5822-03252 — Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The complainant alleged that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) improperly withheld information under subsections 13(1), 19(1), and section 23 of the Access to Information Act in response to a request for records related to the complainant from late 2000. The Information Commissioner found that while some information was properly withheld under these exemptions, the RCMP improperly applied subsection 13(1) to its own authored emails, which were not 'obtained' from another government body. Furthermore, the Commissioner concluded that the RCMP failed to reasonably seek consent from the government bodies that provided information under subsection 13(1), as required by subsection 13(2). The Commissioner ordered the RCMP to disclose the information that did not meet the requirements of subsection 13(1) and to seek consent for the remaining information falling under subsection 13(1). The RCMP agreed to implement the order, leading to a 'well-founded' finding for the complaint.
- 1Whether information authored by RCMP members was 'obtained' from an international organization for the purpose of s.13(1)
- 2Whether information from a municipal policing organization was 'obtained in confidence' for the purpose of s.13(1)
- 3Whether the RCMP reasonably exercised its discretion under s.13(2) by failing to seek consent from government bodies
- 4Whether information about identifiable individuals other than the complainant met the requirements of s.19(1)
- 5Whether the RCMP reasonably exercised its discretion under s.19(2)
- 6Whether two sentences constituted solicitor-client privileged communication under s.23
- 7Whether the RCMP reasonably exercised its discretion under s.23
- Application of s. 13(1): Improperly applied to own records
- Consent under s. 13(2): Failed to reasonably seek consent
- Withholding under s. 19(1): Exemption upheld
- Withholding under s. 23: Exemption upheld
- Disclosure of records: Partial disclosure ordered
- Complaint outcome: Well-founded
Complaint well founded — disclosure ordered and consent-seeking ordered
The RCMP improperly applied subsection 13(1) to its own authored emails and failed to reasonably seek consent from government bodies as required by subsection 13(2).
The Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness is ordered to disclose all information that does not meet the requirements of subsection 13(1) and to seek consent, and if given, reasonably exercise discretion to decide whether to release the information that meets the requirements of subsection 13(1).
- s.13(1) ATIA
- s.13(2) ATIA
- s.19(1) ATIA
- s.19(2) ATIA
- s.23 ATIA
- s.30(1)(a) ATIA
This summary is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Related by meaning
Decisions with similar reasoning and facts — found by AI across statutes and jurisdictions, not just keywords.
Coverage — 13 of 14 jurisdictions searchable
Fully searchable: Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, New Brunswick, Manitoba.
Partial (recent decisions only): Federal (Canada) (651 of 1,631), Nova Scotia (49 of 472), Quebec (6 of 7,090), Prince Edward Island (2 of 279), Yukon (1 of 75).
Coming soon: Nunavut — being re-processed for AI search.
Find decisions like this one — by meaning, not keywords.
Related by meaning is a Pro feature. Upgrade to surface conceptually similar decisions across the corpus, powered by AI.
Upgrade to Pro