The complainant alleged that the extension of time National Defence (DND) took under subsection 9(1) of the Access to Information Act to respond to an access request was unreasonable. The request was for information related to military equipment, weaponry and ammunition sent to Ukraine from 2019 to 2022. The allegation falls within paragraph 30(1)(c) of the Act.

During the investigation, the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) determined that DND did not show that it met all the requirements of paragraph 9(1)(a). DND was deemed to have refused access to the requested records pursuant to subsection 10(3).

In an effort to assist both the complainant and DND in managing the expectations of completing the request within a reasonable period of time, the OIC contacted the complainant during the investigation regarding a possibility of narrowing the scope of the request. The complainant decided to scope out all email communications, which reduced the number of responsive records by approximately 20,000 pages.

Given the rescoping, DND indicated that could respond to the request within six months. The Commissioner ordered DND to provide a complete response to the access request on or before November 25, 2024.

DND gave notice to the Commissioner that it would be implementing her order.

The complaint is well founded.