, including other government departments, third parties, the Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada, the Office of the Information Commissioner, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and the general public;
• maintaining Personal Information Banks and conducting privacy impact assessments; and
• preparing annual reports to Parliament and publishing FINTRAC’s Info Source Chapter.

To support the ATIP Office in meeting its legislative obligations, FINTRAC established a collaborative network comprised of representatives from all sectors and relevant units within the Centre. These representatives are responsible for coordinating requests, providing guidance on the Act within their work units, and liaising with the ATIP Office on all ATIP-related matters.

Delegation of Authority

Order in Council P.C. 2000-1066 designates the Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Centre as head of FINTRAC for the purposes of administering the Act and FINTRAC’s privacy program. Pursuant to Section 73 of the Act, FINTRAC’s Director and Chief Executive Officer delegated the authority to exercise the powers, functions, and duties under the Act to the Deputy Director, the Manager of Communications and the ATIP Coordinator within the Enterprise Policy, Research and Programs Sector. These functions have full-delegated authority under the Act and the Privacy Act, in accordance with the delegation of authority instrument approved by the Director and Chief Executive Officer in July 2021.

A copy of the Director and Chief Executive Officer’s Delegation Order in place during 2021–22 is in Annex A.

Statistical Overview and Accomplishments

Performance of Access Request Case Activity

During the reporting period of April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022, there was a 38% increase in the number of access requests received by FINTRAC (77) as compared to the previous year (48). FINTRAC also managed 4 requests that were outstanding from a previous fiscal year, bringing the total caseload to 81. Of these, FINTRAC closed 58 requests in 2021–22, and 23 were carried over to the next reporting period. All but 2 of these 23 were carried over within the legislated timeline.

Of the 4 outstanding requests active in 2021–22 from previous years, all of which were completed in the reporting period, 3 were from 2020–21 (and all but 1 of these were responded to within the legislated timeline), and another was carried forward from reporting year 2018–19 and past its extended legislated deadline due to a lengthy consultation.

FINTRAC’s responses to many requests required the intensive review of complex records, including extensive internal and external consultations. In 2021–22, FINTRAC’s on-time response rate increased to 90% from 84% in the previous reporting year. FINTRAC’s on-time response rate is once again above the federal government's overall average response rate of 70% in 2020–21.

Source of Access Requests

Of the 77 access requests received, the largest number originated from the media (36), followed by private sector businesses (19). FINTRAC also received 18 requests from the general public, and 3 requests from academia. The following table provides the source of access requests for the past five years. Requests from another organization, or where an applicant has declined to identify their applicable category, are reflected as “Other”.

Disposition of Completed Access Requests

FINTRAC completed 58 access requests in 2021–22:

• In 17 cases, representing 29% of the overall cases, the applicants received full disclosure of the information requested (a combined 317 pages).
• In 18 cases, representing 31% of the overall cases, the applicants received a partial disclosure of the information requested (a combined 2273 pages).
• In 1 case, representing 2% of the overall cases, the applicants received a response that all information requested was excluded from disclosure.
• In 5 cases, representing 9% of the overall cases, FINTRAC responded that it was unable to acknowledge the existence of the information requested.
• In 15 cases, representing 26% of the overall cases, it was determined that no responsive records existed.
• In 2 cases, representing 3% of the overall cases, the applicants abandoned their requests.

Completion Times and Extensions of Access Requests

The Act allows extensions beyond the 30-day statutory period for specific reasons. Of the 58 completed requests during the reporting period, 52 were finalized within the established deadline (the 30-day statutory or an extended deadline pursuant to Section 9 of the Act). Due to delays resulting from internal and/or external consultations, as well as operational and capacity challenges, 6 requests were completed after their established deadline.

In 2021–22, FINTRAC required an extension to the original 30-day statutory deadline in 24 instances. The following is a breakdown of these cases:

• Paragraph 9(1)(a) was invoked 14 times to overcome workload challenges and operational constraints
• Paragraph 9(1)(b) was invoked 9 times in order to complete consultations with other government institutions
• Paragraph 9(1)(c) was invoked 1 time in order to complete third-party consultations

Consultations under the Act

Consultations undertaken between institutions are an essential part of processing requests under the Act. They afford institutions that have an interest in the records proposed for disclosure with an opportunity to make recommendations to the processing institution. For this reporting period, FINTRAC completed 31 consultation requests received from other Government of Canada institutions (including 1 outstanding request from 2020–21). FINTRAC also processed 1 consultation request from a provincial government institution, providing recommendations to assist the organization in responding to an information request it was processing under its access legislation.

Impact of COVID-19

Despite the public health measures and restrictions associated with the COVID-19 global pandemic, FINTRAC’s Access to Information and Privacy Office was fully operational, working both remotely and on-site, and able to receive, process, and respond to requests under the Acts. There were only slight delays experienced due to some subject matter experts having limited on-site and network access. The most significant consequence of the COVID-19 restrictions the office has observed was an increase in time required by other institutions to respond to FINTRAC consultations, particularly larger government institutions.

Complaints and Investigations of Access Requests

Subsection 30(1) of the Act describes how the Office of the Information Commissioner receives and investigates complaints from individuals regarding the processing of requests under the Act. While FINTRAC did not receive any new complaints during the reporting period, it resolved two complaints received in previous reporting periods.

