Canadian Privacy Decisions

The complainant alleged that Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) took an unreasonable amount of time to extend its response deadline for an access request concerning documents related to the parliamentary consideration of ArriveCAN. The Information Commissioner found that while PSPC demonstrated the need for consultations due to a large volume of records, it failed to justify the 150-day extension for these consultations, relying instead on service standards rather than a genuine assessment of the time required. Consequently, the extension was deemed unreasonable, and PSPC was ordered to provide a complete response by June 1, 2026.

• Reasonableness of time extension under paragraph 9(1)(a) for volume of records
• Reasonableness of time extension under paragraph 9(1)(b) for consultations
• Institution's failure to demonstrate genuine assessment of time required for consultations
• Deemed refusal of access under subsection 10(3) due to unreasonable extension