Annual report to Parliament on the administration of the Access to Information Act 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025

Place du Centre, 4th floor
200 Promenade du Portage
Gatineau QC K1A 1K8

October 07, 2025

The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Internal Trade
President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada 
Minister responsible for Canada–U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs and One Canadian Economy
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6

Dear Minister:

In accordance with section 94 of the Access to Information Act, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada is pleased to submit to Parliament this report on its activities relating to the application of the Act for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

Sincerely,

1. Introduction

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is pleased to table in Parliament this report on its activities relating to the administration of the Access to Information Act (ATIA) in keeping with section 94 of the Act. The report covers the period from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

The ATIA came into force on July 1, 1983, and was significantly amended on June 21, 2019, through the Bill C-59, An Act to amend the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act. The ATIA gives Canadian citizens, permanent residents and all individuals and corporations present in Canada the right of access to records under the control of a government institution. The ATIA extends the present laws of Canada that provide access to information under the control of the Government of Canada and provides for the proactive publication of certain information.

The purpose of the ATIA is to enhance accountability and transparency of federal institutions to promote an open and democratic society and to enable public debate on the conduct of those institutions such as the TSB.

The Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board Act provides the legal framework that governs the TSB’s activities. Our mandate is to advance transportation safety in the air, marine, pipeline, and rail modes of transportation by:

• conducting independent investigations, including public inquiries, when necessary, into selected transportation occurrences in order to make findings as to their causes and contributing factors;
• identifying safety deficiencies, as evidenced by transportation occurrences;
• making recommendations designed to eliminate or reduce any such safety deficiencies; and
• reporting publicly on our investigations and on the findings in relation thereto.

More information on the TSB is available at tsb.gc.ca.

The TSB fulfills its obligations regarding the administration of Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) by following the principle that government information should be available to the public with only specific and limited exceptions, in keeping with established Government of Canada principles. Furthermore, the TSB treats personal information in compliance with the code of fair information practices expressed in the Privacy Act.

Both English and French versions of this report have been submitted and tabled to Parliament.

2. Organizational Structure

The Director General of the Corporate Services Branch holds the responsibilities of the ATIP Coordinator and is also the Chief Information Officer (CIO), the Chief Privacy Officer (CPO), and the Open Government Coordinator (OGC). The ATIP Office reports to the Director General of the Corporate Services Branch and includes one (1) intake officer, three (3) ATIP analysts and 1 (one) ATIP manager. Temporary help was provided by a consultant.

The ATIP Office helps the TSB meeting the requirements under the ATIA and the Privacy Act by:

• centrally administering both formal requests made pursuant to the ATIA and informal requests,
• providing functional advice and guidance to employees concerning the managing of information and protection of privacy under the TSB’s control,
• conducting and responding to consultations with requesters, third parties, TSB employees, and representatives of the Office of the Information Commissioner,
• delivering ATIP training and awareness,
• conducting privacy impact assessments (PIAs),
• documenting and managing privacy breaches,
• communicating with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and the offices of the information and privacy commissioners of Canada about policy and legislative requirements, complaints, and investigations.

The ATIP employees require considerable expertise in the processing of requests, and they are responsible for centrally reviewing and severing all records so as to uphold the integrity of TSB investigations while balancing the need to comply with the ATIA and the Privacy Act. The analysts remain current with the investigation operations of the various transportation modes and their activities and maintain good working relationships with the investigators and a multitude of stakeholders.

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) is responsible for supporting the TSB Chair’s accountability for the requirements under Part 2 of the ATIA, including monitoring and reporting as part of the annual report to Parliament on the application of the ATIA. The Open Government Coordinator (OGC) is responsible to facilitate the proactive publication process which may include publishing on behalf of business owners. The OGC is also responsible for the tracking of the requirements (see section 9. Proactive Publication for details).

3. Designation Order

The head of the institution as defined in section 3 of the ATIA is the Chair of the TSB. The delegation of authority was updated in April 2024.

