2024-2025 Annual Report to Parliament on the Administration of the Access to Information Act

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)

As a federal, provincial, territorial and municipal policing body, the RCMP provides federal policing services to all Canadians and policing services under contract to the three territories, eight provinces, and more than 150 communities delivered through more than 700 detachments across Canada, 600 Indigenous communities and three international airports.

The RCMP's mandate is multifaceted and includes preventing and investigating crime; maintaining peace and order; enforcing laws; contributing to national security; ensuring the safety of state officials, visiting dignitaries and foreign missions; and providing vital operational support services to other police and law enforcement agencies within Canada and abroad.

A Commissioner leads the RCMP and is supported by a Senior Executive Committee (SEC) made up of regular members, civilian members and public servants. The role of SEC is to develop, promote and communicate strategic priorities, strategic objectives, management strategies and performance management for the purpose of direction and accountability.

The organization is subdivided into 15 divisions (10 provinces, 3 territories, Depot Division and National Headquarters in Ottawa), each of which is under the direction of a Commanding Officer or Director General.

National Headquarters includes 10 business lines and is structured as follows: Federal Policing, Contract and Indigenous Policing, Specialized Policing Services, Corporate Management and Comptrollership, Human Resources, Internal Audit and Evaluation, Professional Responsibility Sector, Strategic Policy and External Relations, Reform Accountability and Culture, and Legal Services.

Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Branch

The RCMP established the ATIP Branch in 1983, as the central point of contact for all matters arising from both the ATIA and the Privacy Act (PA). The ATIP Branch reports through the Chief Digital Officer to the Deputy Commissioner of Specialized Policing Services. The IM/IT Branch was renamed the Digital Program in December 2024. The new Digital Program is responsible for leading the technological transformation of the RCMP, along with Analytics, Data and Information Management and the ATIP Branch. While this is not a common structure within government, it unites, Information Management (IM) and Information Technology (IT) with ATIP further enabling the modernization of the ATIP program. These benefits include a more high-profile role for the Branch in areas such as digital records management, open government, and the declassification of historical records.

The ATIP Branch's Director General acts on behalf of the head of the institution as the Departmental Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator. The ATIP Coordinator ensures compliance with both the spirit and the intent of the ATIA, as well as all associated regulations, policies and guidelines. The Director General position is also tasked with leading the program's broad modernization efforts. The ATIP Branch is made up of 122 employees and 11 consultants who work on requests under both the ATIA and the PA.

For a breakdown of the groups and positions responsible for meeting each applicable proactive publication requirement under Part 2 of the ATIA, see the section "Proactive Publication under Part 2 of the ATIA" below.

Compliance and pages processed

In alignment with the Treasury Board Secretariat's (TBS) performance target of closing 90% of access requests within the legislated timelines, the ATIP Branch saw an increase in compliance for the number of access requests closed within the legislated time frame. In the 2024-2025 reporting period, compliance rose to 43% from 35% in the previous fiscal year.

The ATIP Branch's level of output for the number of pages processed under the ATIA during the 2024-2025 fiscal year remained constant, increasing by only 2.4% compared to the 2023-2024 fiscal year. It is interesting to note that while the number of pages remained consistent, the number of requests processed decreased by 34%. The decrease in the number of requests processed can be explained by multiple initiatives throughout the Branch such as improved triaging to distinguish genuine access to information requests from privacy-related ones at the point of intake; redirecting requests outside of the ATIP process where appropriate; diligently narrowing the scope of requests through effective triage allowing for more targeted reviews and better service to Canadians; and the automation of processes like deduplication bots.

Requests received and closed

The RCMP received a total of 2,223 new requests under the ATIA in 2024-2025. In addition, there were 3,336 requests outstanding from the previous reporting periods for a total of 5,559 requests. Of these, 4,191 requests were completed and 1,368 requests were carried over to the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Of the completed requests, 7.8% were fully disclosed and 50.1% were partially disclosed.

Generally, access requests cover a variety of topics and can include information about contracts/program costs and expenses; information related to security issues; operational file material; and the management of the RCMP. Of note, approximately 80% of the ATIA requests processed were related to matters of a personal nature.

