Welcome, Ms. Maynard, and thank you. My question has to do with the oversight model at federal institutions like yours. Your institution currently uses the ombudsman model, which means that you can make recommendations, but they are not binding.

Both houses of Parliament have received reports over the years recommending significant changes to this model. The first of these reports was from a House of Commons committee and was sent to us in 2016. The second report was from your predecessor, Ms. Legault, and was submitted to us last September. Both of these reports recommended a much more coercive approach, such as an order-making model in which an arbitrator would receive complaints from individuals who had been denied information. Once the arbitration was complete, the commissioner would be required to issue a binding order to solve the issues in question, and this order could be appealed before a higher court. This would make it easier for Canadians to access documents from public agencies.

You seem satisfied by the new powers granted in Bill C-58. Can you explain more specifically your views on a potential order-making model and on avoiding the courts?

Ms. Maynard: Based on my experience issuing recommendations, I think that, since the authority to issue orders set out in Bill C-58 includes the authority to publish these orders, this would be enough to encourage institutions to fulfill their obligations under the act.

We must keep in mind that the commission will retain its role as an intervener in the Federal Court if an institution were to appeal the order. It is a huge honour for a commission or a tribunal to have the authority as an intervener to explain an order or even to intervene on behalf of a complainant before a higher court, after conducting an investigation and issuing an order.

Even if this seems to say that the order would not be enforceable, simply being able to publish the order would create an incentive that isn’t there at this time in the current legislation and, as I said earlier, the commissioner does not lose his or her right to go even further and intervene on behalf of a complainant if the institution refuses to apply the order or if it decides to appeal the order. In my view, that is sufficient.

Senator Saint-Germain: If I understand correctly, your view of Bill C-58 is more positive than that of your predecessor. So you would not go as far as demanding the powers that she had recommended be granted to the commission?

Ms. Maynard: In my opinion, the purpose of the Access to Information Act is to give Canadians access to information. Any changes that limit access or that could slow the access to information process are troubling, in my opinion, and any changes that ensure greater access or that improve the access to information process for Canadians I see as considerable progress.