I understand where you're coming from. In terms of the response, I'd start where I was at a minute ago, just in terms of talking a bit about the context. If you go back over the last ten years, you're right. Historically we have been either at the top or near the top in terms of complaints. We're also at the top or near the top in terms of requests. We're in a situation where we have a high volume of requests, so there is some association with the number of complaints. That's part of the story.
Another part of the story is the nature of our operations in the environment. Some government departments reappear all the time at the top of the list in terms of requests and complaints, and it has to do with the nature of the operations. In terms of Corrections Canada, we're mandated by our statute to gather information about offenders in enormous detail. We have to know everything we possibly can in order to make the best decisions we can over a huge variety of things with respect to their incarceration.
As you can imagine, offenders are very interested in knowing what's on the file. As I mentioned before, there's a section of our statute that effectively means when they ask for information about their file it oftentimes will find its way to Ms. Rooke's shop as a request under the access act. Offenders are going to want to know what's on their file because it has to do with the decisions that are going to be unfolding. They want to know what it is Corrections Canada has.
But it's not just about offenders; it's also about victims. It's also about employees who are interested in this huge cache of information that we have. And I think we're unusual in that regard as a government department, because information is the lifeblood of our business. If we're going to do public safety well, we have to be on top of the information game in relation to every offender all the time. People are constantly trying to dip into that information pool from the various angles--sometimes victims, sometimes offenders. The majority are offenders, you're right. But the harsh reality is, we are always going to be making decisions about them and they are always going to be seeking some way to get access to the information we have on their files, which is basically fuelling the decisions that affect their lives.