Evidence of meeting #75 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was c-58.
A video is available from Parliament.
5:10 p.m.
Information Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
That represents 300 complaints where the personal information exemption was applied, which represents about half of all the exemption complaints that we have.
5:10 p.m.
Information Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
Exemption complaints dealing with national security, investigations....
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Frank Baylis Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
You get a little under 600 complaints, of which 52%, or 300, are to do with access to information.
5:10 p.m.
Information Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
They contain a personal exemption application.
5:10 p.m.
Information Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
They would have other exemptions, but they would have that one.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Frank Baylis Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
That would be about half of them.
Then you said.... I got lost in your testimony. Then you said that there were 13,000 instances of what?
November 1st, 2017 / 5:10 p.m.
Deputy Commissioner, Legal Services and Public Affairs, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
There were 13,000 investigations that you've completed since you started.
5:10 p.m.
Information Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
Since I've been commissioner, we've had 13,000 investigations overall. Over the years that I've been commissioner, the office has completed slightly over 13,000 cases.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Frank Baylis Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
Do you mean investigations of denials, investigations of...?
5:10 p.m.
Information Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
That's writ large. That includes all types of investigations.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Frank Baylis Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
Okay. Then you had seven cases that you brought back to personal information. You said there were seven cases that went to court. Is that...?
5:10 p.m.
Information Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
No. There were seven cases in which we made formal recommendations. That means at the last level.
These are cases where we did not resolve the investigations. The point I'm making is that of all the cases that involve a personal information exemption, there are very few in which we go to the ultimate step of making a formal recommendation to the government for disclosure .
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
5:10 p.m.
Information Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
Correct.
Actually, five of those were eventually resolved. Only two went to court.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Frank Baylis Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
The Privacy Commissioner, in his testimony, made the argument that he creates a balance. You want to put information out. All else being equal, you want to put it out. He wants to hold it back. There's a natural balance.
He believes—
5:10 p.m.
Information Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
I disagree with that statement from the Privacy Commissioner.
The Information Commissioner and the Privacy Commissioner are regulators. We have to apply the law, as I stated. The personal exemption in the Access to Information Act is a law. It's a provision in a law that is very well defined. It's actually—
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Frank Baylis Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
However, if I understand him, he wants to apply what he thinks is his purview, which is privacy, and you're saying, “No, don't bother; I'll do it.”
5:10 p.m.
Information Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
But we always do it. That's the point—
5:10 p.m.
Information Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
We have to do it under the current legislation—
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Frank Baylis Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
If we always do it, then I don't need to be sitting here, because what the heck, we always did it that way.
That's not a good answer to me. He's trying to—
5:10 p.m.
Information Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
But that is the legal answer, sir. It's the legal answer. When I apply the exemption for personal information, I have to apply the definition of personal information. I have to respect what the personal information exemption—