Evidence of meeting #25 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was request.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Iqra Khalid Liberal Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON
Thank you.
This is to pick up on another question you had answered. With regard to the ATIA, how many abuse of process cases do you think the government deals with?
Information Commissioner, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
I see only the ones I'm being asked to respond to. I have the statistics somewhere here. I think I've agreed to only about eight or 10 cases on maybe 60 requests. It's very rare.
Liberal
Iqra Khalid Liberal Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON
Thank you.
I also want to get your opinion on Bill C-58, which has been implemented. It's eliminating the fees—all except the five-dollar application fee—and then requiring institutions to proactively publish specific information known to be of interest to the public without a need for that request and allowing government institutions within the same ministerial portfolio to work together to process requests more efficiently.
I'd like to know how you think that is operating. Do you think that is in part the reason we've seen a decrease in ATIPs?
Information Commissioner, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
I don't believe the proactive disclosure portion, in part 2 of the act, has allowed that, because the same information that is now proactively disclosed was disclosed before, but by policy. I don't have an authority to review that proactively disclosed information, so I don't think that's what created the reduction in the number of access requests. With the fact that the access requests are taking longer—again, having a backlog—I'm not sure we are seeing the true statistics.
There is also an increase of 33% in the number of pages processed through these access requests. There's a huge number of informal access requests as well. They're not the same. This could be another factor as well: People are just going through the informal route instead of the formal route.
Liberal
Iqra Khalid Liberal Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON
That's really interesting.
I want to pick up on another thing you talked about, which was the reasons for extension requests. That is something you have the power to accept or deny. What are some of the reasons you would get a request from an institution for an extension?
Information Commissioner, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
Most of the time it's a lack of resources that's going to affect their operations or it's consultations with other institutions, which is not legislated and for which there's no timeline right now. This is one of the biggest issues we're seeing within our files.
Liberal
Iqra Khalid Liberal Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON
How do you decide whether to grant the extension or not?
Information Commissioner, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
We ask the institutions to demonstrate that the extensions they are taking are reasonable based on the complexity, the type of file and the number of pages. Based on all of these factors, we usually try to arrive at a date by which we believe they should be able to respond.
Conservative
Harb Gill Conservative Windsor West, ON
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Madam Commissioner. I have a couple of questions that are not very long.
You announced the investigation into ArriveCAN back in 2024, and you just indicated that you're possibly releasing a report before May 31 or thereabouts. Is that correct?
Information Commissioner, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
We were hoping to do that before this fiscal year, but the more we dug, the more we found.
Conservative
Harb Gill Conservative Windsor West, ON
That is absolutely interesting.
Do you have enough people to do that investigation?
Information Commissioner, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
A systemic investigation like this requires a lot of resources, especially because these are complex issues. Do I have enough people? Yes, but if I devote people to that investigation, then I cannot do others.
It's always one of those balanced decisions. We would always take more people, but we understand that this is a tough time for everybody, so we're trying to be sufficiently equipped with the resources we have.
Conservative
Harb Gill Conservative Windsor West, ON
You're trying to be fiscally responsible. I appreciate that.
Have you personally interviewed Mr. Doan?
Information Commissioner, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
I cannot answer that. I'm sorry.
Conservative
Harb Gill Conservative Windsor West, ON
Your office has not made a formal finding on that deletion issue. Is that correct?
Information Commissioner, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
No, we're not there yet.
Conservative
Harb Gill Conservative Windsor West, ON
Is that because you keep finding new information, as you just mentioned?
Information Commissioner, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
It's more that it's a complex investigation.
Conservative
Harb Gill Conservative Windsor West, ON
Once you finish the investigation, will you be referring this case to the Attorney General before or after the report is released?
Information Commissioner, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
We can only refer an allegation if I see evidence that leads me to believe that something has been done intentionally, and that's something we're going to have to decide ultimately at the end of this investigation.
Information Commissioner, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
I cannot say whether I'm there or not.
Conservative
Harb Gill Conservative Windsor West, ON
Okay.
You mentioned that in one of your filings here you have 12 institutions that compelled you to go to court. Which institutions are forcing you to go to court?
