The complainant alleged that the Privy Council Office (PCO) did not conduct a reasonable search in response to an access request under the Access to Information Act for all emails sent to or from PCO related to the "[Canadian Security Intelligence Service] CSIS Issues Management Brief" with subject "Defensive briefings to two Members of Parliament regarding PRC foreign interference activity," which was sent by CSIS to PCO on 2021-05-31. The allegation falls within paragraph 30(1)(a) of the Act.
The investigation determined that the Security and Intelligence Unit did not retrieve all relevant records when they were tasked with the retrieval of responsive records. PCO was unable to show that it conducted a reasonable search for records responsive to the access request. The Office of the Information Commissioner asked PCO to conduct a second search for all relevant records. As a result, 11 pages of additional records were found within the Security and Intelligence Unit.
The Information Commissioner ordered that PCO provide a new response to the access request on the 36th business day following the date of the final report.
PCO gave notice to the Commissioner that it would be implementing the order.
The complaint is well founded.