Annual Report to Parliament on the Administration of the Access to Information Act 2025 to 2026

Introduction

Purpose of the Access to Information Act

The Access to Information Act (ATIA) came into force on July 1, 1983 and was amended by Bill C-58 on June 21, 2019. It provides Canadian citizens and permanent residents, as well as persons and corporations physically present in Canada, an enforceable right of access to records under the control of a government institution. The purpose of the ATIA is to enhance the accountability and transparency of federal institutions in order to promote an open and democratic society and to enable public debate on the conduct of those institutions. Individuals who are not satisfied with an institution's handling of their formal request made under the ATIA are entitled to complain to the Information Commissioner of Canada.

Tabling of this Report

This report is tabled in Parliament in accordance with section 94(2) of the ATIA and Section 20 of the Service Fees Act under the direction of the Minister of Public Safety. The report describes how Public Safety Canada (Public Safety) administered and fulfilled its obligations under the ATIA between April 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026.

Mandate of Public Safety

Public Safety was created in 2003 to ensure coordination across all federal departments and agencies responsible for national security and the safety of Canadians. Our mandate is to keep Canadians safe from a range of risks such as natural disasters, crime and terrorism. Our mission is to build a safe and resilient Canada. Our vision is to, through outstanding leadership, achieve a safe and secure Canada and strong and resilient communities.

Legislation governing the Department sets out three essential roles:

1. Support the Minister's responsibility for all matters related to public safety and emergency management not assigned to another federal organization;
2. Exercise leadership at the national level for public safety and emergency preparedness; and
3. Support the Minister's responsibility for the coordination of Public Safety's Portfolio entities and for setting their strategic priorities.

The Department's three core responsibilities are: national security, community safety and emergency management.

Organizational Structure

Public Safety

During the 2025-2026 fiscal year, the department was organized into five branches: Emergency Management and Programs, Crime Prevention, Portfolio Affairs and Communications, National and Cyber Security, and Corporate Management. The department also has a Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive and is supported by the Legal Services Unit.

Five Regional Offices represent the Atlantic, Quebec and Nunavut, Ontario, Prairies and Northwest Territories, and British Columbia and Yukon. These offices are the primary point of contact for the department at the regional level. Our regional offices provide support to departmental policy, program and operational areas across the organization, delivering core programs at the regional level, providing regional input and perspective, and supporting the coordination of federal responses to emergency events. Their networks of partnerships with provincial and territorial officials, other federal departments and agencies, and diverse communities and stakeholders, are essential to the Department's work.

The Public Safety Portfolio: Partner Agencies and Review Bodies

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) manages the nation's borders by enforcing Canadian laws governing trade and travel, as well as international agreements and conventions. CBSA facilitates legitimate cross-border traffic and supports economic development while stopping people and goods that pose a potential threat to Canada.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) investigates and reports on activities that may pose a threat to the security of Canada. CSIS also provides security assessments, on request, to all federal departments and agencies.

The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) helps protect society by encouraging offenders to become law-abiding citizens while exercising reasonable, safe, secure and humane control. CSC is responsible for managing offenders sentenced to two years or more in federal correctional institutions and under community supervision.

The Parole Board of Canada (PBC) is an independent body that grants, denies or revokes parole for inmates in federal prisons and provincial inmates in provinces without their own parole board. The PBC helps protect society by facilitating the timely reintegration of offenders into society as law-abiding citizens.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is Canada's national police service and is the police of jurisdiction for all provinces and territories except Ontario and Quebec. The RCMP works at the community, provincial, territorial and federal levels to prevent crime; enforce the law; investigate offences; keep Canadians, and their interests, safe and secure; and assist Canadians in emergency situations/incidents. The RCMP also offers expertise at the international level by providing specialized training for police officers; conducting international policing activities, including peacekeeping; and sharing intelligence with trusted partners to support investigations, as well as disrupt and dismantle criminal operations.

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (CRCC) investigates complaints from the public about the conduct of members of the RCMP in an open, independent and objective manner. The Commission also holds public hearings and conducts research and policy development to improve the public complaints process.

The Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI) conducts independent, thorough and timely investigations about issues related to the Correctional Service of Canada. The OCI may initiate an investigation based on a complaint from (or on behalf of) an offender, as the result of a ministerial request, or on its own initiative.

