Annual Report to Parliament on the Administration of the Privacy Act 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024

Original signed by

The Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, PC, OMM, MSM, CD, MP
President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada, Minister of Emergency Preparedness, and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada

Yoan Marier
Chair, Transportation Safety Board of Canada  

Introduction

In keeping with section 72 of the Privacy Act (the Act), the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is pleased to table in Parliament this report on its activities relating to the administration of the Act. The report covers the period from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

The purpose of the Privacy Act is to protect the privacy of individuals with respect to personal information about themselves held by government institutions such as the TSB, and to provide individuals with a right of access to their information.

The Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board Act provides the legal framework that governs the TSB’s activities. Our mandate is to advance transportation safety in the air, marine, pipeline and rail modes of transportation by:

• conducting independent investigations, including public inquiries when necessary, into selected transportation occurrences in order to make findings as to their causes and contributing factors;
• identifying safety deficiencies, as evidenced by transportation occurrences;
• making recommendations designed to eliminate or reduce any such safety deficiencies; and
• reporting publicly on our investigations and on the findings in relation thereto.

More information on the TSB is available at tsb.gc.ca.

The TSB administers and fulfills the obligations of its Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) activities in accordance with the government’s stated principles that government information should be available to the public with only specific and limited exceptions. Furthermore, the TSB treats personal information in compliance with the code of fair information practice expressed in the Privacy Act.

Both English and French versions of this report have been submitted and tabled to Parliament.

ATIP Office organization

During 2023–24, the Director General, Corporate Services held the responsibilities of the ATIP Coordinator. The ATIP Office has been reorganized from four to five full-time positions: one (1) intake officer, three (3) ATIP analysts and 1 (one) ATIP manager. Temporary help was provided by a consultant.

The ATIP Office helps the TSB meeting the requirements under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act by:

• centrally administering both formal requests made pursuant to the Act and informal requests,
• providing functional advice and guidance to employees concerning the managing of information and protection of privacy under the TSB’s control,
• conducting and responding to consultations with requesters, third parties, TSB employees, and representatives of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner,
• delivering ATIP training and awareness,
• conducting privacy impact assessments (PIAs),
• documenting and managing privacy breaches,
• communicating with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) and the offices of the information and privacy commissioners of Canada about policy and legislative requirements, complaints, and investigations. 

Delegation of authority

For the purposes of the Privacy Act, the “head of the institution” as defined in section 3 of the Act is the Chair of the TSB. The incumbents of the positions of Director General for Corporate Services and ATIP Manager have been delegated powers by the Chair deemed appropriate for the effective administration of the Act. These employees ensure that the TSB meets all its obligations fairly and consistently. The delegation of authority was updated in December 2023. A copy of the Delegation Order is attached as Appendix A.

Performance 2023–24

Privacy requests received by the TSB are mainly from Canadian airline pilots inquiring as to whether they are named in any occurrences reported to the TSB. The reason for this is that certain international airlines request this information as a pre-employment requirement. As well, some employees request access to their personal information.

The ATIP office received twenty-five (25) new requests under the Privacy Act in the 2023–24 reporting period and one (1) request was outstanding from the previous reporting period. In comparison, during the 2022–23 reporting period, our office received fourteen (14) formal requests for personal information, compared to ten (10) in 2021–22, and to twenty-two (22) in 2020–21.

Of the twenty-five (25) requests closed in 2023–24, we fully disclosed records in five (5) cases (20%), disclosed in part in two (2) cases (8%), records did not exist in fourteen (14) cases (56%) and four (4) cases (16%) were abandoned. One (1) request was carried over to next fiscal year.

Of the requests closed during the reporting period, our office completed fifteen (15) within 1 to 15 days, eight (8) within 16 to 30 days, and two (2) within 31 to 60 days. The average time taken to process a request during the 2023–24 reporting period was fifteen (15) calendar days, compared to nine (9) calendar days in 2022–23, fourteen (14) in 2021–22, and thirty-three (33) in 2020–21.

During this period, the ATIP Office was involved in the search, processing, and review of eighty-six (86) pages of information, and the reproduction and disclosure of seventy-six (76) pages of information. During past fiscal years, our office reviewed eleven (11) pages and released all eleven (11) pages in the 2022–23, seven hundred eighty-four pages (784) were reviewed and two hundred ninety-two (292) pages were released in 2021–22, and one thousand nine hundred thirty-four (1934) pages were reviewed and seven hundred (700) pages released in 2020–21. The variation in the number of pages reviewed between years is due to the different type of requests received and if requests are from employees requesting access to their personal information.

The TSB allows disclosing informally personal information to its employees without filing formal requests under the Privacy Act. The Human Resources employees handle these requests as part of their routine duties. The TSB remains vigilant in meeting requirements under the Act to protect personal information under its control. This is achieved by ensuring that employees are cognizant of their responsibility to protect the personal information they handle in the course of their duties and by respecting the code of fair information practice enshrined in the legislation.

