2021-22 Departmental Results Report

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

 

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From the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

I am pleased to present the Departmental Results Report of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022.

The OPC is in a time of transition: transition to meet the demands of impending new privacy laws, including the coming into force of a Privacy Act extension order in July; transition to a hybrid work model as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and transition to a new Privacy Commissioner.

Indeed, the results we are reporting on today predate my mandate, which began in June, but will no doubt influence our work in the year ahead as we are at an important time for privacy in Canada. The very first week my appointment was confirmed by the House of Commons and the Senate, the government tabled much anticipated legislation to reform our out-of-date federal private sector privacy law.

Bill C-27, the Digital Charter Implementation Act, is an important step for privacy protection in Canada and we welcome the opportunity to share our views with Parliament in due course. We also look forward to public sector privacy reform, which we hope is not far behind.

Over the last year, the OPC began an ambitious transition plan to ensure we would be able to hit the ground running once new privacy laws are in place. The work has involved costing, growth modeling and planning for and consulting on the eventual new responsibilities we are poised to inherit – a great deal of which became clearer with the tabling of Bill C-27. This work will no doubt continue in the year ahead.

We also spent the last year preparing for Privacy Act Extension Order No. 3, which gives foreign nationals abroad the same right as Canadians to request access to personal information about themselves that is under the control of federal government institutions. Government institutions, in particular Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, expect to receive a significant amount of new personal information requests, the impacts of which are poised to cascade down into time-limit and access complaints to our office. As such, we have explored solutions to enhance our capacity to respond.

In anticipation of law reform, we have also focused our efforts on developing a new framework for the preparation and evaluation of future guidance. Along with our provincial and territorial counterparts, we published important guidance for police on facial recognition technology this past year.

The pandemic has continued to have an impact on operations at the OPC. Over the last year, we have engaged in a number of investigations, consultations and advisory initiatives related to both public and private sector COVID-19 response measures and activities. We have also been preparing the office for a return to in-person work under a new hybrid model.

The OPC is committed to achieve substantive equality of both French and English in the workplace and full respect for linguistic rights of the public and employees. To that effect, the office launched its Official Languages Strategic Plan. Furthermore, in our effort to advance anti racism, equity and inclusion, we developed an employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan. These plans will guide our efforts through 2024.

I am happy and humbled to have joined such an impressive team at such an exciting time. Helping to safeguard our fundamental right to privacy in the face of a digital economy increasingly fuelled by personal information is a challenge I welcome. I look forward to building upon the OPC’s strong record when it comes to achieving results for Canadians.

Results at a glance

 

 

For more information on the OPC’s plans, priorities and results achieved, see the “Results: what we achieved” section in this report.

Results: what we achieved

Core Responsibility

Protection of privacy rights

Description

Ensure the protection of privacy rights of Canadians; enforce privacy obligations by federal government institutions and private-sector organizations; provide advice to Parliament on potential privacy implications of proposed legislation and government programs; promote awareness and understanding of rights and obligations under federal privacy legislation.

Results

The 2021-22 results achieved by the OPC under each of the office’s Departmental Results are described below.

Departmental result 1: Privacy rights are respected and obligations are met.

Over the past year, the OPC undertook a number of compliance actions to significantly advance the protection of Canadians' personal information and promote a better understanding of the rights and obligations of individuals and organizations under the federal privacy legislation. This included leading and participating in global compliance efforts, collaborating in investigations and issuance of guidance on privacy issues such as facial recognition. The office also continued to initiate or intervene in litigation cases that have the potential to advance privacy law in Canada and could have a significant impact on the privacy interests of Canadians.

Throughout the year, the OPC worked toward its goal of providing timely responses to complaints filed by Canadians. Over the last year, we continued to streamline investigative processes through the increased use of early resolution and summary investigation, including an expedited process to respond to time limit complaints. Our office also sought technological efficiencies and improved internal processes. This year, 47% of complaints were responded to within service standards, which is below our target of 75% but represents an improvement compared to our 2020-21 result (44%).

