Information & Ethics Committee on Nov. 24th, 2009

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

Order.

This is meeting 39 of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics. Our order of the day is pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the study of the Treasury Board directive on recordkeeping.

This morning our witnesses from the Treasury Board Secretariat are Peter Bruce, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Chief Information Officer Branch; and from Library and Archives Canada, Douglas Rimmer, Assistant Deputy Minister, Documentary Heritage Collection Sector.

Good morning, gentlemen. It's a pleasure to have you come before us. It's the first time for both of us, and I know that because this is a relatively new area, the members are very anxious to get a primer on your area of work and the importance to the work we do and how we can work collaboratively as we move forward.

Welcome.

Do both of you have opening remarks? You do. Who would like to go first?

Please proceed, Mr. Bruce.

[Peter Bruce, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Chief Information Officer Branch, Treasury Board Secretariat]

Good morning. Mr. Chairman, thank you for inviting us to appear before your committee to discuss the Treasury Board's new “Directive on Recordkeeping” under the Policy on Information Management.

My name is Peter Bruce and I am Deputy Chief Information Officer for the Government of Canada.

With me here today is Mr. Doug Rimmer, Assistant Deputy Minister of the Documentary Heritage Collection Sector for Library and Archives Canada.

To begin, it's important to note that Treasury Board Secretariat, Library and Archives Canada, and deputy heads all have shared responsibility in ensuring effective recordkeeping. Under the Financial Administration Act, Treasury Board is responsible for issuing management policies and guidelines within the federal public service. Treasury Board Secretariat supports Treasury Board in this role by developing policies and guidelines to support effective and consistent information management across government. The policy on information management and its related directives, including the directive on recordkeeping, are under the responsibility of Treasury Board Secretariat.

Under the Library and Archives of Canada Act, the Librarian and Archivist of Canada has the authority to issue disposition authorities and has the power to delegate this authority for the disposition of information resources. Perhaps more importantly for the purpose of today's discussion, he also provides direction and assistance on recordkeeping to institutions within the Government of Canada. My colleague, Mr. Rimmer, will provide additional information on the role of Library and Archives in a few minutes.

Finally, it is important to note that deputy heads are responsible for ensuring that their organizations comply with all management policies and legislative requirements and, more specifically, that they have responsibility for the management and administration of information.

Now I would like to provide you with more information on the information management policies that fall under Treasury Board Secretariat's responsibilities. In the context of our renewal of Treasury Board policies, the policy on information management came into effect on July 1, 2007, and replaced the former management of government information policy. It clarifies the responsibilities of deputy heads for fostering informed decision-making; facilitating accountability, transparency, and collaboration; and preserving and ensuring access to information in records for the benefit of present and future generations.

Implementation of the policy on information management is supported by the newly issued directive on recordkeeping. This directive supports strengthening specific information management protocols and practices to achieve effective stewardship of government information resources. It enables departments to create, acquire, capture, manage, and protect the integrity of information resources in the delivery of mandated programs and services.

The directive also clarifies the responsibilities of the designated Senior Information Management Official within each department for: identifying information resources based on an analysis of departmental functions and activities; identifying, documenting, and mitigating risks to the protection of information resources; and establishing and implementing key methodologies and tools to support recordkeeping requirements.

Furthermore, the directive places a priority on ensuring that digital information is accessible, shareable, and usable over time and through technological change. This directive will be implemented over a five-year span.

The directive was developed in collaboration with Library and Archives Canada. Consultations were conducted throughout all levels of the federal public service and with senior departmental representatives responsible for information management and access to information. These consultations identified very strong support for the implementation of mandatory requirements for recordkeeping, as well as the need for recordkeeping tools to support program and service delivery. Mandatory requirements will ensure transparency and accountability of mandated programs and services.

Deputy heads of government institutions are ultimately responsible for compliance to information management policy and the effective management of information resources under the control of their respective institutions.

Departments are assessed annually on their compliance to information management policy through the Treasury Board Secretariat's management accountability framework. The management accountability framework sets out the Treasury Board's expectations of senior public service managers for good public service management, and assessments are completed each year across 19 different areas of management, one of which is effectiveness of information management.

Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, as you know the Treasury Board Secretariat is strongly committed to transparency and accountability. Strong, comprehensive recordkeeping protocols and practices are important to enabling departments to efficiently respond to access to information requests. The Directive on Recordkeeping and its supporting standards and guidelines reinforce the discipline and rigour needed to ensure effective recordkeeping.

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my opening remarks. I would be pleased to respond to questions relating to the directive on recordkeeping following Mr. Rimmer's opening remarks.

Merci.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

Thank you very much, Mr. Bruce.

Mr. Rimmer, please.