The Office of Privacy Commissioner hasn’t notified the TSB about any complaints on our files under the Privacy Act. The ATIP Office hasn’t extended any of the processed files under section 15 of the Act. The TSB ATIP Office operated normally in 2023–24, making full use of digital tools and a hybrid work model.

Training and education

The TSB has an orientation program in place for new employees, which includes training on ATIP awareness. In addition, the TSB requires mandatory comprehensive ATIP training sessions delivered by the ATIP Office for all staff. During 2023–24, the ATIP Office hasn’t delivered any training sessions; however, the new TSB employees had to take the course called “Access to Information and Privacy Fundamentals” offered by the Canada School of Public Service. In addition to this, the ATIP employees provided informal training and advice to the TSB employees, as needed.

Given the responsibilities and knowledge requirements of the TSB’s ATIP Office, there is a long learning curve for its staff. Continuous on-the-job training is provided to ATIP staff to ensure sound and current knowledge of ATIP requirements and procedures, as well as TSB operations. In this context, ATIP staff attended all ATIP Community Meetings organized by the Treasury Board Secretariat during 2023–24. These Community Meetings continue to provide the TSB ATIP staff with valuable information on trends and best practices within the ATIP community, updates on recent complaints and court cases, and tools to help improve service standards within the field. In addition, the ATIP employees attended the deep dive sessions on exemptions organized and delivered by the TBS’s Access to Information and Privacy Cummunities Development Office.

Policies, guidelines, and procedures

There were no changes to privacy-related policies, guidelines, or procedures implemented by the TSB during the reporting period 2023–24.

Initiatives and projects to improve privacy

During the reporting period 2023–24, the TSB adopted a new tracking system called ATIP Xpress (AX), that had previously been approved by the Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada. The new AX tracking system is intended to streamline the processing of ATIP requests by reducing the time spent on files; it automatically removes duplicates from the system and uses artificial intelligence to suggest sensitive information. AX can handle the upload and processing of most types of files. The privacy breaches files are also documented and worked in AX. All the 2023–24 ATIP files were processed in the new tracking system, which makes the TSB one of the few federal departments that adopted it and currently fully operates in the new system.

Summary of key issues and actions taken on complaints

No complaints were received by the Privacy Commissioner in 2023–24 as related to the TSB’s privacy requests.

Material privacy breaches

The TSB did not have any material privacy breaches during the reporting period 2023–24.

Privacy impact assessments (PIA)

The TSB commenced a privacy impact assessment during the reporting period 2023–24 to amend an existing PIA. The new PIA is intended to evaluate and manage the privacy risks, as well as the impact associated with the investigation program at the TSB.

Public interest disclosures

The TSB made no disclosure of information in the public interest pursuant to paragraph 8(2)(m) of the Privacy Act during fiscal year 2023–24.

Monitoring compliance

The TSB monitors the access to personal information requests through weekly bilateral meetings between the ATIP Coordinator and the ATIP Manager, during which the status of outstanding requests is reviewed. The ATIP Manager meets regularly with each ATIP analyst regarding the ongoing processing of requests. Any significant issues are raised to the Chief Operating Officer as required.

The statistics details are found in Appendix B.

Appendices

Appendix A – Delegation order

The Chair of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, pursuant to section 73 of the Privacy Act, hereby designates the persons holding the positions set out in the table below, or the persons occupying on an acting basis those positions, to exercise the specified powers and perform the related duties and functions of the Chair as the Head of a government institution under the Privacy Act. This designation replaces the designation dated November 1st, 2019.

Positions	Sections of the Privacy Act
Chair	All sections
Director General, Corporate Services	All sections
Manager, ATIP	Extensions of time limits – Section 15 All sections for requests from Pilots

Original signed by

Kathleen Fox
Chair, Transportation Safety Board of Canada
Date: April 10th, 2024

Appendix B – Statistical Report on the Privacy Act

Name of institution: Transportation Safety Board of Canada

Reporting period: 2023-04-01 to 2024-03-31

In this section

• Section 1: Requests under the Privacy Act
• Section 2: Informal requests
• Section 3: Requests closed during the reporting period
• Section 4: Disclosures under subsections 8(2) and 8(5)
• Section 5: Requests for correction of personal information and notations
• Section 6: Extensions
• Section 7: Consultations received from other institutions and organizations
• Section 8: Completion time of consultations on Cabinet confidences
• Section 9: Complaints and investigation notices received
• Section 10: Privacy impact assessments (PIAs) and personal information banks (PIBs)
• Section 11: Privacy breaches
• Section 12: Resources related to the Privacy Act

