Mr. Chair, honourable member, we are preparing a written submission that we would like to present to this committee when the discussion starts on Bill C-461. We will put in there essentially the history of what has happened in terms of the current provisions in the legislation since it came into effect in 2007.
We will explain in there as well what happened really in the court cases, because the court cases were not about the substance of that provision; they were really about the fact.... CBC was arguing that because it was an exclusion, I did not have the right to review the records that were the subject of the complaints. That's why we ended in court.
So in all that period of time, from 2007 to February 2011, or perhaps it's November 2011—anyway, it's in 2011—I was not able to see any of the records related to these investigations. Subsequent to the Federal Court of Appeal, we were able to start collecting the records and to start doing the investigations.
What we will present to you will have an explanation of the differences between an exclusion and an exemption, and the different types of exemptions, not only in relation to the analysis for disclosure but also in relation to the powers of the commissioner when you have an exclusion or an exemption.
The other thing I will be able to provide to the committee is the fact that since 2007, we have looked at close to 1,200 cases in relation to CBC. We have 200 remaining. Out of all of those cases, no case has dealt with journalistic sources. I think that's an important fact to know when we consider possible amendments to the act and possible additions of exclusions.
My personal view as Information Commissioner, after something like six years now at the OIC, as assistant commissioner, as interim, and as commissioner, is that I do not support exclusions to the application of the act as a matter of principle. I really profoundly believe there should be independent review of government decisions on disclosure. That doesn't mean the information gets disclosed. We can still decide and recommend that the information should remain protected, as we do many times in terms of personal information or national security matters.
National security matters are the subject of a discretionary exemption under the act. There has not been any issue with the OIC's review and investigations and recommendations in relation to national security matters. I do not believe there should be a different perspective on documents that are located in the CBC. Journalistic source privilege is something that is protected in law as it is.
So this—not so briefly—is sort of my initial perspective on that. We are planning to provide a written document to the committee that will go through all of this information, because I think it's actually quite complex.