Evidence of meeting #104 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cbsa.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
Have you received complaints related to the ArriveCAN application?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
I cannot say which one or how and what, but yes, generally we have complaints with respect to CBSA.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
You have complaints with respect to CBSA. Obviously you can't, with the 2,900 ongoing investigations that you have.
Is there any standard amount of time for the conclusion of your investigations? Is there a service standard that you have in your office?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
If it's a timeline issue or a delay complaint, we try to be within 90 days. If it's a refusal, exemptions or missing records, that could go up to six to nine months.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
It's up to nine months for missing records, but if, for example, you—
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
That's the standard, depending on how—
February 21st, 2024 / 2:05 p.m.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
If you saw fit, you could then table your findings with Parliament if you deemed that missing the standard was in the public interest.
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
If it's a matter that I believe that Parliament should be aware of, I have the authority to table special reports. If it's something that I believe not just the institution or the complainant should be aware of, I can use a special report to provide that information to Parliament.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
I very much appreciate your responses. I trust that your being here today indicates Parliament's keen interest in your work in relation to CBSA and missing documents.
Thank you very much.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Thank you, Mr. Barrett.
We have Mr. Kusmierczyk, and then we'll finish up with Mrs. Vignola and then Mr. Julian.
Liberal
Irek Kusmierczyk Liberal Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Commissioner, for being here with us this afternoon. Thank you so much for your excellent answers and for shedding some important light.
A few months ago you met with frequent users of the ATIP process or frequent users of your office for a feedback session. What are some of the comments that you heard from the folks who utilized the ATIP process and the help of your office? What did you hear from them in terms of how we can improve things moving forward?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
The consultation that you're referring to is a consultation that we did with respect to our own process to make sure that we are responding to and understand the client's or the complainant's view on how we can make it easier for them.
Definitely, some of the comments were that they want our investigation to go faster. They want more information on our website. They want to understand the process better and have more frequent conversations with our investigators. This is something that we have just now received as feedback from the company that did the consultations. We are going to make the report public, and we are going to make the response of our office public as well.
Liberal
Irek Kusmierczyk Liberal Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
Out of those suggestions, is there one that you feel ought to be prioritized or that you discussed with your team that ought to be prioritized in the near future?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
We haven't had the chance to even have a discussion yet.
We also have to be aware of the resource issues. I want to do my investigations faster, so we have to find ways to be more efficient with the resources that we have.
Liberal
Irek Kusmierczyk Liberal Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
I'm really pleased to hear that you organized that type of platform and gathered that type of feedback from the folks who utilize your services. Kudos to you for doing that.
I want to ask you this: How independent is your office, the Office of the Information Commissioner? How independent are you from government and from politics?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
I can tell you that I'm fully independent, except for the funding—
Liberal
Irek Kusmierczyk Liberal Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
How appropriate is it for a member of Parliament, as we saw a few minutes ago, to direct you to conduct an investigation on an issue?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
This is a reason that I can't accept a request for an investigation; however, if a complaint comes to me from anybody, including members of Parliament, that is something that we can definitely investigate.
Liberal
Irek Kusmierczyk Liberal Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
What percentage of all ATIP requests made end up becoming complaints that are sent to your office?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
It's about 5% of all requests.
Liberal
Irek Kusmierczyk Liberal Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
Can you give us a sense, relative to some of our peer countries, of whether that is good or bad? Can you give us a sense of what 5% means?
Out of all the ATIP requests that are submitted, 5% end up as complaints in your office. Is that high, is that low or is that average in terms of peer jurisdictions?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
I have no idea with respect to other countries. I can tell you that I'm the busiest access to information commissioner in Canada.
Liberal
Irek Kusmierczyk Liberal Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
Certainly, certainly.
It would be really helpful if at some point you might be able to find that information in terms of how we compare with other jurisdictions and other countries as well. It would be quite helpful if you're able to send that.
I want to ask you how you handle high-volume requesters. We know, for example, that an individual may make dozens if not hundreds of requests. Is there a special approach that you take to high-volume requesters?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
We try to talk to them to decide with them which one to prioritize. We have a very open conversation with these requesters so that they know that we can't investigate 19 cases, or let's say 50 or sometimes 100 cases, for one requester or one complainant. We try to work with the person to prioritize those complaints.
Liberal
Irek Kusmierczyk Liberal Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
Commissioner, I really do appreciate how you go back and forth with the folks that utilize the ATIP, that information system. That's really encouraging to hear.
I have one final question.
Mr. Chair, do I have any time left?