Site Menu4. Complaints – Annual Report on the Access to Information Act for the period ending March 31, 2022
Individuals who are not satisfied with the processing of their access to information request can file a complaint with the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada (OIC).
The OIC received a total of 5 complaints against the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer in 2021–2022. At the beginning of the reporting period, the OIC also had to consider 3 outstanding complaints received in previous years. One complaint against the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer was closed in 2021–2022.
The OIC determined that the one complaint received in 2021–2022, alleging that the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer had failed to respond within the time limits set out in the Access to Information Act, was resolved, as the requested records had been released prior to the start of the OIC's investigation.
Four complaints from 2021–2022, three alleging that the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer improperly applied exemptions and one alleging that the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer failed to give access to records were still under investigation at the end of the fiscal year. Two complaints from 2019–2020, one alleging that the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer refused to process a request and the other alleging that the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer had improperly applied exemptions so as to unjustifiably deny access to the requested information, are still under investigation. Another complaint from 2017–2018, alleging that the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer had improperly applied exemptions, is still under investigation as well.