Government Operations Committee on April 21st, 2026

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

I'm afraid you have only about 15 seconds for an answer. We'll have other rounds, so perhaps you can answer then.

Go ahead, Madame Gaudreau.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Let's talk about access to information. I am really concerned. We are talking about penny-pinching. We are talking about being more efficient. Seriously, I would like to know the direct consequences for citizens, journalists and our media. I would like to know what this entails, as we will have to take action.

Can you tell me in detail about these consequences?

[Leslie Weir]

I'll start, and then my colleague can add to my answer.

It is worth noting that prior to the 2019 amendment to the Access to Information Act, when journalists and academics, amongst others, submitted a large number of requests for information, they were required to cover the costs associated with the process of our team members providing them with the requested information. Since 2019, they no longer have to bear these costs, and we have found that the number of requests has increased significantly, particularly the number of large requests.

On the other hand, we receive many requests where the number of pages corresponding to the information requested is reasonable. We try to manage the workload by responding to 80% of requests within the time limits prescribed by law, but in the case of the largest requests, this could have a significant impact on the applicants.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

What might that impact be, for example?

[Leslie Weir]

I think Ms. Schofield has some information on this, but I'd like to give you an example. When a master's or doctoral student knows they are going to have a discussion or a debate on a certain topic, they may decide to obtain information from us, and we might end up having to process thousands of pages of information. This could affect their research and their ability to complete the necessary work within the set deadlines. That would be one example.

[Jennifer Schofield]

Another example would be individuals who need documents for a court case, an administrative procedure or an appeal, for instance. If they indicate that they have a deadline or that it is urgent, we can prioritize their request to respond a little more quickly.

Furthermore, we have also put a triage process in place. When we receive new requests, archivists work with the applicants to see if there are any documents already open to the public that they could access. This process has enabled us to process 30% of new requests outside the freedom of information process.

It is things like this that help members of the public, researchers, students and other individuals receive their documents within more reasonable time frames.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

This really worries me, given that, in this age of misinformation and speed, the work of archivists and our living memory—our collective memory—are precious assets. It is as if we were sending a signal that, at $75 a page, it is ultimately no longer necessary to provide kilometres of documents. On the one hand, the requests may be excessive in some cases. On the other hand, there are people asking us why certain information isn't digitized and accessible.

How are you going to manage that, without a magic wand?

I've got one minute left. Convince me.

[Jennifer Schofield]

We have several processes for access, but one of these is bulk review. This process allows us to open collections using a risk-based approach that takes into account the age of the records and the subjects in question. All of this takes place outside the official access to information process. At Library and Archives Canada, we are always looking for ways to provide access to information outside the formal process.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

I will continue later, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thanks.

Go ahead, Mr. Patzer.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, SK]

Thank you very much.

This is a separate question right off the bat.

Have there been any difficulties or benefits for you due to the change in the copyright term—going from 50 years after death to 70 years after death?

[Leslie Weir]

The major change is that, as we're trying to make collections available, it's become more restricted. It's around access. When we look at the materials in our collections.... We have 22 million books. We are in collaboration with partners to digitize some of those books, rather than using our digitization services to do that, in order to make them available. Of course, we used to be able to digitize things that were published up to a certain year. Now we've had to block off a large additional period of publications that no longer fall into the public domain.

Copyright does have an impact on us.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, SK]

Have you run into any issues with infringement of the Copyright Act? Have you ever dealt with any of that?

[Leslie Weir]

We're very careful when accessing our collections to be sure that, when we share our collections, we are in fact following the copyright law fairly closely. Of course, there are interpretations around fair dealing and such things, but we have not had any issues with infringement brought to our attention at Library and Archives of Canada.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, SK]

Thank you.

I'm sorry. This was a bit of a detour from the meeting. I appreciate your indulging me.

Getting back to the issue of ATIPs, do you happen to know the exact number of ATIPs that are currently in the backlog?

[Leslie Weir]

We know the exact numbers in the backlog—the numbers we get annually, etc.

I'll ask Jennifer to address those numbers.

[Jennifer Schofield]

We include informal requests in our backlog because these are the ones that relate to the federal public servant or military personnel files. All told, as of December 31, there were 6,321.

If I may, I'll add that this is down significantly from 2022-23, when the number was over 14,000.

[Leslie Weir]

Of course, our backlog grew radically during the pandemic because we weren't able to access our records the way we normally would.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, SK]

Okay. Suffice it to say that there's a lot of catch-up at play. With the types of cuts you're facing.... How difficult is that making it for you?

[Leslie Weir]

It's difficult to address the backlog while we're also dealing with the regular requests that come in, because what we don't want to have is a backlog building up again. We make every effort to respond to the requests we're getting within the legal time frames, currently, while also continuing to bring the backlog down.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, SK]

How do you triage that, then? I know you alluded to this earlier. If somebody asks for a million-page document, you have to finish this first before you can move on to the next thing. How are you planning to balance that—to make sure the backlog is dropping while also still managing new requests coming in?

[Leslie Weir]

We triage the larger requests we have, and we negotiate to do those over a certain period of time so that they don't hold up all the other requests we're getting. We need to balance it.

Then there are other requests that may have time issues. They might be dealing with litigation, land claims or other kinds of records for which we get requests.

[Jennifer Schofield]

I can add to that.

Our reductions have a course of three years, so we still have several years left with a contingent of staff who will continue to work on the backlog. At the same time, the new requests coming in are being responded to, at 80% to 85% on time. Our backlog is not continuing to grow at the same rate as before. We are attacking it from both ends, and we anticipate clearing it by the time these reductions come into place.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, SK]

Quickly, to finish up, were you guys consulted prior to the announcement of the cuts?

[Leslie Weir]

Were we consulted about what the comprehensive expenditure review would be before it was announced?