The Chair delegated under subsection 95(1) of the ATIA full powers to the ATIP Coordinator and some powers to the ATIP Manager for the effective administration of the ATIA. These employees ensure that the TSB meets all its obligations fairly and consistently. A copy of the Delegation Order is attached at Appendix A.

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

Most of the access to information requests made to the TSB pertain to transportation occurrences. In many cases, requests are for copies of complete investigation files which may be very large in volume and in many formats. An investigation file can contain such records as data records, voice recordings, witness statements, laboratory reports, and third-party records of the transport operator, the manufacturer of components, and maintenance logs for engines and pilots’ logs. Considering the significant volume of records and required consultations, the time required to process such requests is lengthy. The status of the investigation itself also affects the access to records and when information may be released under the Act.

Completed formal ATI requests and their trends

The ATIP Office received forty-nine (49) new requests under the ATIA in 2024–25 and fifty-three (53) requests were brought forward from the previous reporting periods, for a total of one hundred and two (102) active requests. Of these, during the current reporting period the ATIP Office completed seventy-three (73), and twenty-nine (29) were carried forward to the next fiscal year. Table 1 shows the variation in workload over the past five years.

The number of completed requests in 2024–25 increased by ten (10) requests to a total of seventy-three (73), or 16% more than in 2023–24. The TSB responded within 30 days or less in twenty-seven (27) or 37% of the seventy-three (73) completed cases in 2024–25, a slight increase from 2023–24 when this value was 35%. The completion times for the remaining requests are detailed in Table 3. Timelines for other requests were extended as authorized by the ATIA.

For 2024–25, the ATIP Office completed the search, preparation, and review of 87,525 pages of information, in addition to 47 minutes in video and 1,057 minutes in audio format (compared to 31,642 pages in 2023–24; 40,864 pages in 2022–23; 50,537 pages in 2021–22; and 15,853 pages in 2020–21). The ATIP Office released 46,185 pages of information (compared to 15,150 pages in 2023–24; 21,909 pages in 2022–23; 18,573 pages in 2021–22; and 6025 pages in 2020–21.

Active formal ATI requests

The number of active requests that are outstanding from previous reporting periods, carried forward at the end of the present reporting period, was twenty-nine (29). Of these, nineteen (19) were outstanding from more than one reporting period. Table 3 details the numbers by fiscal years and legislated timelines.

Complaints on formal ATI requests

During 2024–25, five (5) new complaints were received by the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada (OIC) about the TSB’s files.

The OIC formally notified the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of its decision to discontinue investigations in five cases. Furthermore, the TSB received one initial report pursuant to subsection 37(1) of the Access to Information Act (ATIA), indicating the Information Commissioner’s intent to issue an order. In addition, three final reports were received under subsection 37(2) of the Act, one of which included an order. There were three (3) outstanding complaints at the end of the reporting period 2024–25.

The TSB continues to cooperate with the OIC regarding all outstanding complaints. Table 4 shows the number of active complaints that are outstanding from previous reporting periods.

Extensions of formal ATI requests

The ATIP Office applied time extensions forty-one (41) times. These extensions were applied under the paragraph 9(1)(a) ATIA – Interference with operations/workload in thirty-nine (39) cases, under the paragraph 9(1)(b) ATIA – Consultation in thirty (30) cases, and under the paragraph 9(1)(c) ATIA – Third-party notice in nineteen (19) cases. The extensions of time under paragraph 9(1)(a) stemmed from the large volume of records, with one file exceeding 82,000 pages. The consultations under the paragraph 9(1)(b) ATIA require an extended period as the third parties are not subject to the ATIA, who may not fully grasp legal requirements despite the guidance provided. Assistance was occasionally necessary to clarify appropriate grounds for redaction. The ATIP Office established regular communication with requesters. Before applying extensions on files, we reach out proactively to the requesters to discuss the scope of the requests and the needs. This way the requesters have the chance to reduce the scope, amend it or acknowledge the time needed for the extensions.

