In my work, we see this happening in response to requests for information when the package that is received has documents that are blacked out because they're exempted under cabinet confidence. Cabinet confidences currently under the act are excluded and not subject to the act.
In our investigations we request that departments provide certain information to confirm or to make sure that those documents are cabinet confidences.
I will agree with you. Canada is one of three levels of government where we are not allowed, as commissioners, to see the documents confirming cabinet confidence. In any other country, commissioners are allowed to see documents that confirm cabinet confidence.
In some of our investigations in the past, we were able to conclude that the cabinet confidence stamp was put on documents that were not such confidences, and should have been released.
It's not easy to make that determination when you don't see the document, and so I would recommend at the next review of the act that this be amended so that we can at least be able to see those documents.