In the 2024-2025 reporting period, the RCMP received 2,225 ATIA request, a significant decrease compared to the previous reporting periods: 5,510 in 2023 and 3,658 in 2023-2024. The decrease is a direct result of the Branch's efforts to educate requesters, including adding guidance to the TBS portal advising requesters to use the PA to request their own personal information. This has benefited requesters as the PA requests can be made free of charge, provide them with an expanded right of access, and grants requesters the right to correction, none of which exists under the ATIA. The decrease here is matched to an increase in requests made under the PA.

Active requests from previous reporting periods

The significant work done to eliminate the backlog of requests can be seen in the numbers below. The legacy backlog has been reduced by approximately 30%, from 6.4 million pages to 4.6 million pages over the reporting period. The ATIP Branch made a significant effort to process and close all backlog files received prior to April 1, 2020. At the end of the reporting period 11 files remained open. At the time of this report, eight of those requests have already been closed, and the last three are nearly complete. As such, there will no longer be any decade-old files in the backlog. While there is still a backlog of requests to process, they are more recent, demonstrating the efforts made to improve the service the RCMP is providing to the public. At the conclusion of the 2024-2025 fiscal year, a total of 1,367 requests were outstanding which is a decrease of 44.9% compared to the previous reporting period. Of those outstanding, 15% were carried over within legislated timelines, and 85% were carried over beyond legislated timelines.

As shown in Table 2, at the end of the reporting period, the RCMP had 1,367 open requests from previous reporting periods. One third of the outstanding requests (32%) were received within the last two years.

Completion time

The ATIP Branch was able to complete a total of 953 (22.7%) requests in 30 days or less. During the reporting period, 848 (20.2%) requests were completed within 31 to 60 days, 356 (8.4%) were completed in 61 to 120 days and 2,034 (48.5%) were completed in more than 121 days. The noteworthy number of requests closed in more than 121 days can be attributed to the significant effort undertaken to close the most dated requests.

Extensions

Section 9 of the ATIA allows institutions to extend the statutory time limits to respond to a request beyond 30 days.

For the requests closed during the 2024-2025 reporting period, the RCMP sought a total of 3,165 extensions under section 9(1)(a), which pertains to unreasonable interference with operations.

A total of 22 extensions under section 9(1)(b), which pertains to necessary consultations were taken.

One extension under section 9(1)(c) were taken for third-party consultation.

While the RCMP makes every effort to avoid extensions, the unique operational reality of the organization sometimes requires additional time to process requests. For example, during the wildfire season in British Columbia and Alberta, several detachments were structurally impacted at various levels, others had to close, and many were on Evacuation Alert. Extensions were therefore sought for requests in these affected areas.

Consultations for other institutions

During the reporting period, the RCMP completed 270 consultations, totalling 43,579 pages reviewed. Of the 270 completed consultations, 227 were received from other Government of Canada (GC) institutions and 43 were from other organizations. Of those, 112 (41%) consultations from GC institutions were completed within 30 days, and 29 (67%) consultations from other organizations were completed within 30 days.

The number of consultations received dropped by 24% this reporting period. More importantly, the number of pages received rose by 114% from the previous reporting period. The RCMP maintains a balanced focus on consultations as a service to the ATIP community, consistent with the expectations of the OIC, ensuring they are not used to artificially prolong the processing time of requests.

Active outstanding complaints from previous reporting periods

At the conclusion of the reporting period, a total of 196 complaints were outstanding. Table 5 shows the number of outstanding complaints by the fiscal year received.

ATIP Modernization

In November 2020, the OIC released the results of a systemic investigation of the RCMP's ATIP program entitled Access at issue: The need for leadership. The report was highly critical of the RCMP's ATIP program and identified 15 recommendations for improvement. Subsequently, the Minister of Public Safety issued a Directive to the RCMP to action the recommendations of the OIC's review and submit a strategy outlining a way forward to be developed in consultation with TBS. In response, the RCMP developed a strategy entitled Access Granted: Restoring Trust in the RCMP's Access to Information Program, supported by an action plan outlining initiatives to modernize the program.

The RCMP began implementation of the strategy in the 2021-2022 reporting period and is committed to seeing it through over the course of a five-year period. Since then, the RCMP ATIP Branch undertook advancements in human resources, technology, policy and procedures. The objective being to increase compliance rates and enhance public transparency. The RCMP posted the strategy and is providing updates on the RCMP external website. We encourage all Canadians to visit the site and monitor our progress at https://rcmp.ca/en/corporate-information/access-information-and-privacy/access-granted-restoring-trust-rcmp-access-information-and-privacy-program.

