2014-2015 - Annual Report to Parliament - Privacy Act

The Director General of the Corporate Secretariat is Environment Canada’s Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator, and has delegated authority on all matters concerning Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP). The ATIP Division, which is a part of the Corporate Secretariat, is the central coordinating body for all requests received by Environment Canada under the Privacy Act and the Access to Information Act.

The ATIP Division directs all activities within Environment Canada relating to the administration, application and promotion of the Privacy Act and the Access to Information Act. It provides advice to senior management on the implementation of the statutes and prepares reports to Parliament, the Treasury Board Secretariat and senior management. The ATIP Division represents the Department in complaints and investigations conducted by the Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner of Canada, and in any Federal Court applications arising from ATIP matters.

The ATIP Division is currently comprised of 17 officers. In 2014-2015, Environment Canada completed the design and implementation of a new Access to Information and Privacy organizational structure in order to improve capacity and meet future needs.

Capacity Development

Environment Canada remains committed to recruiting, training and maintaining a workforce that possesses specialized skills and that will continue to provide the best possible service to both internal and external clients.

With the completion of the new ATIP Division organizational structure, Environment Canada undertook several staffing activities to fill the newly created positions. It is anticipated that these additional resources will be in place early in the 2015-2016 fiscal year.

Environment Canada is also continuing to focus on developing capacity through its ATIP Professional Development Program. The program aims to train employees over a period of three to five years through a combination of competency-based training, professional development training and work assignments. Candidates enter the program at the PM-01 or PM-02 level and graduate as Senior ATIP Advisors at the PM-04 level. Current participants are progressing through the program.

The Professional Development Program is enabling the ATIP Division to better manage increasing workloads while facilitating succession planning through the transfer of corporate memory. The program also encourages staff to remain with the Department for a longer period of time.