The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), through grants, fellowships, and scholarships, promotes and supports research and research training in the natural sciences and engineering to develop talent, generate discoveries, and support innovation in pursuit of economic and social outcomes for Canadians.

NSERC is a separate agency of the Government of Canada (GOC) established in 1978. It is funded directly by Parliament and reports to the Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry. The functions of NSERC are governed by the authority and responsibility assigned to it under the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Act (1976-1977, c.24).

NSERC is led by a President and a Governing Council comprised of up to 18 distinguished members from the private and public sectors. Policy matters are advised by Council’s standing committees, and funding decisions are made by the President, or designate, based on peer review committees’ recommendations.

The Access to Information Act provides Canadians with a right of access to information in records under the control of a government institution in accordance with the principle that government information should be available to the public, that necessary exceptions to the right of access should be limited and specific, and that decisions on the disclosure of government information should be reviewed independently of government.

NSERC is pleased to present to Parliament its annual report on the administration of the Access to Information Act for 2023-24. This report is prepared and tabled in accordance with the following:

• section 94 of the Access to Information Act requires that the head of every federal institution prepare and submit an annual report to Parliament on the administration of the Act within the institution during the fiscal year.
• section 20 of the Service Fees Act requires that a responsible authority report annually to Parliament on the fees collected by institutions.

At NSERC, the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) office resides in the Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) Division under the Strategic, Corporate and Public Affairs (SCPA) Directorate.

The ATIP office is overseen by the ATIP Manager who reports to the Executive Director, Governance, Risk and Compliance. The Manager is supported by an ATIP Analyst and two ATIP & Secretariat Officers. The ATIP office is responsible for processing requests under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act (the Acts) and providing support and advice on its administration to meet the various Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) requirements in connection with the Acts. In 2023-24, four full-time equivalent employees at various levels were responsible for administering both Acts.

The ATIP office is responsible for the following activities:

• managing all response to both formal and informal requests made under the Acts;
• developing policies, guidelines and procedures with respect to fulfilling NSERC’s legislative requirements of the Acts;
• promoting awareness of the Acts, delivering training, and providing interpretation, advice and recommendations to NSERC employees as they fulfill their obligations under the Acts;
• monitoring compliance with the Acts;
• completing Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) when appropriate;
• managing privacy breaches;
• updating the NSERC Info Source chapter annually; and,
• preparing annual reports for tabling.

NSERC was not party to any service agreements under section 96 of the Access to Information Act (the Act) during this reporting period and did not have any non-operational ("paper") subsidiaries.

During 2023-24, NSERC’s ATIP office demonstrated a strong commitment to enhancing its accountability and transparency to promote an open and democratic society to all Canadians. The most significant change impacting the ATIP office this year involved developing internal capacity to information expertise in the absence of outside contractors and providing knowledge to NSERC employees about how timely access to information is necessary to fulfill NSERC’s corporate responsibilities, ensure records are made available to the public in accordance with the Act and protect personal information. In addition, mentorship, and a clear vision for the ATIP team were established, resulting in a significant improvement in ATI compliance.

NSERC’s President and senior management are informed of key decisions and developments in the administration and implementation of the Act, as appropriate. The ATIP office provides regular reports to the Executive Director, Governance, Risk and Compliance, who updates the Vice-President, Strategic, Corporate and Public Affairs, who then briefs the President, as needed.

When advice on the administration of the Act is required, it is sought from one or several of the following: the TBS, Department of Justice legal counsel, the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada (OIC), and/or other federal government ATIP offices.

Pursuant to subsection 95(1) of the Access to Information Act, the President of NSERC has delegated the powers, duties, and functions for the administration of the Access to Information Act to the following NSERC officials:

• Vice-President, Strategic, Corporate and Public Affairs
• Executive Director, Governance, Risk and Compliance & Secretary to Council
• Manager, ATIP & Governance

This Delegation of Authority was signed on August 15, 2022, and can be found in Appendix A.

Statistical reports prepared by government institutions provide aggregate data on the application of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act. This information is made public annually in a statistical report that is included with the annual reports on access to information and privacy tabled in Parliament by each institution. NSERC's statistical report on the Access to Information Act for 2023-24 is provided in Appendix B.