Over the reporting period, the RCMP continued to make progress in implementing the strategy. While more details can be found on our external website, some key initiatives include:

As the original 5-year modernization strategy is set to conclude in the next reporting period, the ATIP Branch is looking to the future and how to continue building on the successes seen in the last four years. The four strategic priorities that the Branch will be focusing on are:

1. Clearing the legacy backlog
2. Disclosure oversight and improved compliance
3. Advancing modernisation initiatives
4. Providing robust privacy support services to the RCMP

Tackling the Legacy Backlog: A Strategic Success

To address the legacy backlog by 2029, the Branch adopted a targeted strategy: temporarily leveraging experienced and high-performing consultants to accelerate file processing. This approach is already delivering strong results—nearly 30% of the legacy backlog was cleared in 2024-2025, with the volume reduced from 6.4 million to 4.6 million pages over the fiscal year. Notably, the Branch successfully closed almost all backlog files received prior to March 1, 2020.

This progress allows indeterminate staff to focus on current and incoming requests, improving overall responsiveness and efficiency.

Based on current processing capacity, the ATIP Branch anticipates resolving the legacy backlog—comprised of outstanding files from 2020 to 2025—by the 2028-2029 fiscal year, as outlined in Table 7.

Closing the Production Gap: A Sustainable Strategy for Timely Information Disclosure

To prevent the creation of a new and compounding backlog, the Branch is implementing a comprehensive and forward-looking strategy to close its annual production gap and ensure timely responses to ATIP requests. The Branch receives approximately two million pages for review each year, while Branch employees currently process 1.2 million pages, resulting in a growing shortfall of 800,000 pages annually. To eliminate this gap and align capacity with demand, the Branch has already started to implement the following three key measures and will continue to do so in the next fiscal year:

Boost Analyst Productivity (+20% workload reduction)

As most ATIP analysts are still early in their careers, there is strong potential for growth. With continued training and experience, productivity is expected to increase by 20%, enabling analysts to process more files efficiently as they deepen their understanding of the ATIP legislation.

Reduce Page Volume Through Triage and Negotiation (-15% workload reduction)

By equipping analysts with negotiation skills and focusing on early triage, the Branch aims to reduce the volume of pages requiring review by approximately 300,000 pages. This will be achieved by working with requesters to narrow the scope of their requests to only the most relevant information.

Leverage Automation to Increase Speed and Reduce Workload (-10% workload reduction)

The rollout of automation tools is expected to both accelerate processing and reduce manual workload by an estimated 200,000 pages, allowing analysts to focus on more complex tasks.

Together, these measures are projected to bring the number of pages received and processed into balance, effectively eliminating the production gap and preventing the creation of a new backlog. This will ensure that the majority, if not all, of the information requested can be reviewed and disclosed within the same fiscal year, significantly improving service to Canadians.

This chart breaks down how each of the three key measures—productivity boost, triage/negotiation, and automation—contributes to closing the 800,000 page gap.

Providing Robust Privacy Support Services to the RCMP

Trust is earned in bytes—and lost in breaches. As such, strong privacy practices are the foundation for protecting Canadians' data and preserving their trust in public institutions.

In today's digital landscape, data protection is reputation protection. High-profile privacy breaches—such as those experienced by Desjardins, Equifax, and Capital One—have shown how the mishandling of personal information can lead to devastating financial losses, legal consequences, and irreparable damage to public trust.

To prevent similar outcomes, the RCMP's Privacy Management Division plays a vital role in supporting the organization through escalating data privacy challenges. The Branch acts as a privacy shield, helping to ensure that the personal information of Canadians is collected, used, retained, and disclosed in full compliance with the Privacy Act.

The class action lawsuits involving Desjardins, Equifax and Capital One resulted in settlements in the hundreds of millions of dollars and effected millions of individuals. While some of the more severe examples, these cases underscore the financial and reputational risks of inadequate privacy safeguards. Beyond financial and legal costs, breaches erode public confidence and invite increased scrutiny from the media, Parliament and global regulators enforcing stricter data protection laws.

