Information & Ethics committee  Right now, our federal government does not have a legislated duty to document, so our institutions are left to document what they want. They are encouraged to always take notes and make sure that big policy decisions are being saved somewhere, but there are no consistencies. Now

Information & Ethics committee  I understand that Minister Duclos and his office have informed the institutions that they cannot stop working with.... They have a legislative obligation to respond to access requests, and we've done the same thing. We've seen that some units completely shut down during COVID, an

Information & Ethics committee  I think because the number of requests has increased so much—like I said earlier, 225% in six years—there is definitely more information out there. There are a lot more requests. There's a lot more interest, but we can definitely do more, and it's not just by putting money in uni

Information & Ethics committee  They're particularly impacted. Actually, I met with the director of national claims and research this week. They are using, most of the time, the informal process. If they don't get the information they want, then they have to go through the formal process to make a complaint to

Information & Ethics committee  It totally is. Some institutions have told us that they actually have the financial means to hire more people, but they just can't find people to work in that field. It's a very difficult job because you are always between the person who wants the information yesterday and the in

Information & Ethics committee  I'm not aware of any specific country that would have better technology. I'm sure there are some. It's really difficult to compare sometimes with some other countries. We know that we have departments like the Department of Fisheries and Oceans that have put in place some systems

Information & Ethics committee  I'm not sure I understand.

Information & Ethics committee  Actually, there's an exemption right now under the Access to Information Act, where personal information is redacted unless you have consent or the information is public. It's probably the most used exemption through access requests that we see. It's rarely questionable. Our in

Information & Ethics committee  Confidence is knowing that the information we're allowed to give to people is right and complete, and they can use it to state their views or make decisions on certain subjects.

Information & Ethics committee  You should ask Canadians that question. There was an election recently. I think people are curious and they ask a lot of questions. I personally have three young boys and they often ask some pretty tough questions. I think that's where this generation of Canadians is at.

Information & Ethics committee  I don't know that any connection should be made with the number of substantiated ATIP requests. However, I can tell you that if the government can give them the information they are requesting quickly, Canadians will be less likely to turn to sources that are not very reliable or

Information & Ethics committee  That's right.

Information & Ethics committee  I wouldn't be able to tell you specifically if we have a complaint or what our investigations are on. The other limitation we have is that we usually don't know who our requesters or complainants are unless they tell us. I'm not allowed to ask whether someone is a person from the

Information & Ethics committee  I don't believe that I have. I've seen acronyms used, but—

Information & Ethics committee  I would have to ask you to check with the Treasury Board because this is a part of the Treasury Board policy with respect to what an institution must do when they respond to access requests. I do have some complainants who are telling me that some of these requests that they've m