Information & Ethics committee  We get temporary resident applications. Often, if the applicants are refused, they want to know why. Generally, the letter that goes out to them explaining the refusal is very general, so the ATIP seeks more details on their refusal.

Information & Ethics committee  I referred earlier to the temporary resident visas that we get requests on. We get requests on why people were refused. The numbers are increasing, certainly the number of temporary resident visa applications that we get, but typically in a year we approve roughly 1.8 million, I

Information & Ethics committee  I don't know whether the requests would be more complex. If they're related to case files, typically they're easier—not that they're easy, but they're easier to handle than other requests are. But just the volume.... We could probably anticipate a doubling of our volume in one ye

Information & Ethics committee  It has not increased at the same rate as the number of requests we've received. At the same time, we've taken steps to improve the efficiencies through which analysts can process requests that we receive.

Information & Ethics committee  Perhaps I could answer that as well. We also want to understand better why people are making ATIP requests. Everybody has a different reason. They fall under broad categories. If we can understand better why people are making requests when they are making requests, we can more

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chair, my name is Michael Olsen. I'm the director general of corporate affairs and chief privacy officer at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Accompanying me today is Audrey White. She's the director of access to information and privacy at IRCC. I thank you for w

Information & Ethics committee  Yes. Our staff complement varies over the year. We have casual employees and we have full-time employees. Roughly, there are about 80 full-time equivalent employees in ATIP at IRCC. Our budget is around $5 million.

Information & Ethics committee  If the extension is asked for and granted, then that would count as the time limit.

Information & Ethics committee  The extensions that are granted in cases have to be justified. If we go beyond 30 days, that 30 days does have to be justified.

Information & Ethics committee  The doubling really has been due to the fact that obviously privacy is a growing concern of everyone. I think everyone realizes that. Ten years ago it was not the concern for the public that it is now. People are interested in knowing what information the government has on them.

Information & Ethics committee  To my mind, again, proposed section 6 is probably not going to hurt the volume growth. A lot of the ATIP requests we receive are related to case files. People want to know about immigration case files. They've made an application for permanent residence or temporary residence, an

Information & Ethics committee  Yes. I think about 96% of our requests are related to case information.

Information & Ethics committee  That's correct.

Information & Ethics committee  We are working on a way to get that information to people much more easily. It's not necessarily as easy as it might appear at first blush.

Information & Ethics committee  We are on AccessPro Case Management. Most departments are, as I understand. We use it, but it's getting near the end of its useful life. I know that Treasury Board Secretariat is actively looking at replacing it, and we look forward to the replacement.