Decisions

An institution submitted an application seeking the Information Commissioner’s approval to decline to act on five access requests under subsection 6.1(1) of the Access to Information Act. In the institution’s opinion, the requests are vexatious and an abuse of the right to make a request.

The Commissioner finds that the institution established that two of the access requests are an abuse of the right to make a request, namely, A-2023-00305 and A-2023-00314. Moreover, the circumstances warrant that she provides her approval to the institution to decline to act on these two access requests.

That said, the institution neither established that the remaining access requests (A-2023-00303, A-2023-00308 and A-2023-00310) are vexatious, nor that they are an abuse of the right to make a request.

The application is partially granted.

The complainant alleged that the Privy Council Office (PCO), when responding to a request under the Access to Information Act, had improperly withheld information under subsection 13(1) (confidential information from government bodies), subsection 15(1) (international affairs, national security, defence), and paragraph 21(1)(b) (account of consultations or deliberations). The request was for Minutes of the Intelligence Advisory Committee from 1989.

During the investigation, PCO informed the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) that it would be disclosing all information which it had previously withheld, with the exception of certain specific categories of information, which it continues to withhold under subsections 13(1) and 15(1).

The Information Commissioner concluded that none of the withheld information under investigation meets the requirements of subsection 13(1) or subsection 15(1). The Commissioner recommended that PCO disclose this information. 

The institution gave notice to the Commissioner that it would not be implementing her recommendation.

The complaint is well founded.