Canadian privacy & access decisions

This report details a systemic investigation into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's (RCMP) timeliness in responding to access to information requests between 2016 and 2019. The investigation found significant delays and an increasing backlog of requests. The Information Commissioner made 15 recommendations across six areas to improve the RCMP's performance. However, the Minister of Public Safety largely ignored these recommendations, failing to provide adequate explanations or commit to concrete plans for improvement. Consequently, the Commissioner found the situation dire and tabled a special report to Parliament.

• Timeliness of access to information requests
• RCMP's failure to provide representations during delay investigations
• Adequacy of the Minister's response to recommendations
• Impact of resources and systems on access to information performance

The complainant alleged that the Privy Council Office (PCO) failed to respond to an access request for minutes of the Joint Intelligence Committee from 1957 to 1958 within the statutory time limits. PCO claimed an extension and consulted other institutions, but failed to respond when recommendations were not received by the deadline, citing a “no late file” policy. The OIC found that the Act does not permit such a failure to respond and that PCO was in deemed refusal.

• Timeliness of response to access request
• Proper application of time extensions
• Effect of "no late file" policy on ATIA obligations