The level of complexity of certain files explains in large part our difficulty in addressing complaints within our service standards. Recent rapid evolution of technology, as well as the pandemic measures, have changed the nature of our comprehensive investigations, which now require a more collaborative approach, often involving domestic and international counterparts. The OPC has established itself as a recognized global leader in enforcement collaboration, which has expanded our capacity to take compliance actions and amplified the impact of those actions.

The OPC received funding as part of Budget 2019 to enhance its ability to deliver on its mandated obligations, including those relating to new mandatory breach requirements under PIPEDA, within the current legislative framework and in the face of the exponential growth of the digital economy.

We made great strides in reducing the overall backlog of complaints older than 12 months to an acceptable level. Unfortunately, this temporary funding for backlog ended in March. Though it temporarily increased our capacity to deal with the volume of complaints, it was not a permanent solution to help us deal appropriately with the full volume and complexity of compliance issues emerging on a daily basis.

We also measure the percentage of recommendations accepted and implemented by federal institutions and private sector organizations in a compliance context. Over the past year, we surpassed our target of 85% by reaching 86% of complaints resolved to our satisfaction. While this result demonstrates that we are able to resolve instances of non-compliance after the fact on a case-by-case basis, this measure only reflects the resolution of those privacy issues we were made, or became, aware of.

The OPC maintains that fundamental changes to our laws are required to protect Canadians and restore balance in their relationship with organizations. Robust privacy laws are key to promoting trust in both government and commercial activities; without that trust, innovation and growth can be severely affected.

Over the past year, our office prepared for the Privacy Act Extension Order, No. 3 scheduled to come into force on July 13, 2022^{Footnote 1}. Under the current Privacy Act, Canadian citizens and people physically in Canada have a right to request access to their personal information under the control of a federal government institution. This extension order will allow foreign nationals to make requests, and therefore complaints to the OPC about those requests. Government institutions, primarily Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), expect to receive a significant amount of new personal information requests, with an anticipated cascading impact on complaint volumes to the OPC. Therefore, our office explored solutions to enhance our capacity to respond to the anticipated increase.

Departmental result 2: Canadians are empowered to exercise their privacy rights.

Considering the possibility of a transformed legal framework and the fact that our guidelines are grounded in legislation and could quickly become outdated following such reform, we did not set any target for 2021-22 for the following two indicators: Percentage of key privacy issues that are the subject of information to Canadians on how to exercise their privacy rights; and Percentage of key privacy issues that are the subject of guidance to organizations on how to comply with their privacy responsibilities. Over the past year, in anticipation of law reform, the OPC focused its efforts on developing a new framework for the preparation and evaluation of future guidance.

We nevertheless issued guidance on some important privacy issues. Our office, along with our provincial and territorial counterparts, published guidance on police use of facial recognition (FR) technology with a view to ensuring that any use of FR complies with the law, minimizes privacy risks, and respects privacy rights. In the development of this guidance, our office consulted key stakeholders, whose feedback led to a number of important amendments. We also issued recommendations for a future legal and policy framework to govern police use of the technology.

Additionally, we published our latest graphic novel titled Social Smarts: Nothing Personal! and an accompanying discussion guide, which cover topics such as data collection, targeted advertising, cybersecurity and online gaming. We also wrote blog posts about some of the resources available to students and educators to further the privacy-protection facet of digital literacy. In addition, we published blog posts on remote access technologies and ways to minimize risks, and how parents can have a “family tech talk,” pointing to tools and discussion points on our website. Lastly, we published blog posts on connected toys and tips parents can share with their children to help them protect their privacy online.

The OPC website is our primary channel of communication with Canadians. Overall, 73% of those who responded using the web-based feedback tool found the information to be useful. We continue to pay close attention to qualitative feedback, which allows us to better understand Canadians’ needs and to update our webpages accordingly.

Departmental Result 3: Parliamentarians and public and private sector organizations are informed and guided to protect Canadians’ privacy rights.

