Maybe I can just start by explaining that the guidelines we're talking about are what was handed out this morning. There are actually two parts: the policy and the guidelines.
The general scheme is that the policy and guidelines reflect what the law says. So it's very close to the legislation. It certainly does not detract from what's in the legislative framework.
From what I gather from reading the blues with respect to the hearings you've been having, there has been some discussion about the processing of a request--in fact, two requests. And there is an issue about what Mr. Kratchanov alluded to, that there seems to be one document that was handled differently over time.
The guidelines that we provide are with respect, in this particular case, to how you would apply section 18 of the Access to Information Act, which has to do with the Departments of Foreign Affairs and National Defence.
Other exemptions that were mentioned concerned section 13, which has to do with documents obtained in confidence from another government; I believe section 17 was mentioned, concerning safety of individuals, although I'm not sure whether or not that provision would actually apply; and section 21, which is advice and recommendations.
I understand, again from the hearings, that those exemptions were applied to this file by Foreign Affairs.
What we provide, as far as guidance goes, is interpretation about, for example, injury and how to interpret those various provisions. It also lays out a framework as to roles and responsibilities, for example, what the ATIP coordinator should be doing.
It covers the scheme, and that's why it's so voluminous. It covers the whole scheme. In fact, it's a manual right now. This is what the ATIP community uses in doing their job, so it's quite extensive.
That's supported by what we call a cold call function. Mr. Alexander referred to the fact that we field approximately 58 questions a month to try to assist the ATIP community.
That's the way I would sum up, in broad strokes, what the guidelines are, what the policy is, and what we do.