Clarification: secret mandate for the Canadian ACTA negotiators
I sent Trade an email asking them to clarify the non-existence of a mandate letter for the ACTA negotiating team. There is one, but it’s a mandate memorandum. For the record, let me note that letter and memo are synonyms and that the Access to Information Act requires the department to “make every reasonable effort to assist the person in connection with the request, [and] respond to the request accurately and completely” (4.(2.1)).
Procedural complaint aside, the conclusion of the response is that the ACTA negotiating team’s mandate is secret. Trade is negotiating a deal on the behalf of Canadian citizens who are not permitted to know what kind of deal they’re allowed to make. Parliament, once your vacation is over, please implement the Information Commissioner’s proposed fixes to the Act. It is insane that there’s a group out there empowered to commit Canadians to a course of action that they’re not allowed to know about in advance.
The actual response:
Since your request referred specifically to a “letter” that was described by MP Angus during Question Period, that is what our search was limited to. As per our response dated January 14, 2009, a mandate in the form of a letter does not exist. That is not to say that there is no mandate for the negotiations.
We have made some inquiries with officials in Trade, and they have advised us as follows:
A mandate is required, and it must be requested from Cabinet. The request to Cabinet is made primarily in the form of a Memorandum to Cabinet which would include a description of the issues and proposed instructions for negotiators. Cabinet would need to approve not only the request, but also the scope of the mandate as contained in the proposed instructions.
Please note however, the Memorandum to Cabinet is considered a Confidence of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and is excluded under section 69(1)(a) of the Access to Information Act.