We note that 2021-22 was another unusual year in terms of parliamentary activity, with COVID-19 and the federal election disrupting routine parliamentary business. Our office continued to monitor bills and studies going through the legislative process for which the OPC had previously provided recommendations. No such bill or study was adopted this past year; therefore our office does not have a result to report against the indicator that measures take-up of OPC’s recommendations to parliamentarians.

The OPC continued to proactively work with Parliament, appearing a number of times before various parliamentary committees in response to questions, bills and studies on topics such as the use and impact of facial recognition technology, the use and collection of mobility data by the Government of Canada, and restricting young persons’ online access to sexually explicit material.

In November 2020, the federal government introduced Bill C-11, which sought to overhaul the federal private sector law and for which we provided numerous recommendations in our submission shared with the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics. The Department of Justice also held comprehensive public consultations, which resulted in a document laying out a plan for modernizing Canada’s nearly 40-year-old public sector law. By March 2022, the proposed reforms had not resulted in reformed privacy laws, with C-11 having died on the order paper when an election was called in August 2021 and a bill to reform the Privacy Act having yet to be introduced. In preparation for law reform, our office nevertheless initiated transition planning to prepare the OPC for an expanded mandate post-privacy law reform, both functionally and structurally.

On the private sector side, our office carried out a range of promotion activities to provide specific and practical advice to businesses so that they are properly informed and guided in terms of their obligations under PIPEDA. In all, our office initiated 14 new advisory activities this fiscal year and conducted 25 outreach activities in various industry sectors. There were 18 consultations ongoing at year-end.

We also continued our efforts to build on the capacity of our technology laboratory to adequately support research and investigation activities which inform the office’s work. We completed a thorough upgrade of the lab’s information technology infrastructure and acquired new state-of-the-art tools which strengthened the office’s ability to perform in-depth analysis of emerging technologies to identify privacy risks.

To ensure that Canadians’ privacy rights are protected, it is necessary that businesses understand their obligations under federal privacy laws. In 2021-22 our office surveyed Canadian businesses on privacy-related issues. Results indicate that 52% of private sector organizations surveyed rate themselves as aware or extremely aware of their responsibilities under Canada’s privacy laws. In addition, 34% rated their company as moderately aware of its privacy responsibilities. Taken together, 86% of surveyed companies are at least moderately aware of their privacy-related responsibilities. This result has been relatively consistent since 2018. Our office will continue its proactive advisory consultations, outreach activities and development of educational material to continue to improve businesses’ awareness of privacy rights.

In addition to the guidance work described earlier in this section, we have also worked to implement our multi-year communications and outreach strategy to increase businesses’ awareness of their privacy obligations. The material published on our website aimed specifically at organizations, such as guidance documents, interpretation bulletins and case summaries, generated 839,687 visits in 2021-22, which represents an 11% increase over the previous year.

On the public sector side, our office continued to receive a large volume of privacy impact assessments (PIAs) (111) and consultation requests (105) from federal government institutions. In 2021-22, we issued 191 recommendations following PIA reviews and consultations with institutions. We also provided 39 outreach sessions at the request of federal government institutions on various privacy-related topics.

The OPC strives to provide advice and guidance documents to help organizations comply with their privacy obligations, and we seek feedback on organizations’ level of satisfaction with OPC guidance. With a slightly higher participation rate in 2021-22 than the previous year, the results indicated that 76% of the federal and private organizations that responded were satisfied with the usefulness of guidance documents on our website – surpassing our target of 70%. This represents our highest result achieved since we first introduced the feedback mechanism in 2018-19.

