Evidence of meeting #7 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 requests.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
All right. What's the average cost per request, to your department?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
The average cost per request in the system is published by Treasury Board Secretariat, and for this year the average cost per request completed is listed as $1,425.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Fourteen hundred dollars per request. Would it not make sense, in light of the fact that three people generate a third of your work, that you would have, at some point, at some threshold, a cost-recovery escalating fee, so you could recover some of these expenses that are being generated by these three individuals?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
On the complaints side, we're dealing with rights of individuals, and they may be acting on behalf of someone else.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
I'm talking about the request side.
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
On the request side, there are fees already provided for by regulation, and that's why the average cost is $1,425 but the average fee collected is $13.34.
Conservative
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
But that's a government policy issue. It's for Parliament to look at these regulations as to whether they are relevant. In many cases, I advocate no fees.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
I think that's the way to go with the individual who has fewer than 50 requests, but when you have three people generating 800 requests, a third of your work, it seems a little bit excessive.
In terms of privacy, do you disclose the name of the requester to the department where information is being sought?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
No. All requests and all complaints are processed regardless of the identity of the individual, and that's provided for in the act.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
So the department receiving the request does not know who is asking for the information?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
Yes. The department coordinator would know who the requester is, but in the search for the documents, unless it's absolutely pertinent to get the source documents, the identity is not revealed, and it should not be revealed.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
So obviously people, not just in your office but in different departments, know who these individuals are. What's the basis for preserving the privacy of the requester? I can understand the privacy associated with the complainant. That makes perfect sense to me. But what's the public interest in preserving the privacy of the requester? I'm specifically wondering why the public would not want to know who these three individual users are.
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
There's the privacy of the requester and the privacy of the complainant.
Conservative
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
Well, the statute specifically says “regardless of identity”.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
I understand that's what the statute says. I'm wondering what your impression is as to why it says that.
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
I think human nature would make it such, over time, that identification of individuals would colour the quality of service in return to that individual. Furthermore—
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
But you just.... The department still knows who's asking for the information.
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
The coordinator knows, because the request is filed, there's a cheque, there's a signature. But then they're supposed to process that request without regard to the identity and keep it private. If you're asking for personal information, obviously that's going to have to be shared down the line, but they're supposed to get the same result.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
I perfectly understand that. I'm not at all suggesting that there should be a connection between the nature of the request and the requester. I'm just saying that the sheer information associated with how many requests a person makes--not the type of request, just the number--would be very interesting for the public to know.
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
In one case it might be very voluminous, if you think of Maher Arar, and in another case it might be a question of wrongful dismissal and nobody else wants to know that. There are all kinds of issues that come into play.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Again, I'm not advocating exposing the knowledge of the type of the request, but simply who. I'm trying to understand why that privacy is important, but I have completed my question.
Thank you.
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
On that point, sir, if I may just add to it, nothing prevents the Government of Canada and the Treasury Board Secretariat from publishing their own list like this without divulging identity if they want to tag a particular user category with the number of requests.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Paul Szabo
Just for clarification on the cost per request, is the number you gave net of recovery?