Letter to the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO) (February 2026)

February 13, 2026

Kelly McCauley, M.P. 
Chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO)
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
 

Dear Mr. Chair:

I am writing to follow up on matters discussed during my appearance before the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates on February 5, 2026. I am grateful to the committee for the opportunity to appear and to provide my perspective on the current state of Canada’s access to information system.

During the meeting, members raised questions regarding the use of digital collaboration tools and the retention of records within the federal public service. As I mentioned during my appearance, I recently issued a message to federal institutions subject to the Access to Information Act addressing these two issues, and I invite you to review it.

Also discussed was my authority, under section 6.1 of the Act, to grant an institution permission to decline to respond to an access request if it is vexatious, made in bad faith or is otherwise an abuse of the right of access. Additional information on this authority is available in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the Office of the Information Commissioner’s (OIC) website. Summaries of my decisions pursuant to subsection 6.1(1) of the Act can also be found in my Decisions Database.

Annexed to this letter, I have included statistics on applications made under subsection 6.1(1) of the Act, as well as data on the percentage of access to information requests submitted to the Privy Council Office that resulted in complaints to my office, as this issue was likewise raised during my appearance.

Finally, I would like to expand on the innovations undertaken by my office, as mentioned during my appearance. Over the past seven years, the OIC has made investments in modernizing information management and information technology systems to improve operational efficiency and strengthen internal collaboration. This includes adopting cloud-based services, streamlining case management, enhancing cybersecurity and integrating emerging technologies, such as a translation memory system and an artificial intelligence tool which have both reduced the amount of time it takes my team to translate texts.

We have also established an internal optimization working group tasked with identifying and testing opportunities to improve operational efficiency and drive innovation using emerging technologies, including pilot projects aimed at reducing manual intervention and transactional workloads while increasing productivity. In addition, we have improved our complaint resolution processes and refined our guidance materials, procedures and reporting to promote greater efficiency, consistency and transparency in our work. Further details on these initiatives can be found in my recent annual reports.

Should you and the other members of the committee have any questions following this letter, please have the committee staff contact Manon Côté, my Manager of Parliamentary and Stakeholders Relations, by email (parl@oic-ci.gc.ca).

Sincerely,

Caroline Maynard
Information Commissioner of Canada

c.c.: M s. Iqra Khalid, Vice-Chair 
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates
 

Ms. Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Vice-Chair 
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates
 

Mr. Marc-Olivier Girard, Clerk 
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Annex

Applications for permission to decline to act on access requests (As of February 6, 2026)