Information Commissioner of Canada
Complaint on the dates of receipt: an email is received the day it arrives; record 29 and 30 August, and the date of the request of 23 September.
The letter ·
Complaint under section 30 of the Access to Information Act - National Defence - files A-2026-01143, A-2026-01144 and A-2026-01154 - dates of receipt moved to the day of entry into the Department's system
Hello,
This is a complaint under section 30 of the Access to Information Act against the Department of National Defence, under paragraph 30(1)(f). I am self-represented. The complaints on the Department's answers to the same 3 requests are before the Commissioner as files 5826-04346, 5826-04347 and 5826-04348. This complaint concerns the dates of receipt the Department recorded. Copies of the requests and of the Department's messages are attached in one file, each with its date, sender, recipient and subject.
The requests.
On Saturday 29 August 2026 at 07:00 Ottawa time I made a request by email to [email], later numbered A-2026-01143 (document 1). On Sunday 30 August 2026 at 09:26 Ottawa time I made 2 more requests to the same address, later numbered A-2026-01144 and A-2026-01154 (documents 2 and 3). On Monday 31 August 2026 at 08:28 Ottawa time the Department's Senior ATIP Clerk wrote: "Your 3 email requests have been received" (document 4).
The institution's conduct.
On 2 September 2026 the Department acknowledged each request as "received on August 31, 2026" (documents 5 to 7). On 2 September 2026 at 22:30 Ottawa time I asked for the recorded dates to be corrected to the dates of delivery (document 8). The Department answered on 3 September 2026 (document 9): "Our system indicates that the request was received on August 31, and that date will remain the official date of receipt as a file is deemed received when it is entered into our system." The same message adds: "if a request is submitted after business hours (e.g., after 6:00 p.m.) it will typically be opened and processed on the next business day which then becomes the recorded date of receipt."
On Wednesday 23 September 2026 at 16:12 Ottawa time I made a request to the same address for records of HQ NORAD held by the Department (document 10). On 24 September 2026 the Department wrote: "This has been received" (document 11). It has given no file number and no date of receipt since.
Grounds.
1. Section 7 runs "within 30 days after the request is received". The Act contains no rule that a request is received when an officer enters it into a system, and no rule that moves a request received on a weekend or after 6:00 p.m. to the next business day. 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".
2. The rule moved the date of receipt by 2 days on file A-2026-01143 and by 1 day on files A-2026-01144 and A-2026-01154. 30 September 2026 is a holiday. The 30th day moved from 28 September to 1 October 2026 on the first file, and from 29 September to 1 October 2026 on the other 2: 7 days of statutory time across 3 files of one requester in one week.
3. The Department states the rule as its practice for every request and confirmed in writing that the recorded date "will remain" (document 9). Subsection 4(2.1) requires the head of the institution to "respond to the request accurately and completely". A date of receipt recorded 1 or 2 days after the request arrived is inaccurate, and every requester whose email arrives on a weekend or in the evening loses time under section 7 in the same way. On the Department's own rule, the request of 23 September 2026 was received that day. 6 days later the requester still has no recorded date from which to count.
WHAT THE COMMISSIONER IS TO DO.
Investigate under paragraph 30(1)(f). Find that a request made by email is received on the day it arrives in the Department's mailbox, and that the 30 days under section 7 run from that day. Recommend that the Department record the dates of receipt of files A-2026-01143, A-2026-01144 and A-2026-01154 as 29 August, 30 August and 30 August 2026, and that it state in writing the date of receipt it recorded for the request of 23 September 2026. Recommend that the Department withdraw the rule that a request is received when it is entered into its system. Initiate a complaint under subsection 30(3) into the Department's recording of dates of receipt for all requesters.
The Commissioner's findings on this practice go to the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics of the House of Commons.
The attached file holds 11 documents: 1 to 3, the requests of 29 and 30 August 2026; 4, the Department's message of 31 August 2026; 5 to 7, the acknowledgements of 2 September 2026; 8, my message of 2 September 2026; 9, the Department's answer of 3 September 2026; 10, the request of 23 September 2026; 11, the Department's message of 24 September 2026. Write to me in English, by email to [email].
Respectfully,
Danilo Dzyuban
Attachments: DND-dates-of-receipt-copies.pdf
No answer by 13 Oct