Parks Canada Agency 2024-2025 Annual report to parliament Access to Information Act

A1: Introduction

Parks Canada Agency is pleased to submit to Parliament its annual report on the administration of the Access to Information Act for the reporting period commencing on April 1, 2024, and ending on March 31, 2025.

This report is prepared and tabled in accordance with the following:

• section 94 of the Access to Information Act, which requires that the head of every federal institution prepare and submit an annual report to Parliament on the administration of the act in the institution during the fiscal year
• section 20 of the Service Fees Act, according to which the competent authority must submit to Parliament each year a report setting out the costs collected by the institution

Purpose of the Access to Information Act

The purpose of the Access to Information Act is to enhance the accountability and transparency of federal institutions to promote an open and democratic society and to enable public debate on the conduct of those institutions. To further that purpose:

• Part 1 extends the present laws of Canada to provide a right of access to information in records under the control of a government institution in accordance with the principles that government information should be available to the public, that necessary exceptions to the right of access should be limited and specific, and that decisions about the disclosure of government information should be reviewed independently of government
• Part 2 sets out requirements for the proactive publication of information

Mandate of Parks Canada Agency

The Parks Canada Agency’s mandate is to protect and present nationally significant examples of Canada’s natural and cultural heritage and to foster public understanding, appreciation and enjoyment in ways that ensure their ecological and commemorative integrity for present and future generations. The Agency is responsible for operations under multiple pieces of federal legislation and protects approximately 450,000 km² of Canada’s terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems. It is the steward of 48 national parks, one national urban park, five national marine conservation areas (NMCAs) and 171 national historic sites, including nine heritage canals. The Agency is highly decentralized with team members located across the country and often in remote areas.

A2: Organizational structure

During this reporting period, Parks Canada’s Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Office was part of the Corporate Secretary Branch. The Access to Information and Privacy Office is comprised of six (6) full-time employees responsible for implementing and managing services related to the administration of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act. The team is also responsible for providing advice to Parks Canada employees as they fulfill their obligations under both acts including requirements for the proactive publication of information.

Internal tools and procedures have been developed to support the Agency in meeting its obligations under the Access to Information Act, regulations and Treasury Board policies and are regularly reviewed and improved.

The ATIP office works in collaboration with the Executive Coordination Office and members of the Finance Branch responsible of reviewing and releasing records under Part 2 of the ATIA specifically, briefing note titles, parliamentary committee appearance binders, question period notes, transition binders, grants and contributions, contracts, travel and hospitality expenses.

Parks Canada met its statutory deadlines for all proactive publication requirements. Parks Canada is committed to transparency, service to Canadians and the expeditious processing of access to information requests and has put in place the systems and processes necessary to meet this commitment.

Parks Canada did not enter in any service agreements under section 96 of the Access to Information Act during the reporting period.

A3: Delegation order

Schedule

Position	Access to Information Act and Regulations	Privacy Act and Regulations
Vice-President, Strategic Policy, Business and Digital Services	Full authority	Full authority
Senior Director, Business Services and Enterprise Integration	Full authority	Full authority
Director, Corporate Secretariat	Full authority	Full authority
Manager, Access to Information and Privacy Office (ATIP)	Full authority	Full authority
Senior Analyst (PM-05), ATIP Office, Parks Canada Agency	Sections 7 and 9 of the Access to Information Act	Sections 14 and 15 of the Privacy Act

A4: Performance 2024-2025

The following section represents an overview of activities carried out within the Agency during the reporting period of April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025. Between April 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025, Parks Canada received two hundred and sixty nine (269) formal information requests under the Access to Information Act—an increase of 72 percent. Despite the increase, ninety-three per cent of the requests received were responded to within the legislative timelines. Thirty-one (31) requests were carried forward from the previous reporting period. Thirty-four (34) requests were carried forward to the next reporting period for the following reasons: required additional time to allow for consultations with third parties or other government entities and volume of records.

The following is a breakdown of the number of completed requests broken down by completion times:

Number of completed requests broken down by number of days to process.

Number of days	Number of completed requests
1 to 15 days	32
16-30 days	124
31 to 60 days	23
61-120 days	55
121-180 days	21
181-365 days	8
More than 365 days	3

Seven (7) complaints were received during the reporting period. Four (4) active complaints were outstanding from the previous reporting period.

Extensions were taken for forty-four (44) requests because of challenges such as volume and the impacts on Agency operations—in particular, those resulting from the Jasper wildfire and other issues. Seven (7) extensions were taken to allow sufficient time for consultations relating to s.69 of the Act. Twelve (12) extensions were taken to provide for sufficient time to consult with other government institutions. Sixty-three (63) extensions were taken for third-party notices.

The Agency received thirty-seven (37) consultations under the Access to Information Act from other government institutions. Four (4) consultations were carried forward from the previous reporting period. Forty-one (41) consultations were completed before the end of March 2025. Four (4) requests were received from other organizations and completed before March 31, 2025. Two (2) requests received from other organizations were carried over within the negotiated timeline.

