Federal (Canada) privacy & access decisions

The complainant alleged that Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) did not conduct a reasonable search for records related to the Wood Mountain (Lakota) First Nation land claim. While CIRNAC initially provided records from 2017 onwards, OIC investigation and research revealed potential missing records from 2009 to 2016. Following further searches prompted by the OIC, CIRNAC located additional records. The Information Commissioner found the complaint well-founded and ordered CIRNAC to complete the retrieval and processing of all responsive records and provide a new response to the complainant.

• Reasonableness of the search conducted by the institution
• Identification and location of all records responsive to the access request
• Completeness of the records provided to the complainant

An institution applied for approval to decline to act on five access requests, arguing they were vexatious and an abuse of the right to access information. The Information Commissioner found that two of the requests (A-2023-00305 and A-2023-00314) were indeed an abuse of the right to access. Consequently, the Commissioner approved the institution's decision to decline to act on those two specific requests. However, the institution failed to prove that the remaining three requests (A-2023-00303, A-2023-00308 and A-2023-00310) were vexatious or an abuse of the right to access.

• Whether access requests are vexatious
• Whether access requests constitute an abuse of the right to make a request
• Application of section 6.1 of the Access to Information Act

An institution applied to the Information Commissioner for approval to decline an access request, arguing it was an abuse of the right to access information. The Commissioner agreed, finding the request constituted an abuse of the right to make a request. Consequently, the Commissioner granted the institution's application to decline to act on the request.

• Whether the access request constituted an abuse of the right to make a request under subsection 6.1(1) of the Access to Information Act.