National Defence, Access to Information and Privacy

RE: Clarification: Request # P-2026-04343

Hello,

Privacy Act request P-2026-04343, tracking number EP2026_0628792, submitted through the ATIP Online Request Service on Friday 25 September 2026 at 17:25 Ottawa time.

Identification is attached: my Ontario Photo Card, issued by the Government of Ontario.

I am not a member of the Canadian Armed Forces and not an employee of the Department.

The request needs no other clarification. It identifies the banks to search: the standard banks Public Communications, PSU 914, Access to Information and Privacy Requests, PSU 901, and Security Incidents, PSU 939, and every bank described in the Department's chapter of Info Source. For records outside a bank, it names the units that hold them, Canadian Forces Intelligence Command, the Canadian Forces National Counter-Intelligence Unit and the Canadian Forces Military Police Group, and the events that locate them: my letters to the Minister of National Defence in September 2026 and my requests to the Department under the Access to Information Act, including A-2026-01143. That meets sections 12 and 13 of the Act.

Subsection 8(2) of the Privacy Regulations requires adequate identification before access is given. It does not place a request on hold and does not move the date of receipt. The Privacy Act contains no provision for abandoning a request. Withdraw the abandonment date.

Section 14 of the Act runs from receipt on 25 September 2026. The answer, or notice of an extension under section 15, is due by 26 October 2026, since 25 October 2026 is a Sunday. An answer not given by then is a refusal under subsection 16(3). The complaint then goes to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada under paragraph 29(1)(b), and the matter to the Federal Court under section 41.

Confirm in writing by 6 October 2026 that the identification is received, that the date of receipt is 25 September 2026, and that the search has begun.

Respectfully,
Danilo Dzyuban
Attachments: Ontario-Photo-Card.png

RE: Clarification: Request # P-2026-04343

Hello,

Privacy Act request P-2026-04343, tracking number EP2026_0628792, received on 25 September 2026.

The Department's message of 1 October 2026 places the request "on-hold" and sets 6 conditions. The Privacy Act contains no hold. Subsection 13(1) requires a requester to identify the bank. Subsection 13(2) requires information that makes a record outside a bank reasonably retrievable. The Act puts nothing else on a requester.

For each of the 6 points, name the provision of the Privacy Act or of the Privacy Regulations that makes it a condition of access. Where the Department has no provision, withdraw the point in writing.

1. PSU 901. The bank is identified. Search it by my name. It holds A-2026-01143, P-2026-04343 and every other request made in my name.

2. PSU 939. The bank is identified. Whether the Department recorded a security incident under my name is the information the request seeks. The Act does not oblige a requester to state it first. Search the bank by my name and date of birth.

3. Banks. The request identifies PSU 901, Executive Correspondence PSU 902, Public Communications PSU 914 and PSU 939. It identifies the banks that the Department's own chapter of Info Source lists for the Canadian Forces Military Police Group, Canadian Forces Intelligence Command and the Canadian Forces National Counter-Intelligence Unit. The Department wrote that chapter and holds the bank numbers. Subsection 13(1) is met. The Department writes: "We do not conduct server searches." Paragraph 12(1)(b) gives access to personal information outside a bank that is reasonably retrievable. A search of the Department's correspondence systems by a name and an email address is reasonably retrievable. Name the provision that excludes electronic records.

4. Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The request asks for no record held by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Item 3 asks for the Department's own records of what the Department disclosed about me to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or a foreign partner, with the record of each disclosure kept under subsection 9(1).

5. Military Police. The Canadian Forces Military Police Group is part of the Department, and its banks are the Department's banks. The Act does not make access depend on a General Occurrence number, a location, a timeframe or a subject matter. The search key is my name and date of birth. Whether a record exists is for the Department to state in its notice under section 16.

6. Office of the Minister. The request locates the records: my letters to the Minister of National Defence in September 2026, sent from [email]. Subsection 13(2) asks for the location of the information. It does not ask a requester for the names of the Department's own employees. Those names are in the records the request seeks.

Section 14 gives the Department 30 days from receipt on 25 September 2026. Section 15 allows an extension only by written notice given within the first 30 days. Neither section stops for a clarification. The answer or the notice of extension is due by 26 October 2026.

Confirm in writing by 9 October 2026:
(a) that the hold is lifted and the search has begun;
(b) that the date of receipt is 25 September 2026;
(c) that the abandonment date is withdrawn;
(d) the name and title of the officer who placed the request on hold, and the provision that officer relied on.

An answer not given by 26 October 2026 is a refusal under subsection 16(3). The complaint then goes to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada under paragraphs 29(1)(b) and 29(1)(h), with the hold and each of the 6 conditions as a separate ground. The matter then goes to the Federal Court under section 41.

Respectfully,
Danilo Dzyuban