The law is clear, and is stipulated in the Access to Information act and the manual. When a request is filed, it is entered in the system by the IRCC ATIP division to retrieve the records. When the records are retrieved (usually 1-2 weeks after the request is filed) it is as on that date when the data is captured, the GCMS notes are generated. However, before the notes can be released, they have to be vetted and appropriate redactions have to be made, which takes time and especially in October and November 2020, when there are second lockdowns, there were staffing issues and this created a lot of backlog across all business lines of IRCC. IRCC's staffing issues due to COVID were discussed in the meeting of the
Parliamentary Committee on Immigration and Citizenship on December 2, 2020. Further Committee meetings were held on December 7, 2020 and December 9, 2020 to discuss the "
Impact of COVID-19 on the Immigration System."
The whimsical idea of that some requests filed by others are vexatious, while requests filed by some 'special' people are not, is a bunch of baloney. If any request is vexatious then the federal agency has a right to have it cancelled by approaching the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada (OIC). OIC in its opinions has clarified the criteria and can be read at
https://www.oic-ci.gc.ca/en/information-commissioners-guidance/seeking-information-commissioners-approval-decline-act-access
Further, denying or obstructing a request to access is a punishable criminal offence.
IRCC has been facing delays in the release of information under the Access to Information Act since 2019 and this is why a systematic investigation was initiated by the OIC against IRCC. A final report of OIC is yet to be tabled before the Parliament. <
https://www.oic-ci.gc.ca/en/resources/news-releases/information-commissioner-initiates-systemic-investigation-department>
Also OIC in many of its investigation reports against IRCC has held that such extensions are invalid. See my previous post
#2,863
However, the information would be old when there is an extension, but as IRCC starts resuming it services, things will get back on track.
Also, there are proposals to provide more information on the MyCIC portal, which would decrease the need for GCMS notes for getting updates.