Evidence of meeting #21 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was year.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
That signal comes when I send the letter under section 37, with specific recommendations. If they don't respond to that, then I don't have much choice but to take the next step.
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
You're welcome.
Conservative
Bob Dechert Conservative Mississauga—Erindale, ON
Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Marleau, I'd like to go back to the CBC complaints you mentioned earlier. I'm just trying to understand this from the statistics you've given us. In 2008-09, you had 221 new complaints in respect to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Is the one individual you mentioned earlier responsible for all 221 requests or complaints to your office—or the majority of them?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
I can't say that the one individual is responsible for all of them, but it's the bulk of them. There are others there.
Conservative
Bob Dechert Conservative Mississauga—Erindale, ON
Okay, it's the bulk of them. Obviously they were split over two years, so that's why it tends to show up here.
If my math is correct, about 11% of your caseload for that year came from those CBC requests, a majority of which, at least, were from one individual.
I know you don't like us to divide it quite this way, because there are other elements in what you do, but in terms of your budget for that year, it means the one individual is responsible for approximately 11% of your budget, which is 20% over two years. It's over a million dollars, in any event, if you look at it that way.
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
That's one way of looking at it, sir, but let me add this and further complicate it for you. I lumped those into one investigation. I told the CBC to meet the March 31, 2009, deadline--
Conservative
Bob Dechert Conservative Mississauga—Erindale, ON
That was because they were all related to the same incident.
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
That's right. Now I have 23.
Conservative
Bob Dechert Conservative Mississauga—Erindale, ON
What happened? What was your resolution of those complaints? Did you find them meritorious, or did you find them not meritorious, and the individual then appealed to the Federal Court? Why are they before the Federal Court?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
I found them meritorious in the sense that they were late, so they were deemed refusals, and I had extracted a commitment from the CBC of March 31, 2009. At that point the complainant can initiate an action to the Federal Court, which he did.
Conservative
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
Not because of my--
Conservative
Bob Dechert Conservative Mississauga—Erindale, ON
Right. Fair enough. I'm just trying to understand the nature of the complaint.
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
In part, that action challenged my decision to lump them all into one and to accept the commitment of one year.
Conservative
Bob Dechert Conservative Mississauga—Erindale, ON
So the CBC agreed with you to supply this information in one year, and the--
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
Over the year, it trickled down. They didn't do it all on March 31. They provided it throughout the year.
Conservative
Bob Dechert Conservative Mississauga—Erindale, ON
So that individual is not happy with that response and is therefore appealing to the Federal Court. Okay, I understand. Thank you very much.
In your statistics, you also note that you had 226 new complaints with respect to the Department of National Defence. What is the nature of those kinds of complaints--well, the complaint obviously would be delay, but in terms of the request, what is the nature of the type of request being made there?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
The bulk of them have the word “Afghanistan” in them.
Conservative
Bob Dechert Conservative Mississauga—Erindale, ON
What are they looking for? Obviously I don't want you to give me the specifics of any individual request, but what kinds of information--
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
Some of it has been in the media. They're looking for treatment of detainees. They're looking for spending on equipment, the costs of the new tanks, the whole gamut.
Conservative
Bob Dechert Conservative Mississauga—Erindale, ON
They're looking for information about costs of equipment?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
Yes, and policies on treatment of detainees, reports on particular--
Conservative
Bob Dechert Conservative Mississauga—Erindale, ON
Can you tell us who the complainants are, as a group? Are they individuals? Are they media organizations? Are they third parties?