Results achieved

The following table shows, for the Protection of Privacy Rights, the results achieved, the performance indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2021-22, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Results Achieved

Departmental results	Performance indicators	Target	Date to achieve target	2019-20 actual results	2020-21 actual results	2021-22 actual results
Privacy rights are respected and obligations are met	Percentage of Canadians who feel that businesses respect their privacy rights.	90%	March 31, 2023	Not a survey year	45%	Not a survey year
	Percentage of Canadians who feel that the federal government respects their privacy rights.	90%	March 31, 2023	Not a survey year	63%	Not a survey year
	Percentage of complaints responded to within service standards.	75%	March 31, 2022	61%	44%	47%
	Percentage of formal OPC recommendations implemented by departments and organizations.	85%	March 31, 2022	80%	75%	86%
Canadians are empowered to exercise their privacy rights	Percentage of Canadians who feel they know about their privacy rights.	70%	March 31, 2023	Not a survey year	64%	Not a survey year
	Percentage of key privacy issues that are the subject of information to Canadians on how to exercise their privacy rights.	No target set for 2021-22	No target set for 2021-22	27% (8/30 specified pieces of guidance done)	30% (9/30 specified pieces of guidance done)	n/aFootnote 2
	Percentage of Canadians who read OPC information and find it useful.	70%	March 31, 2022	71%	74%	73%
Parliamentarians, and public and private sector organizations are informed and guided to protect Canadians’ privacy rights	Percentage of OPC recommendations on privacy-relevant bills and studies that have been adopted.	60%	March 31, 2022	68% (28 recs made, 19 adopted)	n/aFootnote 3	n/aFootnote 4
	Percentage of private sector organizations that have good or excellent knowledge of their privacy obligations.	85%	March 31, 2022	85%	Not a survey year	86%
	Percentage of key privacy issues that are the subject of guidance to organizations on how to comply with their privacy responsibilities.	No target set for 2021-22	No target set for 2021-22	27% (8/30 specified pieces of guidance done)	30% (9/30 specified pieces of guidance done)	n/aFootnote 5
	Percentage of federal and private sector organizations that find OPC’s advice and guidance to be useful in reaching compliance.	70%	March 31, 2022	71%	70%	76%

Financial, human resources and performance information for the OPC’s Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

The following table shows, for the Protection of Privacy Rights, budgetary spending for 2021-22, as well as actual spending for that year.

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

2021-22 Main Estimates	2021-22 planned spending	2021-22 total authorities available for use	2021-22 actual spending (authorities used)	2021-22 difference (actual spending minus planned spending)
22,261,717	22,261,717	23,144,435	22,571,738	310,021

Financial, human resources and performance information for the OPC’s Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following table shows, in full time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill this core responsibility for 2021-22.

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

2021-22 planned full-time equivalents	2021-22 actual full-time equivalents	2021-22 difference (actual full-time equivalents minus planned full-time equivalents)
158	163	5

Financial, human resources and performance information for the OPC’s Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Internal Services

Description

Internal Services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal Services refers to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct service categories that support Program delivery in the organization, regardless of the Internal Services delivery model in a department. The 10 service categories are:

• acquisition management services
• communication services
• financial management services
• human resources management services
• information management services
• information technology services
• legal services
• material management services
• management and oversight services
• real property management services

Communications services are an integral part of the OPC’s education and outreach mandate. As such, these services are included in the Promotion Program. Similarly, as legal services are an integral part of the OPC’s delivery of compliance activities, they are included in the Compliance Program.

Results

Internal services continued to provide high-quality and timely advice and services to the entire organization in order to support OPC objectives, enabling the office to meet its administrative obligations.

In 2021-22, these services played an essential role in numerous initiatives, including specifically:

• Continuing to support employees in a remote work environment by providing the necessary support and equipment, updating the on-boarding process for new employees and ensuring the health and safety of all employees through sound COVID-19 management and return-to-work guidelines.
• Developing, in consultation with employees, the office’s hybrid (combination of on-site and remote work) workplace model vision in preparation for the post pandemic work environment.
• Providing support to the organization as it prepares for the implementation of new mandate obligations.
• Implementing the second year of our Strategic Human Resources Plan to ensure an agile workplace, and diverse and representative workforce to remain an employer of choice.
• Developing and implementing the first year of a three-year plan (2021-24) on Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
• Implementing the first year of the 2021-24 Official Languages Strategic Plan by promoting a bilingual culture and strengthening linguistic security to achieve substantive equality of both official languages.
• Pursuing digital transformation efforts by modernizing infrastructure and tools to optimize the work environment and promote employee mobility.
• Developing, in consultation with employees, the office’s Workplace Health & Safety Policy.
• Developing, in consultation with key stakeholders, the office’s Departmental Security Plan for 2022-23 to 2024-25 in line with the requirements of the new Policy on Government Security.
• Continuing to maintain collaboration and business partnerships with other small and medium-sized organizations and agents of Parliament to gain effectiveness, share tools and resources, and implement best practices in areas such as information technology, administrative services, finance, people management and human resources programs.

