Parks Canada Agency 2024-2025 Annual report to parliament Privacy Act

B1: Introduction

Parks Canada Agency is pleased to submit to Parliament its annual report on the administration of the Privacy 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 section 72 of the Privacy 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.

Purpose of the Privacy Act

The purpose of the Privacy Act is to provide:

• individuals with the right to access and correct personal information about themselves that is under the control of a government institution
• the legal framework for the collection, retention, use, disclosure, disposition, and accuracy of personal information in the administration of programs and activities by government institutions subject to the act

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 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.

B2. Organizational structure

During this reporting period, Parks Canada’s Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Office is part of the Corporate Secretariat branch. The Access to Information and Privacy Office is comprised of six (6) full-time employees responsible of implementing and managing services related to the administration of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act. The team is also responsible of 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 Privacy Act, regulations and Treasury Board policies and are regularly reviewed and improved.

Parks Canada ensured proactive publication requirements were met and 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 73.1 of the Privacy Act during the reporting period.

B3: 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

B4: Performance 2024-2025

The following report presents an overview of activities carried out within the Agency during the reporting period of April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025. The Statistical Report (Appendix A) contains detailed statistics on the information requests processed under the Privacy Act.

Twenty-nine (29) personal information requests were received under the Privacy Act. Four (4) requests were carried over to next reporting period.

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

Breakdown of the number of completed requests by completion times

Number of Days	Number of Completed Requests
1 to 15 days	8
16-30 days	10
31 to 60 days	11
61-120 days	0
121-180 days	0
181-365 days	0
More than 365 days	0

Four (4) requests were fully disclosed, and eighteen (18) requests resulted in the partial disclosure of the records. Three (3) requests had no records and four (4) were abandoned by the applicants.

Four (4) active complaints were outstanding from the previous reporting period.

The following is a percentage breakdown by disclosure types for privacy requests processed in 2024-2025.

Percentage breakdown by disclosure types for privacy requests processed

Disclosure	Percentage
All disclosed	14%
Disclosed in part	62%
No records exist	10%
Requests abandoned	14%

Section 15 of the Privacy Act permits the statutory time limits to be extended if consultations are necessary, if translation is required or if the request is for a large volume of records and processing it within the original time limit would unreasonably interfere with the operations of the institution.

Parks Canada invoked a total of ten (10) extensions during the 2024-25 reporting period that were deemed necessary to process a large volume of records.

The Agency did not receive any consultation requests under the Privacy Act. No consultations were carried forward from the previous reporting period and no consultations were carried forward to the next reporting period.

The Agency provides the public with information on an informal basis. Information is provided only when the Agency is satisfied that the information requested concerns the individual making the request or where at least one of the conditions outlined in subsection 8(2) of the Act is met.

B5: 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, awareness sessions are offered periodically to provide information on the provisions of the Privacy 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 development of these relationships has been beneficial to the Agency, with employees in Offices of Primary Interest sending seventy-six (76) questions related to ATIP requests.

During the reporting period, the Agency focused on training its employees about their responsibilities with respect to access to information and privacy. This year, nineteen (19) sessions were given to Agency employees. In total, four hundred and sixty (460) employees attended these sessions.

B6. Policies, guidelines, procedures and initiatives

During the reporting period, the ATIP office was continuously ensuring that its policies and procedures for processing requests made pursuant to the Privacy Act were up to date and that adjustments were made to areas where the need for improvement was identified.

The Agency created an internal privacy breach protocol following the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat update of the Privacy Policy instruments.

The Agency did not receive authority for any new collection or new consistent use of social insurance numbers during the reporting period.

B7. Initiatives and projects to improve privacy

Parks Canada continued its efforts to strengthen the protection of personal information by participating to various meeting with office of primary Interest to discuss their implementation of various initiatives and projects to ensure compliance to the Privacy Act. No new initiatives were implemented during the reporting period.

B8. Summary of key issues and actions taken on complaints

Four (4) complaints were filed with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada during the reporting period under review.

B9. Material privacy breaches

There were no material privacy breaches reported to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and to the Information and Privacy Policy Division, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat during this period.

B10. Privacy impact assessments

Between April 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025, the ATIP office worked in collaboration with the OPIs to review and analyze various Privacy Impact Assessments. These are in progress but have not been completed or submitted to TBS.

Parks Canada’s completed Privacy Impact Assessments: are posted at the following link: https://parks.canada.ca/agence-agency/dp-pd/baiprp-atipo/efp-pia.

B11. Public interest disclosures

There were no disclosures of personal information made pursuant to 8(2)(m) of the Privacy Act during the reporting period.

B12. Monitoring compliance

The Agency monitors the time required to process personal information requests. When the need for improvements is identified, internal processes are adjusted. No requests for correction of personal information were received during the reporting period.