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1. Gcms Notes has nothing to do with the pace of processing or the outcome of a visa application.
2. Not receiving Gcms Notes in the legislated timeframe, including time extensions, is called Deemed refusal per the ATIP Act
7.5 Deemed refusal
Subsection 10(3) of the Access to InformationAct states that when a government institution fails to give access to a record or a part thereof within the time limits set out in the Act (30 calendar days or the length of time taken under an extension), the institution is deemed to have refused access. This situation is commonly referred to as a deemed refusal.
To clarify further, if no extension has been taken under
section 9 of the Access to InformationAct and a response was not given, an institution is deemed to have refused access on the 31st day after a request was received (unless it falls on a weekend or a holiday). If an extension was taken, an institution is deemed to have refused access if it did not respond by the end of the extended deadline.
In such cases, the requester and the Information Commissioner are placed in the same position as if there had been a refusal within the meaning of
section 7 and
subsection 10(1) of the Access to InformationAct. The requester may then file a complaint with the Information Commissioner about the refusal of access. In addition, the Information Commissioner may initiate a complaint and notify the head of the institution.
The potential consequences of a deemed refusal were reviewed by the Federal Court of Appeal in the decision
Canada (Information Commissioner) v. Canada (Minister of National Defence), Docket A-785-96. The Court found that the Information Commissioner may use his power of subpoena to require an institution to respond to a request by a date set by the Commissioner. Specifically, the Court found that once a request is deemed to have been refused, the Commissioner has the power to compel the head of the institution (or delegate) to specify the exemptions used to justify refusal of the record and to defend the applicability of those exemptions. The Court stated as follows:
In the decision
Statham v. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 2010 FCA 315, the Federal Court of Appeal confirmed that there is no distinction between a true refusal and a deemed refusal.
In the decision
Information Commissioner of Canada v. Canada (Minister of National Defence) 2015 FCA 576, the Federal Court of Appeal stated that the validity of an extension of time to respond to an access to information request may be judicially reviewed as a deemed refusal of access.