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

The following table shows, for internal services, budgetary spending for 2021-22, as well as spending for that year.

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

2021-22 Main Estimates*	2021-22 planned spending*	2021-22 total authorities available for use	2021-22 actual spending (authorities used)	2021-22 difference (actual spending minus planned spending)
7,971,869	7,971,869	8,380,001	8,172,643	200,774
* Includes Vote Netted Revenue authority (VNR) of $200,000 for internal support services to other government organizations.

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following table shows, in full time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to carry out its internal services for 2021-22.

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

2021-22 planned full-time equivalents	2021-22 actual full-time equivalents	2021-22 difference (actual full-time equivalents minus planned full-time equivalents)
54	52	(2)

Spending and human resources

Spending

Spending 2019-20 to 2024-25

The following graph presents planned spending (voted and statutory) over time.

Text version of Figure 1

Fiscal year	Statutory	Voted	Total
2019-20	2,599,274	25,947,986	28,547,260
2020-21	3,310,829	28,500,006	31,810,835
2021-22	3,155,678	27,588,703	30,744,381
2022-23	3,141,436	26,077,995	29,219,431
2023-24	3,141,436	26,077,995	29,219,431
2024-25	3,141,436	26,077,995	29,219,431

The above graph illustrates the OPC’s spending trend over a six-year period from 2019-20 to 2024-25. Fiscal years 2019-20 to 2021-22 reflect the organization’s actual expenditures as reported in the Public Accounts. Fiscal years 2022-23 to 2024-25 represent planned spending.

As indicated above, there was an increase in spending from 2019-20 to 2021-22: OPC spending rose by $2.2 million in this period as it implemented the Budget 2019 measure: Protecting the privacy of Canadians. This increase is mainly attributed to additional spending on staffing resulting from new hires, as well as salary increases and retroactive payments made following the ratification of collective agreements over the past year.

Starting fiscal year 2022-23, OPC’s planned spending will decrease due to the end of funding received to reduce the backlog of privacy complaints older than one year and give Canadians more timely resolution of their complaints.

Budgetary performance summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)

The “Budgetary performance summary for core responsibilities and internal services” table presents the budgetary financial resources allocated for OPC’s core responsibilities and for internal services.

  

Core responsibilities and internal services	2021-22 Main Estimates	2021-22 planned spending	2022-23 planned spending	2023-24 planned spending	2021-22 total authorities available for use	2019-20 actual spending (authorities used)	2020-21 actual spending (authorities used)	2021-22 actual spending (authorities used)
Protection of privacy rights	22,261,717	22,261,717	21,524,426	21,524,426	23,144,435	20,573,425	23,003,685	22,571,738
Subtotal	22,261,717	22,261,717	21,524,426	21,524,426	23,144,435	20,573,425	23,003,685	22,571,738
Internal Services	7,971,869	7,971,869	7,695,005	7,695,005	8,380,001	7,973,835	8,807,150	8,172,643
Total	30,233,586	30,233,586	29,219,431	29,219,431	31,524,436	28,547,260	31,810,835	30,744,381

For fiscal years 2019-20 to 2021-22, actual spending represents the actual expenditures as reported in the Public Accounts of Canada. Fiscal years 2022-23 and 2023-24 represent planned spending.

