Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and honourable members of the committee.
I would like to thank you for the invitation today and begin by acknowledging that we are gathered on traditional unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe territory.
I am the acting director general of the integrated corporate business branch, and I oversee the team responsible for the access to information and privacy, or ATIP, program within IRCC. I'm joined today by my colleague, Sylvain Beauchamp, the director general for the client experience branch.
With over 204,000 ATIP requests received in 2021-22, IRCC is markedly the most accessed federal government institution. That year, IRCC received nearly 80% of all access to information requests and 28% of all privacy requests submitted to federal government institutions.
IRCC's ATIP volumes have been steadily increasing year over year, with daily requests now averaging more than 800 per day. This poses unique processing challenges that, in turn, affect the department's compliance rates.
In February 2020, Canada's Information Commissioner, Caroline Maynard, initiated a systemic investigation to better understand and address the surge of access for information requests and complaints lodged against IRCC. She also examined departmental strategies employed to address the root cause of the issue, namely the need for timely, improved communication with clients on their immigration applications.
The Information Commissioner called on IRCC to be bold and ambitious in its plans to transform the way it delivers information to its clients, saying the department could become a leader in providing relevant information to clients.
In response, IRCC has undertaken multiple initiatives to modernize its ATIP program and to address the Information Commissioner's recommendations. Specifically, we have been focusing on creating initiatives that improve the client experience through the availability of client immigration information, creating a comprehensive workforce management strategy whereby employees have access to enhanced training and development opportunities, and implementing new tools, technologies and processes.
As the committee has heard in previous appearances, IRCC is facing similar challenges to other government departments with respect to finding qualified ATIP senior staff.
The ATIP program is focusing on its people by working to stabilize senior staff, to train and promote staff from within to retain expertise within the competitive ATIP community, and to participate with the TBS ATIP community development office initiative.
And we are on a positive path forward. Within the past two years, we have moved from an ATIP program led by a single director and three managers to an organization that now has three directors supported by nine managers. ATIP is also a regular topic of conversation at departmental management committees, because IRCC believes access to information and privacy is a fundamental pillar of our democracy.
As we focus on our tools and technologies, we recognize that we can no longer rely on an antiquated system to process ATIP requests. We are incorporating new tools to create efficiencies in the processing of ATIP requests, including the use of robotic process automation in various ATIP processes.
RPA frees up staff from doing repetitive data entry tasks and allows them to instead complete decision-based work. We are also working collaboratively with the Treasury Board Secretariat to onboard to the TBS ATIP online request service portal, and we are actively working to acquire a new software for processing our ATIP requests.
Gains from these initiatives will take time before they can be measurably felt. However, by addressing the root causes driving request volumes and by streamlining our processes, IRCC will be in a better position to meet legislative timelines and to uphold the values of client service excellence, transparency and privacy protection.
Mr. Chair, we would like to thank you again for the invitation to provide IRCC's view on this important subject and for welcoming us here today. My colleague and I look forward to any questions the members of the committee may have.
Thank you.