This year, institutions were also required to report on the following additional criteria:

• open requests under the Access to Information Act that are outstanding from previous reporting periods and broken down by if they are within or beyond legislated timelines.
• open complaints under the Access to Information Act that are outstanding from previous reporting periods.

This information is included in the 2023-24 Supplemental Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act and Privacy Act and can be found in Appendix C.

This section provides an overview of key data on NSERC’s performance for the year, as reflected in the statistical report for 2023-24.

In the fiscal year 2023-24, NSERC received a total of 16 requests under the Access to Information Act; 4 less than the previous fiscal year (20 in 2022-23). Nine access requests from the previous reporting period were still active and carried over within legislated timeline into 2023-24. A total of 3 requests which were received in fiscal year 2023-24 were carried forward to 2024-25; all 3 are within legislated timelines. Sustained focus on the prioritization and organization of processing requests had an impact on the overall compliance rate in 2023-24. These efforts have resulted in a significant reduction in the number of requests carried forward, and in resolving complaints filed with the OIC. During this reporting period, 21 of the 22 requests (95%) were processed and closed within the legislated time limit. Additionally, the steady number of incoming requests is partially attributed to the implementation of the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships, which was a significant initiative that resulted in 5 requests (23%) of all requests completed in 2023-24.

Twenty-two access requests were closed in 2023-24. This is 1 more than in the previous fiscal year (21 in 2022-23).

Graph 1 shows the number of access to information requests by completion time for the reporting period 2023-24.

-	Requests Completed
0 to 15 days	5
16 to 30 days	2
31 to 60 days	0
61 to 120 days	7
121 to 180 days	1
181 to 365 days	7

All requests were processed within the legislated timelines with extensions permitted under the Act except for 1 request that closed with an extension but went beyond the legislated timeline and deemed refusal, within 306 days. This request could not be completed within legislated deadline because of additional time needed for external consultations. This represents an 87.5% decrease compared to the 8 requests that were in deemed refusal and that were closed in 2022-23. The percentage of requests closed within legislated timelines with or without extensions during the reporting period was 95%. This figure compares to 62% in 2022-23 and 73% in 2021-22.

Of the requests completed in 2023-24, none was disclosed in full, 16 were disclosed in part, 4 resulted in no records and 2 requests were transferred to other government institutions. The percentage of completed requests for which records were “all disclosed” is 0%, for which records were “disclosed in part” is 73%, for which “no records existed” is 18% and for which the “requests were transferred” is 9%.

Graph 2 shows the annual number of access to information requests received by NSERC, along with the carried forward and closed requests for 2019-20 to 2023-24.

Year	Requests Received	Carry-over from Previous Fiscal Year	Requests Completed
2019-20	36	16	45
2020-21	36	8	35
2021-22	13	8	11
2022-23	20	10	21
2023-24	16	9	22

In 2023-24, NSERC invoked extensions for 15 completed requests, 3 of those requests had two types of extensions which accounts for 68% of all completed requests. The reasons for the extensions are as follows:

• 9(1)(a) interference with operations, the requirement to conduct a large search and based on the high volume of records (13 applications)
• 9(1)(b), consultations (5 applications)

Additionally, the statistics show that NSERC applied a variety of exempting provisions in 2023-24. In some cases, more than one provision was invoked for a single request and therefore the same request was counted more than once. In descending order, NSERC’s most frequently used sections include 19(1), 20(1)(b), 21(1)(a) and 21(1)(b), 20(1)(c), as well as 16(2)(c) and 15(1).

In 2023-24, NSERC had 1 exclusion invoked under section 69 of the Act (Cabinet confidences). Of the closed requests, 2 contained information that was subject to exclusions under the Act and this information was not disclosed. The exclusions applied are 68(a) and 69(1)(g).

In terms of number of pages processed and pages disclosed, NSERC processed 4921 pages of records, 966 of which were disclosed in the 2023-24 reporting period. This number is comparable to the previous fiscal year (2022-23), where NSERC processed 4752 pages. However, the number of pages disclosed this period is significantly lower to the previous fiscal year (2022-23), where 2386 pages were disclosed. This difference is attributed to a high number of duplicate records and documents that were not found to be within the scope of requests during processing. Graph 3 shows the disposition of access to information requests completed in 2023-24.

-	Disposition of Requests
Disclosed in part	16
No records	4
Transferred	2

Graph 4 shows the annual number of pages processed and pages disclosed by NSERC from 2019-20 to 2023-24.

Year	Processed	Disclosed
2019-20	956	933
2020-21	464	268
2021-22	353	352
2022-23	4752	2386
2023-24	4921	966

In 2023-24, 44% of requests were received from private sector businesses, 25% from academia,13% from the public, and 6% from each the media, organizations and from individuals who declined to identify. In 2023-24, the source of requests has remained largely consistent with the average source of request by category, however an increase in requests from private sector businesses and a decrease in requests from the media is noted. Comparatively, 2022-23 saw 10% of requests from private sector businesses 45% from the media. Graph 5 shows the number of access to information requests annually by source for 2023-24.

Source of Request	-
Business (Private Sector)	7
Media	1
Organization	1
Public	2
Academia	4
Decline to identify	1

In terms of tasking of records, the requests were distributed across offices of primary interest (OPIs) within NSERC. In total, the ATIP office, initiated 37 taskings, with the majority of the tasking going to NSERC’s program directorates (Research Partnerships and Research Grants & Scholarships). This year’s tasking is consistent with the previous year (8 to RGS; 7 to RP in 2022-23) The distribution of tasking to OPIs for 2023-24 can be found in Graph 6.

Assignments to OPI	-
Research Grants & Scholarships	8
Research Partnerships	10
Common Administrative Services Directorate	7
Strategic, Corporate & Public Affairs	9
President's Office	3

In addition, NSERC received and completed 23 consultation requests from other GOC institutions in 2023-24. All consultations were closed within 30 days of receipt. This number is comparable to previous years; 20 received in 2022-23 and 21 received in 2021-22, however fewer pages were processed this reporting period with 252 pages compared to 386 pages processed in 2022-23; as shown in Graph 7.

-	Pages processed	Requests completed
2019-20	153	15
2020-21	26	10
2021-22	723	21
2022-23	386	20
2023-24	252	23

In 2023-24, NSERC received 12 informal external requests and 1 informal internal request. Eleven requests were completed within the reporting period and 2 were carried over into 2024-25. The number of informal requests received this reporting period is much higher than the previous year (8 in 2022-23). This represents an increase of 63%. Nine of the 12 external requests involved a re-release of closed access to information requests and 4 of these requests involved records on National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships (44%).

No complaints pertaining to NSERC access to information requests were filed with the OIC during 2023-24. Two ongoing complaints remained ongoing at the beginning of the 2023-24 fiscal year:

• One ongoing complaint relating to exemptions carried over from 2019-20 was closed during the 2023-24 period after receiving a notice of discontinuance from the OIC.
• One ongoing complaint carried over from 2022-23, relating to exemptions was outstanding at the beginning of 2023-24 and resolved and closed during the same reporting period with a final report under section 37(2).

NSERC experienced no court challenges related to access to information during the reporting period.

There were no active complaints as of the end of the fiscal year.

NSERC experienced no audits relating to the administration of ATIP legislation during the reporting period.

Throughout the year, NSERC staff and management are reminded and encouraged to consult the ATIP office on any issues that might affect the implementation of the Act when and where appropriate, and in the initial stages of developing new initiatives and programs.

The ATIP office provided training to agency staff on the provisions of the access to information legislation, key concepts, and definitions, NSERC’s procedures for processing both formal and informal access to information requests, and employee’s responsibilities with respect to the Act. Staff were encouraged to take the Access to Information and Privacy Fundamentals training along with other ATIP-relevant courses offered through the Canada School of Public Service.

No new or revised access to information policies or guidelines were formally implemented during the last fiscal year. Since March 2020, ATIP processing and procedures have been entirely digital. In 2022-23, the ATIP office completed onboarding to the ATIP Online Management Tools (AOMT) and began processing requests through the online system.

NSERC’s ATIP office continued to provide advice and recommendations to NSERC employees around replies to Parliamentary Questions, ATI Protocols, ATI Attestations, Memoranda of Understanding, audits, evaluations, and security reports. The ATIP office distributed weekly status reports on access to information requests to NSERC senior management.