The following is a percentage breakdown by disclosure types for access requests completed in 2024-2025:

Percentage breakdown by disclosure types for access requests completed in 2024–2025

Disclosure	Percentage
All disclosed	31%
Disclosed in part	52%
No records exist	8%
Requests abandoned	8%
All exempted	1%
Transferred to another institution	0%

A5: Training and awareness

Facilitating efficient and transparent access to information and to personal information for Canadians is a priority for Parks Canada.

To ensure that all Agency employees understand their responsibilities and obligations regarding the legislation, including the proactive publication of Part 2, awareness sessions are offered periodically to provide information on the provisions of the Access to Information Act.

The participation of ATIP office team members in several meetings on new initiatives, programs and services offered by the agency created opportunities to meet with many employees from different sectors. ATIP focused on customized, program-specific training for the different responsibilities of each Parks Canada program and service.

As a result of the relationships built through these meetings, Parks Canada employees have a better understanding of the impact of access to information and privacy on the programs and activities they deliver. They have the knowledge to provide relevant documents with appropriate recommendations for processing requests.

The Agency focused on training its employees about their responsibilities pertaining to access to information and privacy. In 2024-25, nineteen (19) sessions were given to Agency employees. In total, four hundred and sixty (460) employees attended these sessions.

A6: Policies, guidelines, procedures and initiatives

No new Agency policy, guidelines, procedures and initiatives regarding administration of the Access to Information Act were implemented during the reporting period. The Agency was at 40% of capacity due to turnover in the small division. The focus was on reviewing formal requests and resolving complaints.

A7: Initiatives and projects to improve access to information

During the reporting period, Parks Canada’s ATIP office did not implement or initiate any new projects or initiatives. Instead, we continued to exercise and maintain the initiatives that were implemented in previous years. This approach ensured the sustained effectiveness and continuity of activities such as following the resolution of many complaints with the Office of the Information Commissioner, ATIP office has created specifics tools for the ATIP Officer and the Office of Primary Interest to provide guidance on how to meet the ATI exemptions as well as rationale that demonstrate the current, probable and specific injury. In addition, the office has created a template for the Agency when applying for an exemption for ATI.

A8: Summary of key Issues and actions taken on complaints

During the reporting period under review, fourteen (14) complaints were filed with the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada.

Five (5) complaints concerned extensions claimed, three (3) complaints concerned exemptions, four (4) for missing records and two (2) for delay. Parks Canada has worked closely and collaboratively with the Office of the Commissioner to resolve these complaints and of those complaints, six (6) were completed during the reporting period.

A9: Proactive publication under Part 2 of the ATIA

The ATIP office works collaboratively with Parliamentary Affairs, the Executive Coordination Office and Chief Financial Directorate to fulfill the proactive disclosure requirements found in Part 2 of the Access to Information Act.

During the 2024-2025 reporting period, the ATIP Office collaborated with program leads in Parliamentary Affairs, the Executive Coordination Office and Chief Financial Directorate review and publish the relevant information in accordance with the legislative requirements.

Parks Canada’s proactive publications along with a summary list of completed access to information requests can be found on the Parks Canada website under Transparency (parks.canada.ca/agence-agency/dp-pd) and the Open Government Portal (https://search.open.canada.ca).

In support of the Treasury Board Secretariat’s Directive on Open Government and proactive publication requirements under the Access to Information Act, Parks Canada’s ATIP office has worked in collaboration with the financial directorate to better manage procurement data and facilitate its release in accordance with the Government of Canada’s transparency and accountability commitments. Training and tools were also developed for users to improve quality of data going into the system.

Parliamentary Affairs is responsible for proactively publishing packages of briefing materials for the deputy head’s appearance before a parliamentary committee. As part of the process, Parliamentary Affairs tasks directorates to prepare materials for the deputy head’s appearance before a Parliamentary committee and advises the ATIP Office of upcoming appearances and the deadline for proactive publication. Parliamentary Affairs provides confirmation to the ATIP Office once the information has been published.

The below noted table lists Parks Canada’s compliance rates of proactive publication requirements for 2024-25.

A10: Monitoring compliance

The Agency monitors the time required to process access to information requests. When the need for improvements is identified, internal processes are adjusted.

Parks Canada has implemented a weekly report that provides Agency executives details on the status of active requests. The reports are shared with program liaisons, the Minister’s office and departmental senior managers as well as with the President & Chief Executive Officer’s office.

The ATIP office reviewed and ensured the publishing the accuracy and completeness of proactively published information under Part 2 of the Act. The ATIP office put in place an internal process to capture when the data is published as per our requirements under part 2 of the Act.

Parks Canada’s ATIP office continued the internal practice to seek approval when extending the legislative deadlines of ATI request. All extension notices over 120 days require approval of the Vice-President, Strategic Policy, Business and Digital Services Directorate. All extension notices over 150 days require the President & Chief Executive Officer’s approval. This approach was developed to ensure compliance with the act, including extensions taken for inter-institutional consultations.