Canadian privacy & access decisions

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.

• Whether information authored by RCMP members was 'obtained' from an international organization for the purpose of s.13(1)
• Whether information from a municipal policing organization was 'obtained in confidence' for the purpose of s.13(1)
• Whether the RCMP reasonably exercised its discretion under s.13(2) by failing to seek consent from government bodies
• Whether information about identifiable individuals other than the complainant met the requirements of s.19(1)
• Whether the RCMP reasonably exercised its discretion under s.19(2)
• Whether two sentences constituted solicitor-client privileged communication under s.23
• Whether the RCMP reasonably exercised its discretion under s.23

The complainant alleged that Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) failed to conduct a reasonable search for records in response to an access request for entries in the Service Administration Log, including incident notes, for suicide occurrence forms and medevac data entries related to suicide, substance use, or mental health from January 1, 2019, to July 7, 2020. Initially, ISC stated no records were located. However, during the OIC's investigation, ISC informed the OIC that 3,286 pages of responsive records were received by its access to information unit after the initial response had been sent to the requester. The Information Commissioner concluded that ISC did not initially conduct a reasonable search. The complaint was found to be well founded, and the Commissioner ordered ISC to provide a new response to the complainant by May 31, 2025, granting access to responsive records unless specific exemptions apply. ISC agreed to implement the order.

• Whether Indigenous Services Canada conducted a reasonable search for records in response to the access request