Information & Ethics committee  I think that the key is in recommendations 8 and 12 on the list. This would enhance the status of what, at the moment, are only Treasury Board directives. Within state apparatus, much more importance is given to the provisions of an act than to the contents of a directive that, a

Information & Ethics committee  We have to significantly reinforce the requirement in the current act for departments and agencies—we were talking about the RCMP just now—to be more careful and vigilant about putting things in writing. A matter of national security does not have to be made public. What is the i

Information & Ethics committee  No. I disagree with that approach, not only here, but in the public safety committee, where we appeared last week. This points to at least two of our recommendations. One is the necessary change from “recorded” simply to “information”. That is the standard in PIPEDA. That would a

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, that is a different question. There are costs when you go to Federal Court. There are costs, and the court is not available in all communities, only in some of Canada's largest cities. However, that does not come under the Privacy Act, so I have not commented on it.

Information & Ethics committee  What is your question?

Information & Ethics committee  There is that risk, but the problem at the moment, in my opinion, is the lack of discretionary power. Our office must focus on complaints where we can really have an impact, where we can do some good, and free ourselves of complaints that are not so much questions of personal inf

Information & Ethics committee  From memory, it is one of the targets of the greatest number of complaints.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, I believe I do. I have to look at my last annual report. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police were ranked fourth in the number of complaints, with 52 complaints, of which three were well founded, two were well founded and resolved, nine were settled in the course of investiga

Information & Ethics committee  Three were well founded. Two were well founded and then resolved after the finding of being well founded. They're just kind of nuances as to when either an agreement or a resolution was--

Information & Ethics committee  I'd probably have to do a lot of quick mental arithmetic, at which I'm not too quick.

Information & Ethics committee  Okay. We could provide that. I can say that consistently--and we understand--because of its activities, there are many complaints against the RCMP--

Information & Ethics committee  I would presume so, but not from direct or institutional knowledge. Perhaps it's more from the fact that the assistant commissioner and I appeared last Thursday at the public safety committee, along with the former counsel for the O'Connor inquiry, and we heard that this had been

Information & Ethics committee  Okay. Mr. Chairman, I could repeat the question in the other language and repeat my answer in both languages, if that would help.

Information & Ethics committee  Okay. I'm very sorry. I will continue in English. Barring a full revision of the Privacy Act, I've previously proposed that the government consider what we call quick fixes—this is a bit of a nickname, I guess—that might help address some of the more substantial shortcomings of

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and distinguished members. It's a pleasure to be back here to conclude a journey that we've undertaken together over at least a year now. It's a year and a half that we've been talking about it. My remarks today are going to highlight some of th