Information & Ethics committee  The focus of the materials we've presented to the committee is more on the privacy protection side than it is on access to information, which is the corollary right to privacy. The Privacy Act contains both rights. With respect to access to information, the only specific recommendation we made was that the right of access should be extended beyond the status quo, which is limited to persons present in Canada.

Information & Ethics committee  I'll start by mentioning that under the private sector act, PIPEDA, there is a specific provision that enables the commissioner at any time, at her discretion, to disclose information concerning the privacy management practices of private sector organizations. When there is a matter the commissioner wishes to bring to public attention, she may do so.

Information & Ethics committee  We did a special report recently for the audit of the exempt banks of the RCMP. I believe we also did it for the joint audit that was conducted with the Auditor General more recently. On those two occasions, these were important issues that we felt should be brought to the Canadian public in a timely way.

Information & Ethics committee  Those are large reports that have Parliament as their intended audience. They are presented to Parliament, as is an annual report. What is envisaged is that on a smaller, more periodic basis one could report in a more summary fashion on interesting developments and decisions made by our office.

Information & Ethics committee  It's to the Canadian public by putting information on our website. That's the way we do it currently for the private sector act. We simply put up a case summary.