Thank you for your question.
Mr. Chair, during my previous appearances, we informed the committee that further to the adoption of amendments to the act and to the broadening of the scope of section 69 respecting new institutions, the number of complaints registered with the Office rose sharply after April 1, 2007. That would explain the increase in the number of complaints carried over from the previous year.
I want to draw your attention to the total number of complaints closed. The progress that we have made is also noted. Each year, the number of complaints closed increased: from 1,268 in 2006-2007 to 1,770 in 2008-2009.
The second page contains a schematic diagram showing the number of complaints registered monthly. You will note that beginning in November 2008, the curve starts to level out somewhat. This shows that we are making considerable progress in controlling complaints at intake.
To answer your specific question about the number of complaints closed or the number of Commissioner-initiated complaints in 2008, in fact there were none. Two Commissioner-initiated complaints are currently being reviewed and the investigations are ongoing. The 237 complaints that were closed in 2007-2008 were registered by a single person. All of them were closed at the complainant's behest.
The 290 complaints discontinued by the complainant can be attributed in part to the new business plan developed by our Office. We meet with complainants who have initiated the highest number of complaints, those that make up our case inventory or backlog. We reviewed the complainant's file with him when the number of complaints exceeded 200 in total. This particular complainant was very cooperative and agreed to discontinue certain complaints for a variety of reasons, such as he already had the information or the information was no longer current. This way of dealing with complainants is more proactive and is aimed at reducing backlogs and controlling complaints at intake.