Canadian privacy & access decisions

A federal institution applied to the Information Commissioner under subsection 6.1(1) of the Access to Information Act, seeking approval to decline to act on 597 access requests. The institution argued that these requests constituted an abuse of the right to make a request and were vexatious. The Commissioner found that the institution successfully demonstrated that 550 of the 597 requests were indeed an abuse of the right to make a request. Consequently, the Commissioner granted approval for the institution to decline to act on these 550 requests. However, the institution failed to prove that the remaining 47 requests were vexatious or an abuse of the right. Therefore, the Commissioner did not grant approval for the institution to decline to act on those 47 requests. The application was partially granted.

• Whether 597 access requests constituted an abuse of the right to make a request under s.6.1(1) ATIA
• Whether 597 access requests were vexatious under s.6.1(1) ATIA