The net increase of $1.3 million between the 2021-22 total authorities available for use ($31.5 million) and the 2021-22 planned spending ($30.2 million) is mainly due to funding received for the operating budget carry-forward exercise, compensation related to the new collective bargaining and adjustments to the employee benefit plans.

Total authorities available for use in 2021-22 ($31.5 million) compared to 2021-22 actual spending ($30.7 million) result in a lapse of $0.8 million. This amount represents the operating lapses reported in the Public Accounts of Canada by the OPC.

Human resources

The “Human resources summary for core responsibilities and internal services” table presents the full-time equivalents (FTEs) allocated to each of OPC’s core responsibilities and to internal services.

Human resources summary for core responsibilities and internal services

Core responsibility and internal services	2019-20 actual full-time equivalents	2020-21 actual full-time equivalents	2021-22 planned full-time equivalents	2021-22 actual full-time equivalents	2022-23 planned full-time equivalents	2023-24 planned full-time equivalents
Protection of Privacy Rights	142	158	158	163	153	153
Subtotal	142	158	158	163	153	153
Internal Services	51	54	54	52	54	54
Total	193	212	212	215	207	207

The increase in full-time equivalents (FTEs) in 2019-20 to 2021-22 is mainly due to resources received from the funding for delivering on the Budget 2019 measure: Protecting the privacy of Canadians.

The variance between the actual FTEs in 2020-21 and planned FTEs in the coming years can be attributed to temporary funding in Budget 2019 to reduce the backlog of privacy complaints older than a year and to more quickly resolve Canadians’ complaints. The OPC will continue to achieve results by allocating its human resources to best support its priorities and programs.

The office’s human resource levels are expected to remain constant.

Expenditures by vote

For information on the OPC’s organizational voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada 2021.

Government of Canada spending and activities

Information on the alignment of the OPC’s spending with the Government of Canada’s spending and activities is available in the GC InfoBase.

Financial statements and financial statements highlights

Financial statements

The OPC’s financial statements (audited) for the year ended March 31, 2022, are available on the departmental website.

Financial statement highlights

Condensed Statement of Operations (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2022 (dollars)

Financial information	2021-22 planned results	2021-22 actual results	2020-21 actual results	Difference (2021-22 actual results minus 2021-22 planned results)	Difference (2021-22 actual results minus 2020-21 actual results)
Total expenses	34,927,953	34,604,968	36,824,008	(322,985)	(2,219,040)
Total revenues	179,000	179,733	226,633	733	(46,900)
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers	34,748,953	34,425,235	36,597,375	(323,718)	(2,172,140)

In 2021-22, actual spending decreased from that of 2020-21. The variance is mainly due to decreases in salary and employees’ benefits expenses, telecommunication costs, research services and information technology services.

The OPC provides internal support services to other small government departments related to the provision of IT service. Pursuant to section 29.2 of the Financial Administration Act, internal support service agreements are recorded as revenues.

Condensed Statement of Financial Position (unaudited) as of March 31, 2022 (dollars)

Financial information	2021-22	2020-21	Difference (2021-22 minus 2020-21)
Total net liabilities	4,755,235	5,349,000	(593,765)
Total net financial assets	2,659,878	3,092,908	(433,030)
Departmental net debt	2,095,357	2,256,092	(160,735)
Total non-financial assets	1,819,974	1,720,353	99,621
Departmental net financial position	(275,383)	(535,739)	260,356

The decrease in net liabilities of $0.6 million is mainly explained by reductions in year-end accounts payable, accrued employee salaries and vacation pay and compensatory leave.

The decrease in net financial assets of $0.4 million is mainly due to a decrease in the Due from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. The total non-financial assets of $1.8 million consists primarily of tangible capital assets. The $0.1 million increase is due to a $0.2 million increase in prepaid expenses while tangible capital assets decreased by $0.1 million.

The 2021-22 planned results information is provided in the OPC Future-Oriented Statement of Operations and Notes 2021-22.

