Currently, I would highlight six components.
One of the main difficulties is globalization. Access to information requests deal with a range of issues and with the relationship between Canada and the United States on a large number of topics. Potentially, they can even get into the disarmament programs that Canada may be financing in some parts of the former Soviet Union.
So the topics can deal more or less with anything in the world. Clearly, those matters have to be reviewed not only by access to information experts, but also by Foreign Affairs' operational experts. That is the first thing.
The second thing is the complexity of the requests. We may be dealing with information that is sometimes provided to us by foreign governments or third parties, which means that several departments are involved. For example, if the topic is protecting the environment internationally, the Department of the Environment has to be consulted, as does the Department of Natural Resources. So it can get complex. No issue deals with one topic in one area only.
The third point is that a number of access to information requests come in when matters become news. So we have to be careful about the information we make public.
Fourth, Foreign Affairs has 171 missions overseas. Depending on the questions that are asked, those missions have to be involved, and so do foreign governments.
The other difficulty organizationally is that, since the officers in our department move around a lot, someone might have handled a file and, when the access to information request comes along two years later, the person has been posted overseas.
Lastly, since 2004, we are looking at an increase of 78%, and, as they say, the department,
is playing a bit of catch-up with demand, given the very significant increase in demand. We haven't matched it with a very significant increase in resources as well.