The committee studied the state of Canada's access to information and privacy system. Appearing were Matthew Shea, David Neilson and Alexandra Freeland from the Privy Council Office; Leslie Weir and Jennifer Schofield from Library and Archives Canada; and Dominic Rochon and Charles Taillefer from the Treasury Board Secretariat.
Matthew Shea said PCO's active complaint inventory has been steady but requests have almost doubled over five years, with over two million pages in active files. He noted 78% of complaints come from three requesters, and about a third of PCO's 33 ATIP staff focus on those complaints. He committed to transferring historical intelligence records dated before 1975 to Library and Archives Canada by December 31, 2026, and to proactively release records from 1976 onward. He said PCO did not reduce its ATIP team during the recent expenditure review and is recruiting additional staff, and he called for better AI tools to auto-redact and sort documents.
David Neilson explained that historical records account for about 45% of PCO's complaints and 15% of current requests. He said delays arise from consulting other departments on cabinet confidences, solicitor-client privilege and national security, and from consulting foreign partners through Global Affairs, with no mechanism to force a timely response from other nations.
Alexandra Freeland distinguished transitory information (needed briefly, e.g., meeting setup) from records of business value (decisions and actions). She said overkeeping transitory information adds volume without value for requesters, and PCO provides guidance and system settings to reduce it.
Leslie Weir said Library and Archives Canada reduced its ATIP backlog by 40% in 2024-25 and responds to 85% of new requests within legislated time frames. She highlighted a 95.6% reduction in consultations with other departments since January 2023, and a block review team that opened over 19 million pages of archival documents without formal ATIP review. She noted that less than 5% of LAC's collection is digitized, and paper records often require mould remediation and script interpretation.
Jennifer Schofield added that LAC holds records from over 300 federal organizations, and its historical research team must research content from many subject areas, complicating processing. She said digitization of fragile paper records is complex and must often be done within 30 days.
Dominic Rochon said the government is launching a public engagement for the mandatory five-year review of the Access to Information Act, with six areas of focus including strengthening transparency, historical records, and oversight. He clarified that there is no government-wide directive to delete Teams messages after 15 days; each department sets its own retention periods. He said he sent an email to deputy ministers in August 2025 reminding them that ATIP is a fundamental right and should be protected from budget cuts. He disagreed with the Information Commissioner's claim that Treasury Board is trying to remove her order-making powers, saying the intention is to make those powers more efficient, not reduce them.
Charles Taillefer listed improvements including guidelines to limit consultations, training on consistent use of the act, and portal enhancements to help requesters target their requests.
The committee heard no procedural debate, motions or votes during this meeting.
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