Information Commissioner of Canada

The letter · 29 September 2026

Complaint under section 30 of the Access to Information Act - Global Affairs Canada - request A-2026-00736 - no answer within 30 days, no date of receipt recorded, a fee recorded as received that was never paid

Hello,

This is a complaint under section 30 of the Access to Information Act against Global Affairs Canada, under paragraphs 30(1)(a) and 30(1)(f). I am self-represented.

The request.

On Saturday 29 August 2026 at 07:00 Ottawa time I made a request by email to [email], the address of the Department's Access to Information and Privacy Protection Division. It has 4 numbered items on Article X of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the assurances of allied states on the defence of Canada against nuclear attack, briefing notes for the Minister on extended nuclear deterrence, and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. It asked for a waiver of the application fee and, if the waiver was refused, the reasons, the criteria and the method of payment in writing.

The institution's conduct.

1 September 2026, the Department's acknowledgement, file A-2026-00736: "your request dated August 29, 2026 and application fee were received on ." The date of receipt is blank. The same acknowledgement promises the status of the request "within 30 days of ." That date is blank as well. No fee was paid, no decision on the waiver was sent and no method of payment was offered.

Since 1 September 2026 the Department has sent nothing on this file: no record, no notice under section 7, no notice of extension under section 9.

2 September 2026, the Department's Access to Information and Privacy Protection Division, file A-2026-00737: "Your request was received in our office on August 31, 2026". That request reached the same address by email on Sunday 30 August 2026 at 09:26 Ottawa time. The same letter refused the waiver and stated that processing "will only officially begin upon our receipt of the application fee". On 3 September 2026, after a written request for reconsideration, the Division granted the waiver.

Grounds.

1. Paragraph 30(1)(a). Section 7 runs "within 30 days after the request is received". The request was received on 29 August 2026. On the Department's own record it was complete that day: its acknowledgement states that the application fee was received with it. The 30th day was Monday 28 September 2026, not a holiday. No notice under section 7 and no extension under section 9 came by the end of that day. Under subsection 10(3) the head of the institution is deemed to have refused access to the records under all 4 items.

2. Paragraph 30(1)(f). The acknowledgement records no date of receipt and no date from which the 30 days run. Section 9.4 of the Access to Information Manual of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat requires that a request be recorded in the tracking system "including the date of receipt", and that a request received by email be "date-stamped when received". Section 7.1.1 of the Manual counts the 30 days "from the first day following receipt". A requester who is not given the date of receipt cannot know when the time under the Act runs out. The same acknowledgement records as received a fee that was never paid, on a request that asked for a written decision on the waiver. Subsection 4(2.1) requires the head to "respond to the request accurately and completely". The acknowledgement of 1 September 2026 is inaccurate on both facts it states.

3. Paragraph 30(1)(f). On file A-2026-00737 the Department recorded as the date of receipt the day after the email arrived, and wrote that processing would officially begin only on receipt of the fee. Section 7 has not referred to section 11 since S.C. 2019, c. 18, s. 6.2. The Act gives no power to move the date of receipt to the next business day or to hold the 30 days for a fee. On one file the Department recorded no date of receipt. On the other it recorded a later one.

WHAT THE COMMISSIONER IS TO DO.

Investigate under paragraphs 30(1)(a) and 30(1)(f). Find that request A-2026-00736 was received on 29 August 2026 and has been deemed refused since 29 September 2026. Under section 36.1, order the head of the institution to answer the request item by item by a date the Commissioner sets. Order the Department to state in writing the date of receipt it recorded for file A-2026-00736 and its decision on the waiver. Find that an emailed request is received on the day the email arrives. Open a complaint on the Commissioner's own initiative under subsection 30(3) into the Department's recording of the date of receipt, shown on 2 files of one requester acknowledged on consecutive days.

On ground 1, the application to the Federal Court under subsection 41(1) follows the Commissioner's report.

Copies of the messages of 29 August, 30 August, 1 September, 2 September and 3 September 2026 are attached in one file, each with its date, sender, recipient and subject. Write to me in English, by email to [email].

Respectfully,
Danilo Dzyuban
Attachments: GAC-A-2026-00736-00737-copies.pdf