The RCMP External Review Committee (ERC) is an independent agency that promotes fair and equitable labour relations within the RCMP. The Committee conducts an independent review of appeals in disciplinary, discharge and demotion matters, as well as certain kinds of grievances.

The Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Office

The department's Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Office is responsible for the coordination and implementation of policies, guidelines, and procedures to ensure departmental compliance with the Access to Information Act as well as the Privacy Act. In keeping with the department's role to support the Minister in the coordination of entities within the Public Safety Portfolio, it also plays a leadership role with respect to ensuring alignment of approach with the ATIP Offices of other Public Safety Portfolio organizations, where appropriate.

The ATIP Office is housed within the department's Portfolio Affairs and Communications Branch and includes the ATIP Operations Unit and the Privacy Management Unit (PMU). In 2025-2026, 13.3 full time equivalents (FTEs) were involved in the administration of responsibilities pursuant to the ATIA. The ATIP Office did not employ any regional ATIP staff or consultants during the reporting period.

Public Safety did not have any wholly owned subsidiaries at any time during the reporting period, and was not a party to any service agreements to provide services to other organizations under section 96 of the ATIA during the fiscal year.

Proactive Publication

For a breakdown of the group(s) and/or position(s) responsible for meeting each applicable proactive publication requirement under Part 2 of the Access to Information Act, see the section "Proactive Publication under Part 2 of the ATIA" below.

Delegation Order

The following Delegation Order was in effect at the end of the reporting period.

Dated, at the City of Ottawa, this 11 day of June, 2025.

The Honourable Gary Anandasangaree, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Public Safety

Performance under Part 1 of the Access to Information Act, 2025-2026

The following sections provide an overview of key data points on Public Safety's processing of ATIA requests during the reporting period, as required by the Treasury Board Secretariat.

Volume of Requests

In recent years, the department has seen an increase in the number and size of requests received under both the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act in comparison with previous years. This increase has placed pressure on the ATIP Office and the department.

During the 2025-2026 fiscal year, the ATIP Office received 550 formal requests under the Access to Information Act and completed 487. While these numbers were slightly lower than the previous year (by 7% and 5% respectively), the ATIP Office processed 122,094 pages, representing a significant increase (39%) in the overall volume of records processed in comparison to the previous year.

During the year, the department received 415 informal requests and completed 759 informal requests, including a significant number that were carried over from the previous year.

Response within Legislated Timelines

The percentage of formal requests that were closed within the legislated timelines remained consistent at 68%, a slight improvement over the previous year. This number is comparable to compliance rates for other similar size organizations. Note that this number includes ongoing work to close files that had gone late in previous years. When considering only new files received in 2025-26, the department's compliance rate was 82%.

Active Requests as of March 31, 2026

At the end of the fiscal year, Public Safety had a total of 597 active requests that were carried over to the next reporting period. Of these, 58 were within the legislated timelines, while 539 were beyond the legislated timelines. These numbers were comparable to those reported by other similar size organizations. Of note, Public Safety has a small number of older files that are very large and complex and where multi-year extensions were taken due to the large volume of records that must be processed.

Completion Times

The following table provides a breakdown of completion times for the 487 formal requests that were completed during the fiscal year. The distribution of completion times was comparable to previous years.

Reasons for Extensions

For the requests completed in 2025-2026, a total of 349 extensions were taken during the fiscal year. The majority of extensions were taken due to interference with operations and to conduct consultations with other organizations. The distribution of reasons for extensions was consistent with previous years.

Disposition of Requests

The following table shows the disposition of requests completed in 2025-2026. This breakdown was consistent with previous years.

Consultations

During the year, the department received 194 consultations from other organizations, a slight decrease (7%) over the previous year, and completed 194 consultations, a slight increase (2%) compared to the previous year.

Active Complaints as of March 31, 2026

At the end of the fiscal year, Public Safety had 28 active complaints with the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC). The following table shows those complaints broken down by the year in which they were received.

During the year, the ATIP Office worked closely with the OIC to establish timelines for the resolution of complaints and to ensure all complaints were addressed within the timelines established by the OIC. No concerns were identified by the OIC during the fiscal year with respect to the timely processing of complaint files by the department.

