Evidence of meeting #21 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was complaints.
A video is available from Parliament.
12:15 p.m.
NDP
The Chair NDP Pat Martin
Yes, I'm afraid your time is up, Mr. Ravignat.
Could I ask witnesses to allow the button keeper to press the buttons instead of you? It's a unionized job, and we'll have a grievance. We'd like to keep them here; that's right.
Next, for the Conservatives, Mr. Jacques Gourde.
May 6th, 2014 / 12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My thanks to the witnesses for being here with us today. I think you have shown that you manage your respective budgets wisely.
My first question is for Ms. McCarthy.
You have put in place a strategic approach to manage your workload and you have ensured that investigators have the tools they need. Could you elaborate on your approach? That might give a variety of ideas to those responsible for other offices. Managing an office well is an ongoing challenge.
12:15 p.m.
Assistant Commissioner, Complaints Resolution and Compliance, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
First of all, there is a process for receiving complaints. As soon as we receive a complaint, we do the sorting. We review the complaint and determine whether it is an administrative complaint or a complaint about denial of access. Then, different teams conduct the administrative investigations, either for a quick resolution or for the more complex cases. We make sure that resources are used effectively.
We also look at the issues raised to see whether it is possible to group the complaints together in order to process them effectively. We examine our internal processes through a case management system to ensure that everything is documented in our system. That helps us a great deal with reviewing our internal processes. We are looking into our processes for more complex investigations and for the refusals in order to improve our processes.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
Overall, would you say that the complaints you receive are individual complaints or is there a certain percentage of recurring complaints? Are you always getting the same thing under different names?
12:15 p.m.
Assistant Commissioner, Complaints Resolution and Compliance, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
That varies considerably from one institution to another. This year, we have not seen many large groupings of topics. It really depends on the institution.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
Thank you.
Ms. Dawson, let's talk about your work.
Of course, we have to provide our statements. Are the files the same or are there major differences between them?
12:15 p.m.
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
It's always the same topic. We deal with reports. Are you talking about the investigation files or the files—
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
I am talking about the files that parliamentarians must submit annually and that need to be renewed. That is a fairly repetitive process. Do you have a designated team for that?
12:15 p.m.
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Yes, the largest unit in our office is the one that deals with those types of things. It also provides advice along the way.
Do you want to add anything, Denise?
12:20 p.m.
Denise Benoit Director, Corporate Management, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Our advisory and compliance branch is responsible for what we call our annual revenue. We use an integrated case management system that helps us a great deal because it gives us a recall system. Priority has been given specifically to those annual reviews so that we can be up to date on the situation of our clients.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
So that represents about 60% or 70% of the overall work of the office of the commissioner.
12:20 p.m.
Director, Corporate Management, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
That is probably our organization's biggest responsibility.
12:20 p.m.
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
I would say that it is approximately 40%.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
You also provide advice to those who ask for it. In some circumstances, your advice must be needed. What portion of your work does that account for? Is it 15%?
12:20 p.m.
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
That represents about 20% of our work. It is difficult to say because that aspect of our work overlaps with other activities, but I can say that it represents a good portion of our work.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
Does processing complaints and issues account for the rest of your work?
12:20 p.m.
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Investigations also take quite a bit of time. It is difficult to determine the exact percentage. There is a branch that deals with investigations only. There are also lawyers who often deal with the investigations. That probably represents 20% of the work done by our office.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
You said you never had to use your entire budget. Do you think that will still be a possibility in the coming years?
12:20 p.m.
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
We have reduced our budget slightly and I hope we will continue to do so. We are waiting to see whether there will be changes after the five-year reviews. If our mandate remains the same, I think we will have sufficient funding.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
All parliamentarians end up working with you and we receive very good service. Thank you.
12:20 p.m.
NDP
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
Scott Andrews Liberal Avalon, NL
Welcome today. It's a pleasure to have you all back here.
Ms. Dawson, I want to touch on something you said in your opening statement, that over the last three years, you've had some 47,000 complaints to deal with. You mentioned that you're implementing a strategic approach to managing your caseloads.
Do you want to elaborate a little on that and share with the committee the strategic approach you're taking with your investigators and in your office?
12:20 p.m.
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
I think Denise would probably answer that a little more completely.
12:20 p.m.
Director, Corporate Management, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Actually, if I'm not mistaken, I think the strategic approach for dealing with case management was brought up by our colleagues in the Information Commissioner's office.