Consultations from other institutions on formal ATI requests

The ATIP Office received twenty (20) consultation requests from other departments, agencies, and other organizations in 2024–25, and closed twenty-six (26) of the consultations, as six (6) of them were outstanding from the 2023–24 fiscal year. In total, 1,886 pages were processed in 2024–25. All the active consultations were completed in 2024–25 and none were carried over to the next reporting period.

Disposition of formal ATI requests

Of the seventy-three (73) requests completed during the current reporting period, records were fully disclosed to applicants in one (1) case (or 1%). Records pertaining to forty-six (46) (or 63%) requests were released with some portions exempted, and records for four (4) (or 5%) requests were fully exempted. Records did not exist for eight (8) requests (or 11%), one (1) request (or 1%) was transferred to another institution. The TSB contacted the requesters of the backlog files and asked if they wished to continue their Access request, and several requesters stated they no longer wanted the information. As a result, the ATIP office abandoned thirteen (13) files (or 18%) with the consent of the requesters.

A breakdown of the exemptions and exclusions exercised during the reporting period is shown in Table 5.

Sources of formal ATI requests

As shown in Figure 1, eighteen (18) new requests came from business (i.e., legal firms) representing clients affected by or involved in transportation occurrences. Sixteen (16) requests were from members of the public, eleven (11) declined to identify, three (3) were from other organizations, and one (1) was from media.

Image

Other Performance Information

The ATIP Office makes every reasonable effort to process requests within the 30-day time limit as required by legislation. The ATIP Office succeeded in completing sixty percent (60%) of the requests within the timelines required by law in 2024–25. As to outstanding requests, many involve a large volume of records, which require reviewing of large numbers of pages and the identification of consultations which shall be completed prior to release.

In 2024–25 the ATIP Office received and completed seven (7) internal consultation requests. These requests are informal reviews and do not fall under the ATIA.

Our office received and completed seventy (70) informal requests in the 2024–25 reporting period, compared to twenty-seven (27) informal requests during 2023–24. These figures do not include other information requests responded to directly by the Communications Branch, the Operational Services Branch, and other areas of the TSB. Our office also responds to internal ATIP-related requests for advice and guidance.

5. Training and Awareness

The TSB has an orientation program in place for new employees, which includes training on ATIP awareness. The ATIP manager delivers comprehensive ATIP training sessions at the TSB that are mandatory for all staff. During the 2024–25 fiscal year, the ATIP manager updated the training on access to information and privacy at the TSB to add a new training module to reflect the current ATIP legislation and policy instruments. In addition, new TSB employees are required to take the course “Access to Information and Privacy Fundamentals” offered by the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS) as a prerequisite for the ATIP training session delivered by the ATIP manager.

Twenty-eight (28) people took the CSPS courses related to ATIP and the ATIP manager delivered three (3) training sessions on ATIP in the 2024–25. Two sessions, one in English and one in French, were for the new employees (17 participants) and one bilingual session was for branch employees (23 participants) tailored to their needs. In addition to this, the ATIP employees provided informal training and advice to TSB employees, as needed.

For the Part 2 of the ATIA, related to Proactive Publication, there was no training provided in the 2024–25 fiscal year.

6. Policies, Guidelines, and Procedures

In the 2024–25, the TSB has created a new internal web page dedicated to access to information and privacy. This new web page consolidates all the ATIP related information needed by TSB employees including processes for handling requests, making a request for their own personal information, roles and responsibilities in requests for information, privacy at the TSB, training on ATIP and all related links to legislation, policy instruments, oversight Commissioners and other links.

The ATIP office also created additional procedures related to third-party consultations, employees’ personal information in ATIP files, ATIP repositories, publishing of the ATI summaries on Open Government, and the organization of records. These instruments guide the ATIP Office analysts in processing the files and ensures consistency. For the Part 2 of the ATIA, the TSB has not put in place any new procedures and systems.

