The complainant alleged that Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) did not conduct a reasonable search for records in response to an access request made under the Access to Information Act for all reports or assessments, including drafts, conducted by the Northgate Group in possession of any staff of the Enforcement Branch within ECCC.

The investigation confirmed that ECCC made edits directly to a draft report provided by the contractor, Northgate Group, thereby overwriting a contract deliverable and record that should have been saved to a corporate repository.

During the investigation, it was confirmed that the original draft report provided by the Northgate Group no longer exists as neither ECCC nor the Northgate Group retained a copy.

The direct consequence of saving edits over the original draft report irreversibly undermined the right of access.

The complaint is well founded.