The ATIP Privacy Management Division provides expert guidance and oversight to ensure that all RCMP programs, technologies, and operations meet privacy obligations, thereby increasing Canadians' trust in the RCMP. Key contributions include:

Enabling Legal Compliance and Risk Mitigation

Conducting Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) to ensure lawful handling of personal data.

Preventing high-risk initiatives such as what was seen with the use of Clearview AI and negating the risk of being summoned before Parliament, as seen with On-Device Investigative Tools.

Supporting Modernization and Transparency

Contributing to the National Technology Onboarding Process (NTOP) to assess privacy risks in emerging technologies.

Updating ATIP policies to reflect recommendations from the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC).

Managing Info Source and Personal Information Banks to promote transparency.

Navigating Emerging Threats

Helping the RCMP navigate the complexities of artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, and evolving digital threats.

Facilitating the lawful disclosure of personal information while protecting individual rights.

By embedding privacy into every layer of its operations, the RCMP is not only protecting sensitive information, but also building public trust; reducing institutional risk; and reinforcing its commitment to transparency and accountability.

Informal requests

As part of the proactive publication requirements set out in Part 2 of the ATIA, the RCMP posts a summary of the completed 'true ATI' requests to Open Government. This distinction is important since 80% of all requests received by the RCMP under the ATIA have historically been for the personal information of the applicant. These requests are not posted to Open Government to protect the privacy of the individuals making the requests.

In this reporting period, 864 request summaries were posted. In response, 3,000 informal requests were made via the online portal. The ATIP Branch is exploring options to proactively publish information that is frequently requested; however, these efforts have been hampered by language requirements and the translation efforts required which would flood the Translation Bureau.

Program support

As part of the broad modernization efforts over the previous four years, the ATIP Branch has developed relationships with countless stakeholders across the RCMP, and the impacts of these connections can be felt across the organization.

As Canada and the RCMP prepared for the G7 meetings in Kananaskis, Alberta in June 2025, the ATIP Branch played a key role in the planning stages of file management. Security was a shared responsibility across various levels of government, with the RCMP as the lead organization. Collaboration has been key to ensure that each organization is treating information in a consistent manner and ensuring appropriate information is proactively disclosed in support of the Summit. This has also resulted in a streamlined process for tasking and reviewing of formal requests.

The Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference was established to examine and assess the interference by China, Russia and other foreign states and non-state actors - including any potential impacts - in order to confirm the integrity of, and any impact on, the 43rd and 44th general elections at the national and electoral district levels. As part of the disclosure requirements of the Inquiry, the ATIP Branch worked closely with the record owners - Civil Litigation and other key stakeholders - to gather, review and disclose material to both the Inquiry and via the formal ATIP process.

The ATIP Branch played a lead role in the RCMP's response to the Fourth Settlement Agreement with the LGBT Purge Fund. Stemming from a nation-wide class action against the Canadian Government, the Purge Fund fought for the disclosure of historical government records that demonstrated the systematic discrimination, harassment, and termination faced by LGBT members of the Canadian Armed Forces, the RCMP and the Federal Public Service. This 4th disclosure consisted of 15,000 pages of records, held by multiple institutions and outlined the policies and procedures that were in place that discriminated against queer employees. The ATIP Branch reviewed the RCMP records included in this disclosure and applied an 'ATIP-like' lens while considering the passage of time to release as much information as possible.

Contract policing is at the core of the RCMP's mandate. The RCMP operates as the provincial and territorial police in eight provinces, three territories and offers municipal policing services to 150 communities delivered through more than 700 detachments across Canada, 600 Indigenous communities and 3 international airports. Over this reporting period, the ATIP Branch has engaged with an internal transition team within the Reform, Accountability and Culture portfolio to work with communities who have moved from the RCMP to local police of jurisdictions. The transition in Surrey, British Columbia - for instance - has raised concerns over information management and access, and the ATIP Branch has played a role in addressing these concerns.

In line with the proactive publication guidelines, the RCMP regularly discloses information of interest to the public via the external webpage. The ATIP Branch regularly works with the RCMP's Audit and Evaluation Unit to conduct reviews with an ATIP-like lens on all audits/reports prior to their publication. Additionally, following a Ministerial Directive, the ATIP Branch continues to support the RCMP's Management Advisory Board by conducting informal reviews prior to the publication of their recommendations which supports internal reform while remaining transparent with the public.

