All I can say, really, is that the provisions of the act have remained the same, but there have been court decisions that guide us in the application of certain provisions. When we get a request, we look at the documents in the context of today, and we try to understand what this information means. To me, a piece of paper is a piece of paper. But when you start to look at it, my office and I need to look at the legal obligations, the legal framework, that will allow me to make a decision on disclosure.
The principle is access, and there is openness, and that's the way we view it. All the officials have ingrained in them that “access” is the primary word here. What we do is look at the information, line by line, and we make a match with possible exemptions or with the exemptions provided by the act, and then we make a decision based on them.
Obviously we think that is it. That's my opinion about a document. And at the end of the day, when the response is sent out, the applicant can complain. Yes, we do have complaints about exemptions and about just about anything on the files. That's where the Information Commissioner comes in and makes a decision or a report on the use of these exemptions and whether the institution or the federal department made the right decision.
There has been an evolution of the provisions of the act. But at the end of the day, that is the legal framework upon which we base it. And it is all case by case, line by line.