FINTRAC worked closely with the Office of the Information Commissioner to resolve a 2017–18 complaint that pertained to FINTRAC improperly withholding a record under the Act. FINTRAC agreed with the Information Commissioner’s findings and fully disclosed the record to the applicant. Another complaint dated to fiscal year 2016–17 was discontinued by the applicant.

FINTRAC also continued to manage two complaints regarding the same request, which alleged that the Centre improperly applied exemptions and that it failed to conduct a reasonable search under the Act.

Informal Requests

In 2020–21, FINTRAC received 64 informal requests for copies of records released in previously processed requests. The Centre processed 61 of the 64 requests within 15 days, 2 were responded to between 16 and 30 days, and 1 was carried forward to the next reporting period. The following chart shows the number of informal requests received by FINTRAC over the past five years.

Reporting on Access to Information Fees for the purposes of the Service Fees Act

The Service Fees Act requires a responsible authority to report annually to Parliament on the fees collected by the institution.

With respect to fees collected by FINTRAC, the information below is reported in accordance with the requirements under section 20 of the Service Fees Act.

In accordance with the Interim Directive on the Administration of the Act, issued on May 5, 2016, and the changes to the Access to Information Act that came into force on June 21, 2019, FINTRAC waives all fees prescribed by the Act and Regulations, other than the $5 application fee set out in paragraph 7(1)(a) of the Regulations. During the reporting period, FINTRAC waived the application fee on 10 occasions, totaling $50.

ATIP Awareness and Education

Information protection is integral to FINTRAC’s mandate. As such, FINTRAC requires its employees (including students and contractors) to have a heightened awareness of security, privacy, information management, and access to information. The FINTRAC Code of Conduct, Values and Ethics specifically describes employees’ legal obligations to protect information under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act and makes reference to the Privacy Act, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Access to Information Act, and the Centre’s privacy, security, and information management policies. Adherence to the Code of Conduct, Values and Ethics is a condition of employment for every FINTRAC employee.

The following training and awareness activities took place during the reporting period:

• The ATIP Office published monthly information notices regarding access to information and privacy protection on FINTRAC’s intranet site.
• The ATIP Office also raises awareness by providing day-to-day coaching as well as targeted information sessions to ATIP representatives. In 2021–22, two one-on-one training sessions were delivered. This focused training fosters a spirit of collaboration and has been essential to the success of FINTRAC’s broader ATIP program.
• Work is currently underway to modify FINTRAC’s existing ATIP awareness training to a self-directed online learning format. While working on a modified training format, during the 2021–22 period the ATIP Office delivered 3 virtual general ATIP awareness sessions to 10 employees.
• Access to information and privacy protection messaging is incorporated in mandatory Information Management awareness sessions and in New Employee Orientation Training. In 2021–22:
  • Information Management awareness training was received by 162 employees. The sessions raised employee awareness about their information management responsibilities, including in relation to ATIP, and covered the obligations and best practices for managing personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act, the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, and FINTRAC’s privacy, security, and information management policies.
  • The New Employee Orientation Training moved to a virtual/hybrid format and is currently being redesigned into a self-directed online learning format. The training provides a variety of information about the Centre’s mandate and reinforces to employees the importance of information management and safeguarding information and privacy particularly as fundamental components of the work undertaken by the Centre. A total of 115 employees and students completed this virtual training in 2021–22.
• FINTRAC employees completed the following online learning courses at the Canada School of Public Service:
  • Access to Information and Privacy Fundamentals – I702 (3 employees)
  • Access to Information in the Government of Canada – I701 (1 employee)
  • Privacy in the Government of Canada – I015 (1 employee)

New Access to Information-related Policies, Guidelines, Procedures, or Initiatives

None to report.

Access to Information Program Performance and Monitoring

FINTRAC’s automated case management system facilitates timely responses to requests, documents important actions and decisions, and monitors performance. The system also includes an audit log, has extensive search capabilities to enable analysis of previously processed information, and generates progress and statistical reports.

The ATIP Office provides updates to senior management within FINTRAC’s corporate governance, as well as status updates on ATIP files to FINTRAC’s Executive Office on a regular basis.

Closing

FINTRAC remains fully committed to applying the spirit and intent of the Act to ensure openness, transparency, and consistency when processing requests within its organization and when responding to the Canadian public.

Annex A – Director and Chief Executive Officer’s Delegation Order

Delegation Order – Access to Information Act and Regulations

Pursuant to Section 95 of the Access to Information Act, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada’s Director and Chief Executive Officer delegates the full authority to exercise the powers, functions and duties under the Access to Information Act to the Deputy Director, the Manager of Communications and the Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator within the Enterprise Policy, Research & Programs Sector. This delegation order also applies to persons occupying any of these positions on an acting basis.

This designation takes effect as of July 28, 2021

Sarah Paquet
Director and Chief Executive Officer
Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada

234 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Ontario  K1P 1H7 Canada
Telephone: 1-866-346-8722
Facsimile: 613-943-7931
www.fintrac-canafe.canada.ca

ISSN 2563-7355

Cat. No. FD2-6/1E-PDF