The complainant alleged that the extension of time the Department of Justice Canada (Justice) took under subsection 9(1) of the Access to Information Act to respond to an access request was unreasonable. The request was for all records pertaining to the booking and subsequent cancellation of Professor Alice Sullivan's International Women's Day 2024 presentation to Department of Justice staff.

The allegation falls under paragraph 30(1)(c) of the Act.

Justice claimed an extension under paragraph 9(1)(a) for 292 days which the investigation determined to be unreasonable. Justice also claimed 90 days under paragraph 9(1)(b) but failed to respond within this time frame. As a result, Justice was deemed to have refused access to the requested records under subsection 10(3). The investigation also found that Justice based the time extension on a page count that did not truly reflect the number of records responsive to the request because it failed to properly identify duplicates and non relevant records.

The Information Commissioner ordered that Justice provide a complete response to the access request no later than 36 business days following the date of the final report.

Justice gave notice to the Commissioner that it would be implementing the order and would respond to the access request within the ordered time frame.

The complaint is well founded.