The complainant alleged that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) did not conduct a reasonable search for records in response to an access request made under the Access to Information Act. The request was for Microsoft Teams (MS Teams) messages created between September 1, 2023, and December 6, 2023, containing a list of keywords related to ArriveCAN. The allegation falls under paragraph 30(1)(a) of the Act.

CBSA retains MS Teams messages for 30 days. However, CBSA only began processing the access request more than 30 days after it received it, due to it not being promptly entered it into its case management system. As a result, access to information officials, assuming all relevant records would have already been destroyed, did not ask program areas for records. Instead, CBSA told the complainant that no such records existed.

CBSA policy requires business-related information shared on MS Teams to be saved to corporate repositories before the 30-day mark passes. In light of questions about this during the investigation, CBSA searched these repositories and identified one relevant record, which it provided to the complainant. Regardless, the delay in asking program areas for records undoubtedly had a detrimental effect on the requester’s right of access.

The complaint is well founded.

No order was required, since CBSA disclosed the only record responsive to the access request.