The complainant alleged that the Privy Council Office (PCO) had improperly withheld information under subsection 13(1) (confidential information from government bodies) and subsection 15(1) (international affairs, national security, defence), and subsection 24(1) (disclosure restricted by another law) of the Access to Information Act in response to an access request for any reports or briefings, dated January 1, 1988 to January 31, 1989, prepared by the Intelligence Advisory Committee (IAC) dealing with global warming or climate change, including any preliminary drafts, as well as the minutes of any meetings of the IAC where such reports were discussed.

The Office of the Information Commissioner concluded that the information did not meet the requirements of the exemptions, in particular that PCO failed to demonstrate that the information was obtained from a foreign government, or that disclosure of the information could result in harm to the conduct of international affairs or the defence of Canada.

The complaint is well founded.

The Information Commissioner ordered PCO to disclose the responsive records in their entirety and provide a new response no later than 36 business days following the date of the final report.