Canadian Privacy Decisions

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 due to the large volume of Microsoft Teams messages requested. The Commissioner denied the application, finding the institution failed to provide sufficient evidence. The institution's calculations for the volume of messages were unreliable, and the Commissioner noted it is the institution's responsibility to build adequate capacity to process requests.

• Whether the access request is an abuse of the right of access under subsection 6.1(1) of the ATIA
• Whether the institution provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate the request would overburden its operations
• The institution's responsibility to ensure it has the operational capacity to process access requests