7. Initiatives and Projects to Improve Access to Information

During the 2024–25 reporting period, the TSB continued using and refining its new tracking system, ATIP Xpress (AX), previously adopted. All the 2024–25 ATIP requests were processed using the new tracking system.

Other initiatives to improve access to information include conducting a comprehensive review of guides and templates with input from stakeholders and the TSB Legal team.

8. Summary of Key Issues and Actions Taken on Complaints

The TSB ATIP Office initiated regular communication with the OIC manager, the investigators and the requesters and cooperates with the OIC regarding all outstanding complaints.

The number of complaints to the OIC on our files decreased from seven (7) in 2023–24 to five (5) in 2024–25. Three (3) complaints were on processing delay and two (2) of them were on the applied exemptions. The delay complaints are for ATIP files that are complex, voluminous and very often require consultations with third parties and other government departments. The consultation process is long especially with third parties, because they are not subject to the ATIA and don’t necessarily understand the legislative requirements. For the complaints on exemptions, the TSB collaborated with the OIC, provided detailed and well supported justifications on applied exemptions and re-released very little additional information.

The TSB received an order from the OIC to complete a file within 35 days. The TSB complied and was able to complete this file.

9. Proactive Publication under Part 2 of the ATIA

The business owners at the TSB are responsible to provide information required to be proactively published to the Open Government Coordinator and the Chief Information Officer, in prescribed templates where available, in a bilingual and accessible format, within the required timelines. They are also responsible to consult with the ATIP Office as required to obtain recommendations on information that is not required or not permitted to be published pursuant to sections 80 and 90 of the ATIA, consistent with exemptions or exclusions under Part 1 of the ATIA, when appropriate, considering the purpose of the ATIA.

The TSB also publishes the summaries of the completed access to information requests that are required by the section 4.1.46 of the Directive on Access to Information Requests within 30 days after the end of each month. For the 2024–25 fiscal year, the TSB met 100% of the deadline compliance for proactively publishing summaries of the completed access to information requests.

The TSB registered progress with the proactive publications within the established timeframes. Despite the effort, the TSB still exceeded some due dates, and this interfered with the compliance rate. On the other side, like the other federal government departments, limited internal resources had an impact and played a key role in the proactive publication process.

10. Monitoring Compliance

The TSB monitors the access to information program through weekly bilateral meetings between the ATIP Coordinator and the ATIP Manager. During these meetings, the ATIP Manager regularly debriefs the ATIP Coordinator on the status of the outstanding requests, complaints to the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada (OIC), any issues related to ATIP and also seeks the approval of the completed files. The ATIP Coordinator then debriefs the Chief Operating Officer on the status of the complaints to OIC, privacy breaches, or any significant issues. The ATIP Manager meets regularly with each ATIP analyst regarding the ongoing processing of requests.

As well, the institution monitors, via the Director General (ATIP Coordinator), Corporate Services, the accuracy, and completeness of proactively published information under Part 2 of the Act. Senior management (Director level and above) reviews and approves the publications under their responsibility before each publication. An annual review of the last fiscal year’s proactive disclosure activities is performed between the Open Government Coordinator and the Chief Information Officer (Director General, Corporate Services) in May to assess and adjust the process as needed.

The statistics required by the Treasury Board Secretariat are found at Appendices B and C.

Appendices

Appendix A – Designation Order

Appendix C – Supplemental Statistical Report

Supplemental Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act

Name of institution: Transportation Safety Board of Canada

Reporting period: 2024-04-01 to 2025-03-31

Section 1: Requests Carried Over and Active Complaints Under the Access to Information Act

1.1 Requests carried over to next reporting period, broken down by reporting period received

1.2 Active complaints with the Information Commissioner of Canada, broken down by reporting period received

Section 2: Requests Carried Over and Active Complaints Under the Privacy Act

2.1 Requests carried over to next reporting period, broken down by reporting period received

2.2 Active complaints with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, broken down by reporting period received

Section 3: Social Insurance Number

Section 4: Universal Access under the Privacy Act