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Annual Report on the Access to Information Act for the period ending March 31, 2018

4. Complaints and Judicial Review

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 seven complaints against Elections Canada in 2017–2018. At the beginning of the reporting period, the OIC also had six outstanding complaints to consider.

The OIC determined that three complaints received in 2017–2018 were not well-founded as Elections Canada had conducted a thorough and reasonable search for records at the time the request was processed, correctly abandoned a request when the requester refused to provide sufficient clarification for their request, and properly excluded information that was publicly available or available for purchase. One complaint from 2017–2018 concerning an alleged delay in providing the requested records, was resolved as the OIC determined that Elections Canada had already provided the records to the requester prior to the start of their investigation.

One complaint received in 2015–2016 was resolved in 2017–2018. The OIC considered this complaint to be well founded as Elections Canada released additional information to the requester that had previously been withheld.

Three complaints received in 2017–2018 relate to Elections Canada's application of exemptions or the existence of records. The investigation of these complaints has not concluded.

No judicial reviews were reported to Elections Canada in 2017–2018.