Section 1: Requests under the Privacy Act

1.1 Number of requests received

		Number of requests
Received during reporting period		25
Outstanding from previous reporting periods		1
Outstanding from previous reporting period	1
Outstanding from more than one reporting period	0
Total		26
Closed during reporting period		25
Carried over to next reporting period		1
Carried over within legislated timeline	1
Carried over beyond legislated timeline	0

1.2 Channels of requests

Source	Number of requests
Online	11
E-mail	14
Mail	0
In person	0
Phone	0
Fax	0
Total	25

Section 2: Informal requests

2.1 Number of informal requests

		Number of requests
Received during reporting period		1
Outstanding from previous reporting periods		0
Outstanding from previous reporting period	0
Outstanding from more than one reporting period	0
Total		1
Closed during reporting period		1
Carried over to next reporting period		0

2.2 Channels of informal requests

Source	Number of requests
Online	0
E-mail	1
Mail	0
In person	0
Phone	0
Fax	0
Total	1

2.3 Completion time of informal requests

Completion time
1–15 days	16–30 days	31–60 days	61–120 days	121–180 days	181–365 days	More than 365 days	Total
0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1

2.4 Pages released informally

Fewer than 100 pages processed		101–500 pages processed		501–1000 pages processed		1001–5000 pages processed		More than 5000 pages processed
Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed
1	19	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Section 3: Requests closed during the reporting period

3.1 Disposition and completion time

Disposition of requests	Completion time
	1–15 days	16–30 days	31–60 days	61–120 days	121–180 days	181–365 days	More than 365 days	Total
All disclosed	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	5
Disclosed in part	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2
All exempted	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
All excluded	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
No records exist	9	4	1	0	0	0	0	14
Request abandoned	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	4
Neither confirmed nor denied	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	15	8	2	0	0	0	0	25

3.2 Exemptions

Section	Number of requests	Section	Number of requests	Section	Number of requests
18(2)	0	22(1)(a)(i)	0	23(a)	0
19(1)(a)	0	22(1)(a)(ii)	0	23(b)	0
19(1)(b)	0	22(1)(a)(iii)	0	24(a)	0
19(1)(c)	0	22(1)(b)	0	24(b)	0
19(1)(d)	0	22(1)(c)	0	25	0
19(1)(e)	0	22(2)	0	26	2
19(1)(f)	0	22.1	0	27	0
20	0	22.2	0	27.1	0
21	0	22.3	0	28	0
		22.4	0

3.3 Exclusions

Section	Number of requests	Section	Number of requests	Section	Number of requests
69(1)(a)	0	70(1)	0	70(1)(d)	0
69(1)(b)	0	70(1)(a)	0	70(1)(e)	0
69.1	0	70(1)(b)	0	70(1)(f)	0
		70(1)(c)	0	70.1	0

3.4 Format of information released

Paper	Electronic				Other
	E-record	Data set	Video	Audio
0	7	0	0	0	0

3.5 Complexity

3.5.1 Relevant pages processed and disclosed for paper or e-record formats

Number of pages processed	Number of pages disclosed	Number of requests
86	76	11

3.5.2 Relevant pages processed by request disposition for paper and e-record formats by size of requests

Disposition	Fewer than 100 pages processed		101–500 pages processed		501–1000 pages processed		1001–5000 pages processed		More than 5000 pages processed
	Number of requests	Pages processed	Number of requests	Pages processed	Number of requests	Pages processed	Number of requests	Pages processed	Number of requests	Pages processed
All disclosed	5	15	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Disclosed in part	2	61	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
All exempted	0	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
All excluded	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Request abandoned	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Neither confirmed nor denied	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	11	86	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

3.5.3 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for audio formats

Number of minutes processed	Number of minutes disclosed	Number of requests
0	0	0

3.5.4 Relevant minutes processed per request disposition for audio formats by size of requests

Disposition	Less than 60 minutes processed		60-120 minutes processed		More than 120 minutes processed
	Number of requests	Minutes processed	Number of requests	Minutes processed	Number of requests	Minutes processed
All disclosed	0	0	0	0	0	0
Disclosed in part	0	0	0	0	0	0
All exempted	0	0	0	0	0	0
All excluded	0	0	0	0	0	0
Request abandoned	0	0	0	0	0	0
Neither confirmed nor denied	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	0	0	0

3.5.5 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for video formats

Number of minutes processed	Number of minutes disclosed	Number of requests
0	0	0

3.5.6 Relevant minutes processed per request disposition for video formats by size of requests

Disposition	Less than 60 minutes processed		60-120 minutes processed		More than 120 minutes processed
	Number of requests	Minutes processed	Number of requests	Minutes processed	Number of requests	Minutes processed
All disclosed	0	0	0	0	0	0
Disclosed in part	0	0	0	0	0	0
All exempted	0	0	0	0	0	0
All excluded	0	0	0	0	0	0
Request abandoned	0	0	0	0	0	0
Neither confirmed nor denied	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	0	0	0

