2024-2025 Annual Report on the Access to Information Act

1. Introduction

The Military Police Complaints Commission of Canada (MPCC) is pleased to submit to Parliament its Annual Report on the administration of the Access to Information Act for the fiscal year 2024-25 (April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025). This report was prepared and tabled in accordance with section 94 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.

The Access to Information Act gives Canadian citizens, permanent residents or any individuals and corporation present in Canada, a right to access information contained in government records, subject to certain specific and limited exceptions. Providing access to government records is a cornerstone of transparency and accountability and a pillar of Canada’s democracy.

The MPCC is an administrative tribunal created by Parliament to provide independent, civilian oversight of the Canadian Forces Military Police. As a federal institution, it is part of the Defence portfolio for reporting purposes.

The MPCC's mandate is set out in Part IV of the National Defence Act, which provides the following powers:

• monitoring investigations by the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal of military police conduct complaints;
• reviewing disposition of conduct complaints about military police members, at the request of complainants;
• investigating complaints of interference made by military police members;
• conducting public interest investigations and hearings;
• reporting findings and making recommendations to the military police and national defence leadership.

The mission of the MPCC is to promote and ensure the highest standards of conduct by the military police, to deter interference in military police investigations and to enhance public confidence in military policing.

The MPCC did not have any non-operational (“paper”) subsidiaries to report during this review period.

Finally, the MPCC has submitted and tabled its reports to Parliament.

2. Organizational Structure to Fulfill the MPCC Access to Information Act Responsibilities

The MPCC is a micro-organization of 31 employees. To fulfil its Access to Information Act requirements, access to information including proactive publication is a shared responsibility; however, the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) mandate resides with the Corporate Services Sector.

The Senior Director, Corporate Services, is identified as the MPCC’s ATIP Coordinator; he is supported by both the Manager, Corporate Reporting, ATIP and Administration, and the Administrative Services Officer which in total dedicate an average of 13.3% of their time to fulfil the MPCC’s obligations under both the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act. The MPCC also hires one ATIP consultant, as required.

The ATIP coordinator is responsible for implementing and managing programs and services relating to the MPCC’s administration of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act, as well as for providing advice to its employees as they fulfil their obligations under both Acts.

Responding to Access to Information requests is a shared responsibility between the delegated request processing team and the Offices of Primary Interest.

The main activities involved in processing requests for Access to Information are:

• Analyze purpose/history of requests, interpret legislation, and determine information that may be disclosed, exempted, or excluded.
• Provide advice and consultation to requesters, third-party stakeholders and the MPCC’s management and employees, respond to questions and concerns, ensure that they have a clear understanding of the legislation, the MPCC’s policies and procedures for handling requests, and other Access to Information related issues, including document security classification.
• Conduct research and consultations with other departments and third parties to prepare responses to requests.
• Provide recommendations for the preparation of evidence to be disclosed during a Public Interest Hearing in accordance with the Access to Information Act, Open Court Principles and other applicable policies and procedures.
• Prepare reports for the MPCC’s management on Access to Information requests and statistical reports, Annual Reports for submission to Parliament and information required by Info Source.

The MPCC did not provide services related to access to information to other government institutions and was not party to any service agreements with other government institutions under section 96 of the Access to Information Act.

The responsibility for proactive publication of information falls within the MPCC’s Corporate Services Sector. Corporate Services, by reviewing and approving all monthly proactive disclosure reports, ensures that each proactive publication requirement is met. 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.

3. Delegation Order

Pursuant to section 95(1) of the Access to Information Act, the Chairperson has delegated certain of her powers, duties and functions under the Access to Information Act and related regulations to the Senior Director, Corporate Services, the Manager, Corporate Reporting, ATIP and Administration, and, the Administrative Services Officer. The Delegation Order in effect on March 31, 2025, found in Appendix A was signed in October 2023.

4. Performance under Part 1 of the Access to Information Act, 2024–2025

During this review period, the MPCC responded to 62.5% of the requests received within the legislative timeline. This year the MPCC completed 8 requests, which represented 5,140 pages processed and released 955 pages: 3 from the public, 2 from the media and 2 which declined to identify. Of the 8 requests received by the MPCC this fiscal year: 1 request received full disclosure, 4 requests received partial disclosure, 1 request was transferred to another government department, 1 request was abandoned and 1 for which no records existed.

The graphic below shows, for 2020-21 to 2024-25, the numbers of access to information requests the MPCC completed each year. In 2021-22, the number of requests decreased significantly from the 2020-21 level. In 2021-22, 2022 23, and 2023-24, the number of requests continued to decrease. In 2024-2025 the number of requests increased slightly in comparison to 2023-2024.

The number of completed requests, broken down by completion time were: 4 were completed within 0 to 15 days, 1 was completed within 16 to 30 days, 1 was completed with 31 to 60 days and 2 were completed within 61 to 120 days.

One extension was applied under section 9(1) of the Access to Information Act, due to a request for a consultation with another federal institution.

The MPCC received and closed no consultations relating to the Access to Information Act from other federal institutions, all within a 15-day timeframe.

The MPCC invoked exemptions pursuant to section 19(1) (personal information).

The MPCC closed all active requests during this review period.

No complaints relating to the Access to Information Act were received during this review period.

5. Training and Awareness

The MPCC’s learning directive requires that all new employees complete 2 mandatory online courses related to Access to Information through the Canada School of Public Service portal i.e., Fundamentals of Information Management (COR501) and Access to Information and Privacy Fundamentals (COR502).

Furthermore, employees arriving at the MPCC attend, within their first weeks, an internal awareness session, which provides an overview of the proper handling of information and privacy requests, as well as their role and responsibilities relating to the Access to Information Act.

6. Policies, Guidelines, and Procedures

During this reporting period, the ATIP team continued to use a new procedure to provide quarterly status reports on Access to Information requests received and closed to the attention of the MPCC’s Executive committee. The MPCC formalized its proactive disclosure tracking in 2024-2025.

7. Initiatives and Projects to Improve Access to Information

The following internal initiatives to improve Access to Information were implemented during the reporting period:

• ATIP team actively participates in events organized by the Access to Information and Privacy Communities Development Office (APCDO) to keep our knowledge up to date and to keep abreast of best practices.
• Reviewed our process for obtaining Executive Committee approval for the release of documents related to access to information and/or privacy requests to ensure a consistent application of relevant laws and regulations.