Information & Ethics committee  On that question, we would be looking to the committee's advice in terms of the application of the law and extending it beyond Canadians. That isn't a decision that's been taken at this point, and we're certainly sensitive to the feedback from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada in terms of the potential impact to their operations.

Information & Ethics committee  All of the recommendations that would come forward, either through our public consultations or from this committee, would have to be looked at in the light of what's possible and in terms of the timing of changes, as well as to ensure they're effectively applied. I know we're eager to have views and we are open to the feedback we receive to try to identify the best way forward.

Information & Ethics committee  To some extent, the guidance that's provided in the open and transparent document in terms of information management is consistent with existing policies and guidance for ministers' offices. There is no anticipated cost associated with ensuring that information is being managed well and that records are retained appropriately and transferred to library archives when that's required, or that political records remain in the hands of politicians.

Information & Ethics committee  It's reflective of the fact that crown corporations operate at arm's length from ministers in terms of their day-to-day operations and report through ministers to Parliament. That said, we do have good engagement by many crown corporations around the information management community.

Information & Ethics committee  Advancing the interim directive at this point is intended to help us move as quickly as we can in support of some of the government's commitments. There was a commitment made to eliminate all fees other than the initial $5 fee, and the directive enables us to move forward on that quickly.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, I can dig into my big fat binder and find the exact amount of money we have been collecting through fees other than the initial application fee. It isn't an amount of money that would be anticipated to have any impact on the access to information services. The access to information services are currently not cost-recovery.

Information & Ethics committee  GCDOCS was adopted less quickly than expected because of a number of factors. We shouldn't underestimate the significance of the change for departments moving from existing systems to a new system. It has taken a bit of time for some of them to rally to a new approach. At the same time, we've been introducing other modernization efforts across the Government of Canada.

Information & Ethics committee  I do not know exactly which systems other governments use, let alone other countries, but I can say that, according to Gartner Inc., a company that provides a lot of information on software programs and their performance, as well as on the companies, GCDOCS is one of the three most effective document management systems in the world.

Information & Ethics committee  I'd like to thank the committee for inviting me to talk about information management in the Government of Canada today. Like financial and human resources, information represents a critical strategic asset to the Government of Canada. Making high-quality, trustworthy information available to decision-makers helps to deliver effective programs and services.

Information & Ethics committee  I would say that, to date, we have not tracked those costs outside of the direct processing cost. We have close to 70,000 requests annually, so we haven't tracked the indirect costs associated with that as part of the tracking process associated with moving all of that material through.

Information & Ethics committee  Do you mean the direct cost spending?

Information & Ethics committee  I will see what I can provide, yes.

Information & Ethics committee  In terms of the time frame, what I can provide by way of context is that currently over 60% are in that range of requests being met within the existing 30-day time limit. We're obviously wanting to improve performance against the time limits that exist today. I think that something the committee may wish to consider is this.

Information & Ethics committee  Just to add to that, existing information management policies, rather than access to information policies, do capture a requirement for employees to document decisions and decision-making processes. Part of that is also to assist in terms of audit trails, and ensuring there's a solid record of how decisions are taken and when they are taken.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, that's the policy on information management, and we can provide that.