Federal (Canada) Privacy Decisions

The complainant alleged that Health Canada did not conduct a reasonable search for records concerning producers and users of medical cannabis. Responsive records were drawn from one database, but Health Canada argued retrieving additional records from a second database would be unreasonable due to the manual labour involved. The Information Commissioner agreed that the search was reasonable given the effort required.

• Reasonableness of search

The complainant alleged that Transport Canada improperly relied on section 26 of the Access to Information Act to refuse access to annual statistics regarding the processing of access to information and privacy requests. The Office of the Information Commissioner found that Transport Canada met the criteria for applying section 26 and had properly considered all relevant factors in its decision.

• Applicability of section 26 of the ATIA (Refusal of access if information to be published)
• Proper exercise of discretion by the institution

A complainant alleged that Health Canada failed to identify all records responsive to an Access to Information Act request and should have provided an index of these records. The Information Commissioner of Canada found that Health Canada conducted a reasonable search and did not improperly withhold records. The Commissioner also determined that Health Canada was not obligated to create an index for this request, as it would have been unreasonable.

• Duty to assist
• Reasonableness of search
• Obligation to create an index of records

The complainant filed a complaint after National Defence (DND) did not respond to their access to information request. DND had decided that the request did not meet the requirements of section 6 of the Access to Information Act. The Information Commissioner found that the complaint was not well-founded, indicating that DND's handling of the request was appropriate.

• Whether the institution responded to the request within the time limits prescribed by the Act.