Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Access to Information
Clarification given within a day: confirm the date of receipt, 9 September, and the due date under section 7.
The letter ·
Re: Your Access to Information Act request: A-2026-50926
Hello,
This answers your message of 18 September 2026 on request A-2026-50926.
THE CLARIFICATION
Item 1. I am asking for the records that identify each federal programme in which the number of births, the total fertility rate, or the completed family size appears as a performance indicator in a Performance Information Profile. The Policy on Results came into force on 1 July 2016. It requires every department to maintain a Performance Information Profile for each programme in its Programme Inventory, setting out the indicators by which that programme is measured. If the programme areas search and find that no programme names any of those three indicators, the record I am asking for is the record of that search result, in the form the search produces it.
Item 2, rewritten. Every policy analysis, briefing note, memorandum to the Minister, report and departmental assessment prepared from 1 January 2019 to 9 September 2026 addressing the decline in the total fertility rate and the options available to the federal government in response.
Your caveats are accepted in full: omit records that are an account of a Cabinet confidence, provide only English versions, mark non-relevant information as such, and provide only final or latest versions.
THE CLOCK
The Department received this request on 9 September 2026 and waived the application fee on 15 September 2026 under subsection 11 (2). The period under section 7 therefore ends on 9 October 2026.
The Act does not provide for a request to be placed on hold. Section 9 allows that period to be extended, and only by written notice stating the length and the paragraph relied on. No such notice has been given. The date of 19 October 2026 named in your message falls 10 days after the statutory period expires.
I have answered your questions within one day, so that nothing in the processing of this request turns on me.
WHAT I REQUIRE
Written confirmation of three things: that the date of receipt is 9 September 2026 and the section 7 period expires on 9 October 2026; that no extension under section 9 has been taken, or the notice that section requires if the Department takes one; and that the request is not on hold and processing is under way.
If the Department holds this request, or treats it as abandoned, I will complain to the Information Commissioner under paragraphs 30 (1) (a) and 30 (1) (f).
Respectfully,
Danilo Dzyuban
The letter ·
Re: RE: Your Access to Information Act request: A-2026-50926
Hello,
This answers your message of 21 September 2026 on request A-2026-50926.
The description of items 1 to 7 as set out in your message is approved.
Of the 4 sentences added at the end, 1 is approved: provide English versions only where a record exists in more than one language.
The other 3 are refused. Records are not omitted by agreement as accounts of Cabinet confidences. Section 69 operates by law, it carries its own exceptions, and an agreement to omit removes records from the scope of the request before anyone examines whether the provision applies. Information is not marked non-relevant and removed. Severance is governed by section 25, and material that falls under no exemption is released. Drafts are not dropped in favour of final versions. Items 2, 3 and 4 ask for the analysis, and the analysis sits in the versions that precede the final one.
The time limit runs from 9 September 2026, the date your office received the request. Where the institution takes an extension, serve the notice required by section 9.
Respectfully,
Danilo Dzyuban
The answer ·
Hello Danilo,
Please see my comments in red below. As well, I am providing the complete amended request text here. I will ask that you provide your approval to move forward.
Statistics Canada reported that the total fertility rate of Canada fell to 1.25 children per woman in 2024, the lowest rate on record, placing Canada in the group of countries classified as having ultra-low fertility. The Immigration Levels Plan for 2026 to 2028 sets admissions of 380,000 permanent residents in each of those years. The records requested concern what the federal government does about the first of those facts.
DESCRIPTION OF RECORDS REQUESTED
1. Records that identify each federal programme (name of the program) in which the (a) number of births, (b) the total fertility rate, or (3) the completed family size appears as a performance indicator in a Performance Information Profile (PIP). The Policy on Results came into force on 1 July 2016. It requires every department to maintain a PIP for each programme in its Programme Inventory, setting out the indicators by which that programme is measured. If the programme areas search and find that no programme names any of those three indicators (a, b, or c) in a PIP, the record I am asking for is the record of that search result, in the form the search produces it. Example, Outlook search results.
2. Every policy analysis, briefing note, memorandum to the Minister, report and departmental assessment prepared from 1 January 2019 to 9 September 2026 addressing the decline in the total fertility rate and the options available to the federal government in response.
3. Every record in which immigration is identified as the federal response to the decline in the total fertility rate or to population ageing, including any record comparing that response against measures directed at the fertility rate itself.
4. Every cost-benefit analysis, fiscal projection, or departmental assessment comparing the cost of increased immigration against the cost of direct support to families and to childbearing.
5. Every record setting out the barriers reported by Canadians to having the number of children they intend to have, including any analysis of the gap between intended and achieved family size.
6. Every record setting out the total federal expenditure directed at supporting families with children, by programme and fiscal year, from 2019-2020 to the date of this request, and the measured effect of each programme on the number of births.
7. Every record of correspondence with Employment and Social Development Canada, the Department of Finance Canada, the Privy Council Office, or Health Canada concerning the demographic consequences of the fertility rate and the Immigration Levels Plan.
Omit records that are an account of a Cabinet confidence. Provide only English versions where multiple languages exist in said version. Omit non-relevant information in all instances by simply marking them as such. Provide only final or latest versions of memorandums, briefing notes, reports, analysis, and letters.Thanks,