Information & Ethics committee  Our situation is very similar. We benefit, if you will, from the fact that the case processing is much more straightforward than processing the complex files that we have. We know that we will have growth every year of probably 16% to 20%. We've done analysis of what this means,

Information & Ethics committee  It could be huge. This is the issue, isn't it? We process literally millions of applications every year. If all of those people abroad had the right to access that information, we wouldn't be looking at 40,000 requests a year, we would be looking at many more than that. We would

Information & Ethics committee  At the moment, the immigration consultants—the third parties, the representatives—charge for those requests. If we were to permit anybody around the planet to make these requests, they would lose that business method, if I can put it like that. In many cases, immigration consulta

Information & Ethics committee  It has increased, but not exponentially.

Information & Ethics committee  There would certainly be challenges.

Information & Ethics committee  The department has about 7,000 employees. If we are 70-odd dealing with ATIPs full-time as analysts, it is a very small number. It does not include, however, the staff within the department who would be reacting to ATIP requests on a daily basis; that is, doing their own searches

Information & Ethics committee  Anything that would increase the volume of requests would be a challenge for us. As I said earlier, I do not think that we would be seeing an increase in available funding to be able to deal with them, so we would need to look at other ways of doing business.

Information & Ethics committee  I think that's where we're headed with the online access to people's own case requests. The more that we can put up and have available so that someone can go into their own MyCIC account, log in, and check the status of their case, the more this is going to be of assistance. Ther

Information & Ethics committee  We have a very close relationship with not only the Information Commissioner but also the Privacy Commissioner. As we approach every ATIP request, we have in mind what the act requires and what our obligations are. Our training and our awareness are dedicated to making sure that

Information & Ethics committee  I'm sorry. On that one I just don't have enough information to be able to comment, and the secretariat would be coordinating for all of government.

Information & Ethics committee  I think the Treasury Board Secretariat, as my colleague has mentioned, is looking into all of those things. What is always best in terms of oversight—and I speak more generally here—is that those doing the oversight are very familiar with the source of the information and with th

Information & Ethics committee  We are in constant discussions with the secretariat over what we would like to see, because I think it's fair to say that we all have views on what we would like to see in the act, but what would apply well in my department is not necessarily something that would be useful across

Information & Ethics committee  As Michael referred to earlier, I think that if we were to have close to two million temporary visa requests a year, you can see right away that there will be a number in there. We even have people doing requests for information on visas that were accepted, because they want to k

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, we occasionally get what would be deemed frivolous and vexatious requests, and on those here's what we try to do. The ATIP analyst has permission, the right, to go back to the requester and try to clarify what the request is, particularly when they're asking for what looks l

Information & Ethics committee  Overall, we accept far more applications than we refuse, so right away, you're only seeing a small percentage of those applicants, for either permanent immigration or temporary immigration. When that's all you see, that skews the perspective, and it seems that we spend our days s