3217-01373 — Public Safety Canada and Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The complainant alleged that Public Safety Canada refused to process an access request for records related to various keywords. Public Safety argued parts of the request did not meet the Act's requirements and processing it would be overly burdensome. The Commissioner found the complaint well-founded, agreeing that some parts of the request were too vague but that Public Safety improperly refused to process the parts that did meet the criteria. Public Safety Canada committed to processing 5,000 pages per year of the relevant records.
- Adequacy of the request details under section 6 of the ATIA
- Institution's obligation to process requests in parts
- Institution's duty to assist requesters
- Timely processing of large volumes of records
Complaint well founded
The Commissioner found that Public Safety Canada improperly refused to process parts of the request that met the requirements of section 6 of the Access to Information Act, despite agreeing that other parts did not. The institution also failed to meet its obligations to assist the requester and did not claim an extension of time as permitted by the Act.
AI-generated summary for reference only. Always verify against the official decision ↗
Public Safety Canada was recommended to process specific parts of the request, provide a timeline, consult on metadata and format, and committed to processing 5,000 pages per year.
- s.6 ATIA
- s.9(1) ATIA
- s.4(2.1) ATIA
- s.10(3) ATIA
This is an informational summary of a decision and not legal advice.