[Douglas Rimmer, Assistant Deputy Minister, Documentary Heritage Collection Sector, Library and Archives Canada]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for inviting me to address you on the issue of the directive on recordkeeping.

Under the Library and Archives of Canada Act, Parliament assigned the librarian and archivist the responsibility of providing direction and guidance to departments and agencies on the management of records and the authority to control the disposition of records within government institutions. A key part of fulfilling these roles in the 21st century is the modernization of recordkeeping. Put simply, the volume of information generated by the government is growing exponentially. The methodologies prescribed by the new directive on recordkeeping are needed for the government to be able to manage this information in a sustainable manner.

Library and Archives Canada believes the directive on recordkeeping supports its mandate to deliver effective 21st century recordkeeping direction and guidance to government departments and agencies. This in turn ensures the ability of departments and agencies to find, retrieve, and use information in support of current decision-making, while also ensuring, in the long term, that the historical records of these institutions can be readily identified and easily transferred to us, making this documentary heritage available to all Canadians.

Effective, recordkeeping establishes ways and means for organizations to capitalize on corporate information as a key business asset and enabler. This supports current decision-making, documents business activity, and satisfies stewardship, accountability and legal requirements.

Over the last few years, the work of Library and Archives Canada to address systematic issues in the management of information in the Government of Canada has made great strides. These efforts have concentrated on reducing the legacy of unmanaged paper and electronic records as well as working to build capacity to manage the ever-changing digital landscape of electronic records. Perhaps, most importantly, LAC has been helping to find policy solutions to the problem. It is these solutions that I want to discuss today.

We are working closely with the chief information officer branch of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, and our two departments have developed a suite of policy instruments. These instruments support and complement our own mandate, as well as the administration of access to information.

Primary among these policies is the directive on recordkeeping issued in June of this year. The directive lays out a strong framework that will improve recordkeeping within government. It ensures that records are created, captured, used, and managed as business assets, and that they are stored properly and disposed of in accordance with the Library and Archives of Canada Act. Importantly, the directive and the tools and guidelines that accompany it are designed to anticipate and effectively manage digital work environments.

The key to effective 21st century recordkeeping lies in the identification and management of what we call information resources of business value. This concept, which is based on international standards, gives departments and agencies a sound basis from which to manage their information resources in order to support their delivery of mandated programs and services. The directive on recordkeeping supports deputy heads in instilling discipline and rigour over the creation, capture, and management of information resources, improving accountability.

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat is responsible for the Directive on Recordkeeping. LAC continues to support the Secretariat through the development of complementary tools and guidelines and through awareness and training sessions. Moreover, under the Library and Archives of Canada Act, the disposition (destruction or transfer) of government records is authorized solely by the Librarian and Archivist of Canada.

The timely disposition (when legal and operational needs have expired) of government information is an essential component of sound recordkeeping. Good recordkeeping thus furthers the mandate of LAC in preserving the historical record of the Canadian government.

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I’d like to end by stressing that, as you know, a change in culture is essential for the implementation of effective 21st century recordkeeping in government. The Information Commissioner clearly identified “challenges that the modern digital environment presents” as one of the biggest current obstacles to effective recordkeeping. The Directive on Recordkeeping will result in better management of the creation and use of information as well as reducing legacies of unmanaged electronic and paper information. This will lead to improved accountability and stewardship, and, therefore, ultimately improve ATI responsiveness.

This concludes my statement. I would be more than pleased to respond to any questions from members of the committee relating to Library and Archives Canada’s role in improving the state of recordkeeping in the Government of Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

Thank you kindly.

We'll go straight to questions. We'll start with Mr. Wrzesnewskyj, please.

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, gentlemen, for coming to our committee.

On this new directive, there are certain exceptions to the rules and they are referenced as rare exceptions. What are those rare exceptions?

[Peter Bruce]

The biggest exception is that the new recordkeeping directive applies to the 112 departments that are covered in sections 1 and 2 of the Financial Administration Act. So while the directive is a mandatory instrument for those institutions, it is more of a voluntary compliance instrument for other organizations.

We anticipate that they will find this leads to best practices, and that what has been developed here through a broad consultative process, consistent with the Library and Archives Canada legislation and the expectations in the Financial Administration Act, will be adopted. But that's a significant exception.

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Are there any others?

[Douglas Rimmer]

Yes, section 2.3 of the directive refers to some exceptions. Various sections of the directive do not apply to specific organizations, such as the Office of the Auditor General, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, and a number of others that are mentioned there. Again, it is relative to certain sections of the directive that don't apply to those particular organizations, given their specific mandates.

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

How would the rules change when it pertains to documents that have been tagged as cabinet confidences?

[Peter Bruce]

The rules under the recordkeeping directive would require that they be properly managed, and all aspects of the recordkeeping directive apply to those documents. I think there are questions of how exceptions get handled in the access to information policy and legislation for those documents, but for recordkeeping purposes, this directive applies.

