Oversight Committee Minutes | April 9, 2019 - Toronto, ON

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Also present

Absent

1. Welcome

Chair Mayo Moran opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and thanking them for their attendance.

2. Approval of Minutes

The Committee approved the minutes for January 9, 2019, before them, subject to minor edits.

3. Key Performance Indicators

Roger Tetreault presented some of the key statistical indicators as of March 11, 2019:

• 99.8% of the 38,257 claims received have been resolved;
• Of the 88 claims in progress:
  • 81 are post-hearing claims and awaiting a decision;
  • 7 are admitted claims expected to proceed to resolution without hearing.
• There are 28 claims in various post-decision activities:
  • 10 claims are at the review or re-review stage; and,
  • 18 claims are awaiting a legal fee ruling.
• A total of 523 claims have been resolved this fiscal year, of which:
  • 381 (72.8%) by adjudicator decision (includes 137 dismissals);
  • 16 NSPs; and,
  • 126 withdrawals/non-admitted.

Estates

As of March 29 2019 there were 28 in-progress Estate files:

• Pre-hearing:
  • 1 review in progress;
  • 1 re-review in progress; and,
  • 1 NSP signature pending
• Post Hearing:
  • 12 in progress post hearing
  • 13 awaiting estate documentation (8 pre-decision, 5 post-decision)

The Chief Adjudicator noted that most estate files have awards and been given extensions to probate. The issue is with the lack of knowledge of probate process. Letters have been sent on what the steps are.

Student-on-Student claims

As of March 11, 2019, there were 45 claims remaining in the SOS admissions project ( a 78.5% reduction against the 210 claims since April 2018), of which:

• 1 is in Priority 1 that could affect other claims;
• 9 are in Priority 3 that would not affect other claims; and,
• 35 are in Priority 4 that do not allege knowledge.

4. Executive Director’s Report

Roger Tetreault provided his observations on the following activities:

Records Disposition

To date, IRSAS has disposed of 4,782 physical files (11.39%), 1,372 of which were done in March. Another 16,400 electronic records (39.05%) have been disposed of, 3,000 of which were done in March. These records are all non-retained records.

ADR Records Transfer Agreement between CIRNAC and The Secretariat

The transfer agreement was signed by Karen Turcotte and Roger Tetreault on January 28, 2019. The agreement covers over 7,600 ADR case files held by CIRNAC; including data access in SADRE for all files and some 70 hearing recordings. To date, CIRNAC has transferred more than 3,600 files to the Secretariat.

Disposition of Administrative Records

The Secretariat recently received written confirmation from CIRNAC Information Management for the use of CIRNAC’s Disposition Authorization to address IRSAS administrative records that were created while performing corporate services functions on behalf of Canada. Until February 2019, IRSAS had not been included in CIRNAC’s Records Disposition plans. In early March 2019, IRSAS staff met with senior CIRNAC and Library and Archives Canada officials to discuss the Secretariat’s request that its human resources and finance records fall within CIRNAC’s IM policy. Since implementation, the Secretariat has amassed tens of thousands of records, utilizing significant storage space, approximately half of which are beyond their life-cycle. IRSAS will begin to implement the disposition framework for those records that have reached the end of their life-cycle later this month.

Group IAP

In February, an assessment panel met and reviewed proposals for the upcoming fiscal year (April 2019 to March 2020). The successful applicants have been advised their Group IAP activities have been approved for funding. In total, 10 groups consisting of 140 eligible members will receive $490,000 in funding in the 2019-20 fiscal year. Once the agreements for these groups are in place, they will be required to regularly report to continue to receive payments for their activities. The groups are dispersed across Canada including; Ontario, Nunavut, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia.

As Group IAP ends after this fiscal year, we do not plan to have any further calls for proposals; however, some funds have been set aside for potential groups from Kivalliq Hall in the event that there is interest in the program. A lot of Group IAP activities involve going back to the land, traditional sweats, intimate partner abuse counselling, and drug and alcohol counseling. Since implementation, 90 groups have been approved, for a total of $5.7M in funding.

Notice Program

The Notice Program launched on January 14, 2019, according to plan. Distribution of informational and promotional products was completed to approximately 1400 organizations, including: RHSW organizations, First Nations and Tribal Councils, Friendship Centres, Correctional Facilities and Inuit and Metis communities. The packages included; full-sized posters, pamphlets, postcards, Consent Forms and Request Forms for claimants to request copies of their own retained documents for themselves, and a USB drive with all the information in electronic format. Information packages were also sent to International claimants, 297 in total.

A multi-media plan was prepared for the launch including; filming and distribution of the TV advertisements, notices to national newspapers, Indigenous Publications and radio spots and the creation of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube accounts.

In-person training sessions for Regional Health Support Workers, as well as AFN and Crawford were completed in March 2019. One additional training session occurred via teleconference in early February for Inuit organizations who could not attend the session in Inuvik.

All informational and promotional products, as well as all forms, can be accessed on the MyRecordsMyChoice.ca website. Regarding the IAP info-line, all staff has been trained on the Notice Program material to support and answer inquiries for the duration of the retention period (September, 2027).‎

So far IRSAS has received 14 consent forms, 5 of which were non-claimants and 61 other requests, 17 of which were from non-claimants.

The Chief Adjudicator noted, with these consents and requests in hand, among other redaction, the challenge of redaction of audio records will now proceed.

5. Update on Blott DNQ claims

Roger Tetreault reported on the following:

Of the 56 applications received, 46 were admitted (including 2 non-admit appeals) and 10 were non-admitted.

• As of March 29, 2019, there were 39 post-hearing and NSP files, of which 21 are in active post-hearing activities:
  • 3 assessments pending;
  • 1 POI hearing held (on March 14);
  • 3 final submissions pending;
  • 1 decision pending;
  • 11 in document collection; and,
  • 2 NSPs
• 16 with decisions received varying in award amount from $0 - $120K;
• 1 dismissed post hearing (no show);
• 4 dismissed at EPHT; and,
• 2 withdrawn

6. Update on Administrative Split

Karen Turcotte reported that 165 cases have been settled; of which 26 were pre-decision, 11 were withdrawn, and 128 were post-decision. Another 36 claims are eligible but may require assistance with the Lost Claimant Protocol.