Complaints and investigations

During this reporting period, the RCMP continued to work collaboratively with the OIC to address complaints as efficiently as possible. Following the publication of the OIC's systemic investigation in November 2020 into the RCMP and its ATIP practices, concrete steps were taken to review and update internal processes to help ensure the RCMP meets its obligations under the Act.

The OIC continues to receive record numbers of complaints from across government. As the OIC worked diligently to respond and investigate these complaints, departments and agencies had to respond to support the OIC investigative process and respond to the inquiries of the Agent of Parliament. The RCMP was no exception to this and had to respond accordingly to ensure that it was meeting its expectations.

As part of the modernization strategy, the ATIP Branch continued to utilize a dedicated team of ATIP personnel to serve as the primary point of contact for the OIC. The team is led by a manager responsible for coordinating complaints and assisting in complaint-related reporting to both the OIC, ATIP management and RCMP senior management. Regular monthly meetings are held between the OIC and the ATIP Branch to discuss file progression. These monthly meetings resulted in the resolution of more complaints and better collaboration with OIC and the ATIP Branch.

Since the Systemic Investigation in 2020, and the recommendations from the Modernization Action Plan have been implemented, significant improvement has been seen in the number of complaints received by the RCMP. In 2024-2025, the RCMP received 178 complaints - this is the lowest number of complaints received of the last six fiscal years.

For the 2024-2025 reporting period, the RCMP received and provided the following under the ATIA:

Section 32

The RCMP received 178 notices of intent to investigate, which represents 8.0% of all requests received during the reporting period. The majority of the complaints received relate to delays where the RCMP was unable to respond within 30 days and therefore considered in deemed refusal in accordance with the Act. Under this section, the OIC formally notifies the institution of their intent to investigate a complaint received.

Section 30(5)

The RCMP received 120 notices. Under this section, if the OIC refuses or ceases to investigate a complaint, it notifies the complainant, the institution and, if applicable, any third party and the Privacy Commissioner.

Section 35

The RCMP provided 11 formal representations. Under this section, the OIC provides an opportunity to institutions to provide representation to an ongoing complaint investigation.

Section 36.1

The RCMP received 6 intent to order notifications. Under this section, the OIC may issue an order to the institution to release the requested information.

Section 37(1)

The RCMP received 4 initial reports. Under this section, the OIC finds that the complaint is well-founded and provides the institution the findings of their investigation, specific recommendations to remedy the issue, and when appropriate, a specific time frame that the OIC can expect a plan to implement the recommendations. The institution must then decide on whether to implement the recommendations.

Section 37(2)

85 final reports were issued during the reporting period. No reports contained recommendations, and 1 formal order was received from the OIC during this reporting period. In this case, the RCMP advised the OIC of our intent to comply with the Order and the records were released in compliance with the Order.

Court action

One court proceeding was actioned with respect to access requests processed within the 2024-2025 fiscal year, and none were discontinued/concluded or dismissed in this reporting period.

Time taken to process Access to Information requests

The ATIP Branch monitors the time taken to process ATIA requests by retrieving statistics from the case management software on a daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly basis. These statistics provide information on the compliance rate, the number of files completed on time and those that are delayed, as well as complaints both received and closed. Performance Dashboards are also key tools to further identify trends and assist the ATIP Branch in strategically developing efficiencies. The Branch's management team reviews the weekly and monthly reports to manage workload and to determine any upcoming issues where processes could be improved. The reports and dashboards are provided to the RCMP's senior management in an effort to improve accountability.

The ATIP Branch continues to work on bolstering its data reporting function by onboarding new technology and processes. This new technology will enable the ATIP Branch to be more strategic and transparent by automatically capturing pertinent data to assist with its planning and public reporting, as well as to identify areas where efficiencies may be found.

Access to Information Act and Privacy Act Delegation Order

The Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, pursuant to section 73 of the Access to Information Act and of the Privacy Act, hereby designates the persons holding the position set out in the schedule hereto, or the persons occupying on an acting basis those positions, to exercise the powers and functions of the Minister as the head of a government institution, that is, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, under the section of the Act set out in the Schedule opposite each position. This designation replaces and nullifies all such designations previously signed and dated by the Minister.

Signed, at the City of Ottawa, this 4 day of December, 2015

The Honourable Ralph Goodale, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness