The complainant alleged that the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) had failed to perform a reasonable search for records in response to a request made under the Access to Information Act for all final decisions rendered pursuant to section 37 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) from January 2018 until June 2020. The complaint falls within paragraph 30(1)(a) of the Access to Information Act.

During the investigation, the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) learned that the IRB tasked the appropriate program areas with the retrieval of the requested records but the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) office had informed the Office of the Primary Interest (OPI) that only written decisions were being sought. This instruction ultimately reduced the scope of the request without the complainant’s approval. Despite the IRB’s justifications that audio recordings are only provided when specifically requested, the issue remained that audio recordings of final decisions fall within the scope of “all final decisions” and under the Act, a record means any documentary material, regardless of medium or form.

The Information Commissioner ordered that the IRB process all audio recordings within the scope of the request forthwith.

The IRB gave notice to the Commissioner that it would implement the order.

The complaint is well founded.