Training and Awareness

Public Safety remains committed to promoting awareness and providing ongoing training opportunities to all employees. During the year, the ATIP Office continued its outreach to the department to reinforce knowledge and understanding of the legislation and ATIP processes among policy and program areas. The ATIP Office provided 8 training and information sessions on the ATIA and Privacy Act. A variety of subjects were presented, including strategies for retrieving records and applying exemptions, as well as requirements for proactive publication. A total of 371 people attended these sessions.

Policies, Guidelines and Procedures

During the year, Public Safety's ATIP Office worked closely with external and internal partners to ensure continuous alignment with policies, guidelines, and procedures issued by TBS and the Privy Council Office and to support security of information in both the remote and hybrid work environment. The ATIP Office worked closely with areas of the department facing high volumes of requests and implemented special procedures on a case by case basis to mitigating workload pressures and to support compliance with legislated timelines to the extent possible. The ATIP Office also worked closely with subject matter experts responsible for proactive publication (for example, reports tabled in Parliament, and briefing materials to support Parliamentary committee appearances) to support compliance with legislated timelines.

Initiatives and Projects to Improve Access to Information

During the year, the ATIP Office continued to provide dedicated support on high visibility files within Public Safety and the Portfolio that required a coordinated approach to the handling of ATIP requests, including the implementation of the Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program, as well as files related to foreign interference, national security operations, border security, policing, and international affairs. The ATIP Office also continued to provide support in reviewing documents in response to Parliamentary Committee motions for document production. The ATIP Office also continued efforts towards modernizing the current request processing software, working closely with partners including Treasury Board Secretariat, Public Services and Procurement Canada, and Shared Services Canada to implement contracts for software licensing and server hosting. These efforts are scheduled to complete in 2026-2027 and are intended to streamline the ATIP process and support alignment with other government departments going forward.

Summary of Key Issues and Actions Taken on Complaints

As in previous years, Public Safety received a comparatively low volume of complaints on requests made under the Access to Information Act. During the year, the OIC received 39 new complaints against the department and concluded 42 investigations on Public Safety files. Of these, only 4 files (10%) were deemed to be well-founded. The ATIP Office continued to maintain a constructive relationship with the OIC, meeting regularly with the OIC both at the Manager and the Director level to ensure ongoing alignment of approach, identify priority files for attention, and address any areas of concern as they arose. No specific issues were noted by the OIC during the year.

Proactive Publication under Part 2 of the ATIA

Public Safety is a government institution listed under Schedule I of the Financial Administration Act, for the purposes of Part 2 of the ATIA. The table below shows the department's performance in meeting timelines for proactive publication, as outlined under Part 2 of the ATIA, during the fiscal year. The department was 100% compliant with legislated timelines in 9 out of 16 proactive publication reporting areas during the year. In two areas (packages of briefing materials prepared for a new deputy head, and packages of briefing materials prepared for a deputy head's appearance before a committee of Parliament), no materials were created during the year that required proactive publication. In five areas (reports tabled in parliament, titles and reference numbers of memoranda prepared for the deputy head, titles and reference numbers of memoranda prepared for the minister, packages of briefing materials prepared for a new minister, and packages of briefing materials prepared for a minister's appearance before a committee of Parliament), all required materials were published, but in some cases there were delays. The ATIP Office will work with internal partners in 2026-2027 to strengthen mechanisms with a view to improve on-time publication for the areas that showed gaps in 2025-2026.

Monitoring Compliance

Public Safety maintains four recurring ATIP reports to inform senior management of the program during the fiscal year. These reports track a range of information including the list of new formal Access to Information Act requests received by the department each week, deadlines assigned for retrieval, and the list of upcoming requests scheduled for release, as well as quarterly reporting on retrieval response times for Public Safety branches. Reports are shared weekly with Assistant Deputy Ministers (ADMs) and other senior officials and are discussed with senior management as required. In addition, ATIP performance is monitored at the ADM level through performance agreements and evaluations to ensure ATIP remains a priority within the department. With respect to proactive publication, periodic updates are provided to the ATIP Director to monitor progress and to support timely publication of deliverables.

Compliance with the provisions of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act is also an explicit requirement enshrined within all contracts, information sharing agreements, and information sharing arrangements issued by the department. The ATIP Office also reviews contracts and information sharing agreements as required and provides advice and guidance with respect to privacy protections.

Date modified:

2026-10-07