Information & Ethics committee  We are confident that it will be resolved, because in the end the leads of each--an ATIP coordinator, the equivalent of Ms. Sabourin in all the other departments--are the ones who have lots of experience. They've grown up there. They may have a slightly greener team for a period of time, but that's why we're there as a policy centre to provide additional assistance with the help desk calls, to assist them in that proper administration of the policy and the legislation.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, Mr. Chair, I'd be pleased to do so. We agree with that statement, and broadly, across all of the Treasury Board policies, including this particular policy that we're speaking of here and the associated guidelines and so on, we are under way in something that we've called “policy suite renewal”, which is looking at all of the Treasury Board management policies, updating them all to really clarify deputy head accountability and then make sure that the additional documents underneath the policies, whether they be directives or standards or the more optional guidelines that are there, are very clear and very easy to access.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, Mr. Chair, I can begin with that, and Mr. Lemieux may have some more details to add to it. Generally, when one looks at the manual, and Ms. Sabourin was referring to the document that we distributed to you today, and as Mr. Kratchanov indicated in his opening remarks as well, this isn't a science, but there's an awful lot of judgment there.

Information & Ethics committee  We would provide clarifications to guidelines, especially, as I think has been referenced in previous testimony, if there are court cases or judgments that come down. Then we will reflect those in the guidelines and reflect what that now means in terms of how the judgment should be applied.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chair, yes, we are aware of the case, mostly through the press and reading the previous sessions of this committee. There is an investigation under way, and the Information Commissioner, when he does report on that...it would be something we're very interested in following up.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chair, on that, if I can respond, as we write the policy, and as the policy is developed, we actually cannot and do not change anything that's actually established in the legislation. With regard to how section 15 is phrased in the legislation, we may provide some guidelines on how that particular section is administered, but we actually don't change the definition of what's there in section 15 or anything.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chair, the report, as has been pointed out, is a very valuable piece of information and one that I think we take very seriously--it and the internal audit reports and any other reports that are happening. I guess the other big piece of data and the sources we get are through the contacts we have with the ATIP community.

Information & Ethics committee  Just to reference the document we've provided you this morning, under tab 2.4, around pages 15 and 16 and so on are where it actually talks about time limits and extensions. So this is really the manual that any ATIP officer would be using to go through that, and it really talks them through each subject, like the ones Mr.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Jim Alexander. I am the Deputy Chief Information Officer at Treasury Board Secretariat. I am accompanied by Donald Lemieux, who is Executive Director of the Information and Privacy Policy Division at Treasury Board Secretariat. On behalf of the Secretariat, I would like to begin by thanking the committee for this opportunity to discuss the policy role that Treasury Board Secretariat plays with respect to access to information across the Government of Canada.

Human Resources committee  I don't think I really have too much to add to that. The use of smart cards, where they would be used, and whether that would add anything to the integrity of individual programs are things that individual programs across the federal government are looking at. I think my colleagues from the department have sort of identified their approach for addressing program integrity issues and the integrity of the social insurance register.

Human Resources committee  Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. My name is Jim Alexander, and I'm the deputy chief information officer at Treasury Board Secretariat. I'm accompanied today by Donald Lemieux, who is the executive director of the information and privacy policy division. On behalf of Treasury Board Secretariat, I would like to begin by thanking the committee for this opportunity to discuss the role of Treasury Board Secretariat with regard to the management of the social insurance number.

Information & Ethics committee  I would be hard-pressed, Mr. Chair, to correct honourable members in a committee like this.

Information & Ethics committee  That's correct, Mr. Chair.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chair, on a subject like that, I don't have a personal opinion, and I think that's really a policy decision that the government and parliamentarians can and do, from time to time, engage in.

Information & Ethics committee  There is a very good, strong ATIP community, and with our colleagues in Justice we provide advice to the minister when we are asked about things like this. We have in the past and will continue to do so.