FAQs

Question: 
One of my staff members has sent me a memorandum and I disagree entirely with the content and tone of the memorandum. In discussing my concerns with this employee, can I request that he destroy this memorandum and forward a revised memorandum?

Answer: 
No. According to government record keeping practices, the memorandum should be retained on file with a brief note indicating that it was withdrawn and new memorandum drafted in its place.

Question: 
When I am gathering records for an access or privacy request, what do I do with my "black book", hand-written notes, e-mail on my computer and my other working files?

Answer: 
If the information contained in any of these materials is relevant to the request, they must be sent to the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Office for review as part of the response.

Question: 
Officials with several departmental programs have collaborated on the drafting of a briefing note to the Minister on a sensitive subject. In fact, several meetings took place in this regard. Can we destroy the draft briefing notes if we decide later not to send the briefing note to the Minister?

Answer: 
No. Draft briefing notes should be kept on departmental files even though they were not sent to the addressee since they were the object of intra-departmental meetings. Moreover, these drafts are the only records of the deliberations even though they were not sent to the Minister. These draft briefing notes could potentially be the subject of an access to information request.

Question: 
What is "protected" information?

Answer:
Information is "protected" if its disclosure could harm interests other than the "national interest." 

There are three levels of protected information:

1) Protected C (extremely sensitive): applies to the very limited amount of information that, if compromised, could reasonably be expected to cause extremely grave injury outside the national interest, for example, loss of life.

2) Protected B (particularly sensitive): applies to information that, if compromised, could reasonably be expected to cause serious injury outside the national interest, for example, loss of reputation or competitive advantage. 

3) Protected A (low-sensitive): applies to information that, if compromised, could reasonably be expected to cause injury outside the national interest, for example, disclosure of exact salary figures.

Question: 
How long should personal information be retained?

Answer:
Personal information must be retained for a minimum of two years after the last time it was used in a decision-making process that affected the individual, except when the individual consents to the disposal of that information and where a request for access to the information has been received, until such time as the individual has had the opportunity to exercise all his rights under the Privacy Act.

Records containing personal information cannot be disposed of without the consent of the Librarian and Archivist of Canada. Consent is conveyed in one of two ways:

1) Institution-specific disposition authorities issued to individual government institutions subject to the Library and Archives of Canada Act; or

2) Multi-Institutional Disposition Authorities (MIDA).