Information & Ethics committee  Their biggest concern is timelines, again. It's delays. Getting information for them is key. They have to have this information to pursue their requests. They need information to be provided to them informally. They shouldn't have to ask for information through an access request.

Information & Ethics committee  There is a link I can send you on how the statutes in different countries are being evaluated. I think Afghanistan is first, interestingly enough, and Mexico—

Information & Ethics committee  It's the act. There's legislation that is great, but then we also need to properly apply the legislation and process access. The norms are that it should be free. Everybody in government should be subject to the act. Like I said earlier, providers of services on behalf of govern

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.

Information & Ethics committee  There is definitely a need for investment in technology. We are in 2023 and this government is lacking in terms of using artificial intelligence. IRCC, actually, is using bots—robots—to identify some information. It's making great progress. It has actually had great results. I t

Information & Ethics committee  Definitely. You have no idea how many requests we see that have hundreds of the same emails and pages. The analysts have no choice but to process and treat them. We are getting more and more access requests that result in thousands of pages. It used to not be very often. The elim

Information & Ethics committee  I do. Right now I think that there are only 13 nations that are part of that definition. I've heard from them that it is definitely an issue. I think it's great that they've been consulted through this round for the review. I hope that their concerns will be addressed.

Information & Ethics committee  I will be honest with you. I think that this is a subject that is so important that I would let the experts deal with that. I think that indigenous people should be talking to you about whether or not the report goes far enough in their view. They've been consulted, but whether

Information & Ethics committee  No, I'm not part of the consultation process. I have met with them in terms of how I can help them and how my office deals with complaints from their offices and groups.

Information & Ethics committee  No, and we see that often in terms of what we call missing records. Usually the requesters will have evidence that there should be records or that the decision was made, or there's more to it. We do find often it's just because the unit was not tasked properly.

Information & Ethics committee  I can't tell you that I've seen it more in one than in another.

Information & Ethics committee  It goes with the culture of secrecy. If it's out there in the introduction that public interest is important.... Right now it's only a factor in terms of discretionary decisions. It's proper and it's good to have it as a factor, but if it's there in the introduction, it means tha

Information & Ethics committee  I know that Ontario has it. I'm sure there are more, as you said. I remember hearing about Ontario having that specific provision.

Information & Ethics committee  In my document, I provided you with the institutions that we're receiving the most complaints about. It's not always because they received the most complaints that they're the worst. Often it's the percentage and the number of requests they're receiving. What we see across the b

Information & Ethics committee  This government is making a lot of decisions that are being discussed in cabinet ministers' offices and in the Prime Minister's Office. When we see documents that have gone to these offices, they're all redacted. You have to determine where the cut off is. When does it become th