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate Minister^{Footnote 6}: David Lametti

Institutional Head: Philippe Dufresne

Ministerial portfolio^{Footnote 7}: Department of Justice Canada

Enabling Instrument(s): Privacy Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. P-21; Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, S.C. 2000, c. 5

Year of Incorporation/Commencement: 1982

Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

“Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do” is available on the OPC’s website.

Operating context

Information on the operating context is available on the OPC’s website.

Reporting framework

The OPC’s Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory of record for 2021-22 are shown below.

Departmental Results Framework

Core Responsibility: Protection of Privacy Rights

Departmental Result: Privacy rights are respected and obligations are met

• Indicator: Percentage of Canadians who feel that businesses respect their privacy rights
• Indicator: Percentage of Canadians who feel that the federal government respects their privacy rights
• Indicator: Percentage of complaints responded to within service standards
• Indicator: Percentage of formal OPC recommendations implemented by departments and organizations

Departmental Result: Canadians are empowered to exercise their privacy rights

• Indicator: Percentage of Canadians who feel they know about their privacy rights
• Indicator: Percentage of key privacy issues that are the subject of information to Canadians on how to exercise their privacy rights
• Indicator: Percentage of Canadians who read OPC information and find it useful

Departmental Result: Parliamentarians, and federal- and private-sector organizations are informed and guided to protect Canadians’ privacy rights

• Indicator: Percentage of OPC recommendations on privacy-relevant bills and studies that have been adopted
• Indicator: Percentage of private sector organizations that have a good or excellent knowledge of their privacy obligations
• Indicator: Percentage of key privacy issues that are the subject of guidance to organizations on how to comply with their privacy responsibilities
• Indicator: Percentage of federal and private sector organizations that find OPC’s advice and guidance to be useful in reaching compliance

Program Inventory

• Compliance Program
• Promotion Program

Supporting information on the program inventory

Financial, human resources and performance information for the OPC’s program inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on the OPC’s website.

• Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy/Reporting on Green Procurement
• Details on transfer payment programs
• Gender-based analysis plus

Federal tax expenditures

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs as well as evaluations and GBA Plus of tax expenditures.

Organizational contact information

30 Victoria Street
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 1H3
Canada

Telephone: 819-994-5444
Toll Free: 1-800-282-1376
Fax: 819-994-5424

Website: www.priv.gc.ca

Appendix: definitions

appropriation (crédit)

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)

A report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a 3-year period. Departmental Plans are usually tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental priority (priorité)

A plan or project that a department has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired departmental results.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)

A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. A departmental result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)

A quantitative measure of progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

A framework that connects the department’s core responsibilities to its departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on a department’s actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

experimentation (expérimentation)

The conducting of activities that seek to first explore, then test and compare the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform evidence-based decision-making, and improve outcomes for Canadians, by learning what works, for whom and in what circumstances. Experimentation is related to, but distinct from innovation (the trying of new things), because it involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, using a new website to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new website against existing outreach tools or an old website to see which one leads to more engagement, is experimentation.

full time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person year charge against a departmental budget. For a particular position, the full time equivalent figure is the ratio of number of hours the person actually works divided by the standard number of hours set out in the person’s collective agreement.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS Plus])

An analytical tool used to support the development of responsive and inclusive policies, programs and other initiatives; and understand how factors such as sex, race, national and ethnic origin, Indigenous origin or identity, age, sexual orientation, socio-economic conditions, geography, culture and disability, impact experiences and outcomes, and can affect access to and experience of government programs.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2021-22 Departmental Results Report, government-wide priorities refers to those high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2020 Speech from the Throne, namely: Protecting Canadians from COVID-19; Helping Canadians through the pandemic; Building back better – a resiliency agenda for the middle class; The Canada we’re fighting for.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative where two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

non-budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)

What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compared to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)

A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement)

The process of communicating evidence based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision making, accountability and transparency.

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally, a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)

Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)

Identifies all the department’s programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department’s core responsibilities and results.

result (résultat)

A consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization’s influence.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

target (cible)

A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an appropriation act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.