Information & Ethics committee  Perhaps I can answer that question. In terms of the free publications that the Government of Canada produces, we work with a network of libraries across Canada; we make print copies available at no cost to these libraries, which means that millions of Canadians can access those publications if they so wish.

Information & Ethics committee  There is no reporting to ministers or staff. It's an administrative process. We receive the information, and copyright is denied or approved. There were, to my knowledge, no instances in which it went up to a minister's office or required any kind of political intervention.

Information & Ethics committee  I cannot speak on behalf of the other government departments or institutions. I think there's a long history of departments establishing their licensing fees and establishing their cost recovery mechanisms. What I reported on today is what we know and what we administer, and I think that's the extent of it.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, it's if we're consulted. However, when we transmit the information for the application clearance form, we try to gather as much information as possible so that the decision can be made in a speedier way and can be made with all the facts. There are times when we have to go back to the requester and demand some clarification of the request, but yes, our role is really to advise and counsel the departments.

Information & Ethics committee  We work very closely with requesters of information and the departments. We have many years of experience, so we provide advice and guidance to departments. The ultimate decision is theirs, but we certainly will work with them to find the best solution to their requester's--

Information & Ethics committee  An example I've used previously is a photograph that's used in a work for which the rights to reproduce have not been granted to us. It retains copyright by the original author or creator, who is not necessarily a government employee. In some cases it could be information that may not be publicly available, where all the rights are reserved for a specific reason.

Information & Ethics committee  I cannot speak to what other governments that do not have crown copyright do in that instance. I think they absolutely have no protection whatsoever. The information can be used by any requester as the person sees fit. Part of our role--this is the policy--has been the administrative processes we undertake with departments for some validation of why the information is being requested.

Information & Ethics committee  In terms of the costs we recover, the cost is very minimal. The costs go back to the Receiver General of Canada. I'll give you an example. In 2009-10, we recovered $52,000. For the last 18 months, there have been no fees whatsoever attached to the licences we have issued. A lot of departments now will waive the royalties or the licensing fees with either a full waiver or a waiver in lieu of services.

Information & Ethics committee  In terms of the Creative Commons licence, this would be a government-wide project. Each department is responsible and knows what information holdings they have within their own databases or data sets, so in order to offer a Creative Commons type of licence, there would have to be a get-together of the minds of all the various departments to agree on the wording.

Information & Ethics committee  Having worked with our counterparts in the U.S. government, the GPO, I know that the U.S. government does not have crown copyright on any of the government material it produces. The rights are universal. Anybody can use and reuse U.S. government information without a request. In Canada, we have a crown copyright.

Information & Ethics committee  On the crown copyright administration, the rights are made available to Canadians to reuse unless otherwise stated, but a lot of the government information right now contains third party information, or information that's not necessarily negotiated to make public, so there are still constraints.

Information & Ethics committee  I'm not a specialist in the official languages, but I know the Government of Canada has a policy that all information we publish and make available publicly must be in both official languages. A lot of the data sets and information contained in databases is not translated. It's unilingual for the most part.