NSERC regularly publishes an inventory of its information holdings to assist individuals in exercising their rights under the Access to Information and Privacy Acts, and to support the federal government’s commitment to facilitate access to information on its activities, available to the public on the Internet, free of charge. A description of NSERC’s functions, programs, activities and related information holdings can be found in Info Source: Sources of Federal Government and Employee Information.

In accordance with the federal government’s policy on proactive disclosure, ATI monthly summaries, grant related requests, contracts, travel, hospitality, conference expenses, evaluation and audit reports are also posted on NSERC’s website under Transparency. and on the federal government’s Open Government website. The NSERC website’s ATIP page provides background information on the Acts and useful information about services provided.

During 2023-24, NSERC’s total cost for administering the access to information program was $229,503 which was allocated to salaries and professional development. This figure represents an increase of 17% compared to $195,344 in 2022-23 and a decrease of 3% compared to $236,714 in 2021-22.

The human resources utilized to administer the access to information act for this reporting period were estimated at 2.100 FTE, which remained the same as 2.100 FTE reported for the 2022-23 fiscal year.

NSERC’s ATIP Manager position, the ATIP Analyst position and the two ATIP & Secretariat positions are filled on a permanent basis. These positions remained filled and uninterrupted throughout the current reporting period. NSERC has made a commitment to continue to build its internal ATIP unit and expertise to increase stability and improve ATIP service delivery.

With respect to fees collected in 2023-24 under the Access to Information Act, the information below is reported in accordance with the requirements of section 20 of the Service Fees Act:

• Fee payable: $5.00 application fee is the only fee charged for an ATI request
• Total revenue: $70
• NSERC waived $10.00 in application fees

NSERC is a government institution listed in Schedule II of the Financial Administration Act for the purposes of Part 2 of the Access to Information Act.

As such, NSERC is subject to the following proactive publication requirements under the Access to Information Act:

NSERC publishes information as required for proactive publication requirements on Open Government and NSERC’s website under Transparency. The responsible divisions within NSERC have established processes to ensure timely publishing, including monthly updating of reports and quarterly reminders.

NSERC published 100% of proactive publication requirements due during the reporting period within the legislative timelines, with the exception of packages of briefing materials prepared for a deputy head or equivalent’s appearance before a committee of Parliament [section 88(c)]. NSERC has a small parliamentary team and committee appearances are not frequent. Procedures and systems to meet this proactive publication requirement have been implemented to ensure future compliance.

The ATIP office produces weekly status reports and ad hoc reports to monitor NSERC’s compliance with the Access to Information Act. In 2023-24 the ATIP office increased its emphasis on creating and updating procedural guides to meet compliance with ATIP obligations. Reporting also occurs through weekly ATIP reports and through the ATIP software.

NSERC’s President and senior management are informed of key decisions and developments in the administration and implementation of the Act, as appropriate. The ATIP office provides regular reports to the Executive Director, Governance, Risk and Compliance, who updates the Vice-President, Strategic, Corporate and Public Affairs, who then briefs the President as needed.

In 2023-24, NSERC started the year with sustained focus on closing the carried over requests that had an impact on the overall compliance rate in the previous year. The statistics show that there were 9 requests carried over from the previous fiscal year and 16 new requests to process; several of which required consultations. Being a small ATIP office, this situation added operational pressure in the first half of the fiscal year. This required the ATIP office to establish operational priorities and to claim appropriate extensions of time. Additionally, NSERC remained committed to assisting requesters in refining their requests and focused on prioritizing the processing of requests based on legislative timeline and analysis required.

NSERC continues to prioritize the digital transformation of the ATIP office that was advanced during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the implementation of tools such as SharePoint and the ATIP Online Management Tool (AOMT) across the GOC, the ATIP office continues to find ways to create new and effective methods of communication. Additionally, the ATIP office in collaboration with NSERC’s Information and Innovation Solutions team are working toward acquiring new powerful ATIP software with some ‘AI’ capability to replace the detailed manual work currently required. These developments towards further technological innovation and integration are expected to continue into the 2024-25 fiscal year by procuring new ATIP software.