Information watchdog silent on new rules for handling complaints
- Canada's information watchdog is about to dramatically change the way he treats complaints about government secrecy, but with just three weeks to go the new rules remain hidden.
Beginning June 2, Information Commissioner Robert Marleau is doing away with a first-come, first-served system in favour of a so-called "triage" approach that will see some complainants jump the queue.
The change is designed to help reduce a massive backlog that leaves many cases unresolved for more than a year as investigators cope with an avalanche of complaints about the way departments respond to requests under the Access to Information Act.
Marleau has mused publicly about favouring parliamentarians, about giving speedy decisions in matters of broad public interest, about expediting cases involving legal action - but the new rule book is being drawn up behind closed doors.
A nine-person triage group is being created to vet all incoming complaints under the new criteria, sorting out the cases to be fast-tracked.
"With this new unit at the front end, when the complaints come in they're going to look for certain reasons a complaint should be dealt with on a priority basis," said assistant commissioner Andrea Neill.
"There might be something we see as urgent. Sometimes a person might have a legal requirement like a court date, and they want certain documents for the court, and so we may bump that particular one up the queue.
"What about the source of the complaint, like if it's an MP, if it's media? Then is it something that might be of more interest, whether it's a current issue? We know Afghanistan has been a current issue."
Queue-jumping criteria are being formally drawn up to be in place June 2, after extensive consultation with government departments, although not with ordinary users.
Neill called the revamped intake process a pilot project that will be tested for at least six months, and said the new rules will be objective and eventually made public.
One frequent user called the move "hare-brained."
"I am offended by this approach because it provides an opportunity to Mr. Marleau to play favourites," said Ottawa lawyer Michel Drapeau, who noted the commissioner has suggested giving priority service to MPs and the media.
"This means that despite having a quasi-constitutional right of access, ordinary citizens will become second-class citizens and the service they will receive from the Office of the Information Commissioner will go from bad to worse."
Another frequent user, a businessman who uses the Act for a consulting business, said ordinary requesters should have been consulted.
"I strongly disagree with any approach that does not include all stakeholders," Michael Dagg said in an e-mail.
"Access requesters have a legitimate interest in the proper functioning of the access-to-information process. They deserve to be heard."
Section 34 of the Access to Information Act gives the commissioner broad discretion about how he handles complaints, and does not compel him to use a first-come, first served system.
"It may sound arbitrary, and I don't mean to sound harsh, but the Act does say we are the masters of our own procedures," Neill said.
"The status quo does not work, and we're in this huge backlog situation. We need to do things differently."
Marleau's office was given special funding recently to hire eight people just to clean up a giant backlog of unexamined complaints, even as burgeoning numbers of fresh complaints arrive daily.
In the fiscal year ended March 31, the office received 2,387 complaints, more than 1,000 more than the previous year and the second-highest level ever.
The problems were exacerbated when the Federal Accountability Act made 70 new institutions subject to the access law, including many previously exempt Crown corporations such as the CBC. That has helped boost the number of complaints, including 536 about the CBC and 30 about Canada Post.
An outside consultant hired by Marleau canvassed the views of government bureaucrats and examined the procedures of provincial counterparts, and in January recommended sweeping changes to the complaint-intake process.
The commissioner must "have the flexibility to determine the relative priority of incoming requests giving consideration to criteria such as urgency, e.g. matters of national importance . . . legal matters before the courts, legislative or policy implications, national security, public safety, as well as the number and nature of complaints already being addressed by the user at a given time."
In various public forums over the last year, Marleau - who took office in January 2007 - has also spoken about other potential changes to the access regime, including applying sanctions against poorly performing departments; lengthening the initial 30-day period the Act requires for a response to requesters; imposing
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