3.5.7 Other complexities

Disposition	Consultation required	Legal advice sought	Interwoven information	Other	Total
All disclosed	0	0	0	0	0
Disclosed in part	0	0	0	0	0
All exempted	0	0	0	0	0
All excluded	0	0	0	0	0
Request abandoned	0	0	0	0	0
Neither confirmed nor denied	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	0	0

3.6 Closed requests

3.6.1 Number of requests closed within legislated timelines

Number of requests closed within legislated timelines	23
Percentage of requests closed within legislated timelines (%)	92

3.7 Deemed refusals

3.7.1 Reasons for not meeting legislated timelines

Number of requests closed past the legislated timelines	Principal reason
	Interferences with operations / Workload	External consultation	Internal consultation	Other
2	2	0	0	0

3.7.2 Requests closed beyond legislated timelines (including any extension taken)

Number of days past legislated timelines	Number of requests past legislated timeline where no extension was taken	Number of requests past legislated timeline where an extension was taken	Total
1–15 days	2	0	0
16–30 days	0	0	0
31–60 days	0	0	0
61–120 days	0	0	0
121–180 days	0	0	0
181–365 days	0	0	0
More than 365 days	0	0	0
Total	2	0	2

3.8 Requests for translation

Translation requests	Accepted	Refused	Total
English to French	0	0	0
French to English	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0

Section 4: Disclosures under subsections 8(2) and 8(5)

Paragraph 8(2)(e)	Paragraph 8(2)(m)	Subsection 8(5)	Total
0	0	0	0

Section 5: Requests for correction of personal information and notations

Disposition for correction requests received	Number
Notations attached	0
Requests for correction accepted	0
Total	0

Section 6: Extensions

6.1 Reasons for extensions and disposition of requests

6.2 Length of extension

Section 7: Consultations received from other institutions and organizations

7.1 Consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions, organizations

Consultations	Other Government of Canada institutions	Number of pages to review	Other organizations	Number of pages to review
Received during the reporting period	0	0	0	0
Outstanding from the previous reporting period	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	0
Closed during the reporting period	0	0	0	0
Carried over within negotiated timelines	0	0	0	0
Carried over beyond negotiated timelines	0	0	0	0

7.2 Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions

Recommendation	Number of days required to complete consultation requests
	1 –15 days	16–30 days	31–60 days	61–120 days	121–180 days	181–365 days	More than 365 days	Total
All disclosed	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Disclosed in part	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
All exempted	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
All excluded	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Consult other institution	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

7.3 Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other organizations outside the Government of Canada

Recommendation	Number of days required to complete consultation requests
	1–15 days	16–30 days	31–60 days	61–120 days	121–180 days	181–365 days	More than 365 days	Total
All disclosed	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Disclosed in part	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
All exempted	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
All excluded	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Consult other institution	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Section 8: Completion time of consultations on Cabinet confidences

8.1 Requests with Legal Services

Number of days	Fewer than 100 pages processed		101–500 pages processed		501–1000 pages processed		1001–5000 pages processed		More than 5000 pages processed
	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed
1–15	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
16–30	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
31–60	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
61–120	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
121–180	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
181–365	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
More than 365	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

8.2 Requests with Privy Council Office

Number of days	Fewer than 100 pages processed		101–500 pages processed		501–1000 pages processed		1001–5000 pages processed		More than 5000 pages processed
	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed	Number of requests	Pages disclosed
1–15	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
16–30	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
31–60	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
61–120	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
121–180	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
181–365	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
More than 365	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Section 9: Complaints and investigation notices received

Section 31	Section 33	Section 35	Court action	Total
0	0	0	0	0

Section 10: Privacy impact assessments (PIAs) and personal information banks (PIBs)

10.1 Privacy impact assessments

Number of PIA(s) completed	0
Number of PIA(s) modified	0

10.2 Institution-specific and central personal information banks

Personal information banks	Active	Created	Terminated	Modified
Institution-specific	2	0	0	0
Central	53	0	0	0
Total	55	0	0	0

Section 11: Privacy breaches

11.1 Material privacy breaches reported

Number of material privacy breaches reported to TBS	0
Number of material privacy breaches reported to OPC	0

11.2 Non-material privacy breaches

Number of non-material privacy breaches	1

Section 12: Resources related to the Privacy Act

12.1 Allocated costs

Expenditures		Amount
Salaries		$26,704
Overtime		$0
Goods and services		$0
Professional services contracts	$0
Other	$0
Total		$26,704

12.2 Human resources

Resources	Person-years dedicated to privacy activities
Full-time employees	0.400
Part-time and casual employees	0.000
Regional staff	0.000
Consultants and agency personnel	0.000
Students	0.000
Total	0.400