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

So it's the same.

When it comes to the destruction of documents, there's now a very clear protocol. We seem to have a clear set of rules right now. Previously, what were the rules?

My concern is, how well has this been communicated through the whole public service that these are the protocols to be followed, that you do not destroy documents, including that you do not hit the delete button on your e-mails, because we have a new regime in place right now and these are the rules to be followed?

So there are two parts to my question.

[Peter Bruce]

That would relate most closely to the provisions in the Library and Archives of Canada Act, so I'll have Doug answer.

[Douglas Rimmer]

I'm happy to respond to that question.

If you're asking what were the previous rules, Library and Archives Canada and its predecessor agencies go back to 1872, so we've been collecting government records since that time, and a variety of different regimes have governed that. But essentially we have been responsible for the disposition of records, which can include one of three outcomes: the records come to Library and Archives Canada for permanent storage; they're transferred outside of the Government of Canada's control, so they may be transferred to another entity entirely; or they're destroyed.

We govern that disposition through what we call records disposition authorities. These are agreements that are signed between Library and Archives Canada and each organization that is subject to our act. That identifies the records that need to be maintained and those that can be destroyed. Some records need to be maintained for a much longer period of time as business records of the active department, never mind their historical value as archival records when they come to us. So each of those records and disposition authorities is specific to the institution that governs it. Until such a records disposition authority is in place, departments are not authorized to destroy records.

There are also specific provisions in other legislation, such as the Access to Information Act, that deal with particular situations, but generally with respect to the ongoing management of government records, it's our legislation and the tool we use is the records disposition authorities.

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Okay, so departments aren't supposed to destroy documents. That's up to you to make that decision right now. How has that been communicated throughout the public service?

A lot of things these days get decided, for instance, by e-mails, and all it takes is hitting that delete button. So what is in place to communicate this new regime, and what are the consequences should people not follow the regime? How do you even know?

[Douglas Rimmer]

We communicate this out to departments by contacting the officials responsible for information management within departments, reminding them that the authority rests with the librarian and archivist of Canada, and that they need to develop with us a records disposition authority, which we sign with them and which then permits them to dispose of the records that we have agreed can be disposed of.

There are many administrative and temporary documents that departments have the authority to destroy themselves under those records disposition authorities. We don't simply rely on departments phoning us up and saying, “Hey, we'd like a records disposition authority.” We're aware of which federal institutions there are; we're aware of all of those where we need to have records disposition authorities in place; and we have an ongoing process of updating and renewing those as mandates change, because as the mandate of a department changes, that generates new information needs.

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

It basically sounds like the honour system, and that means it's somewhat toothless. When you also take a look at the number of documents and how this is exponentially increasing, it's virtually impossible for oversight when it comes to the destruction of documents.

Why wouldn't we put in a system--it has been mentioned a number of times--similar to that in New Zealand, where all documents are immediately posted? It's an open regime in New Zealand, similar to what we have within the Justice branch of government. Everything is publicly available, and posted publicly.

[Douglas Rimmer]

I'll handle the first part of that question.

Under the Library and Archives of Canada Act, if the librarian and archivist of Canada believes records are at risk--and they might be at risk for any number of reasons, physical or other risks that they could be exposed to--we do have the ability to go and get those records. We also have the ability not only to advise, but to require that departments not destroy certain records. So the agreements that we have in place through the RDAs are a tool by which we can actively control what records get destroyed.

[Peter Bruce]

I'll add two quick comments on the communication and then get to the second part of your question.

The recordkeeping directive actually flows from the policy on information management, which includes a role for the Canada School of Public Service in terms of disseminating information, and they embed information about the provisions in these policies into their courses for orientation for new government employees as well as for development for senior executives and functional specialists.

On the second part of your question about moving to a more open model, we believe this recordkeeping directive will really help in terms of getting the information organized in a way that would allow something like that to happen in the future. It's a positive step in that direction, but there are currently no plans.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

Madam Freeman, s'il vous plaît.

[Carole Freeman, Bloc, Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC]

Good morning, Mr. Bruce and Mr. Rimmer. Thank you for being here today.

I read the directive and I see that an effort is being made on paper to improve the Access to Information Act. However, I would like you to explain to me to a greater degree how this directive is applied in the departments. We see here that a departmental senior official is responsible for information management. A deputy head appoints a senior official. Who is the deputy head? Who does he appoint in each of the departments to manage this directive?

[Peter Bruce]

It's the deputy minister or the head of the institution who appoints the senior official responsible for information management in each department.

[Carole Freeman, Bloc, Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC]

It's the deputy minister?

[Peter Bruce]

It's the deputy minister or the head of the institution.

[Carole Freeman, Bloc, Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC]

All right.