This is the Addendum to the Special Investigation Report, Deleting Accountability: Records Management Practices of Political Staff. In that Report, the IPC made findings critical of the email management practices of political staff that were identified through hearings taking place before the Standing Committee on Justice Policy (Justice Policy Committee). We also commented on the failure of political staff to retrieve emails responsive to motions of the Justice Policy Committee and to a number of freedom of information requests.
Subsequent to the release of the Report, the IPC was provided with new information regarding the Ontario Public Service (OPS) Enterprise Email System – information that should have been given to me during my investigation. This information was material to the issues in my investigation and directly responsive to questions my staff had asked.
This Addendum describes the circumstances surrounding the disclosure of new information provided by MGS staff and sets out the detailed information that was not provided to IPC staff during the initial investigation. It describes the OPS Enterprise Email System and explains why this new information was relevant to the discovery of responsive emails.
Findings and Conclusion:
In light of this information, the IPC would have arrived at a different conclusion regarding the ability of MGS staff to retrieve the relevant emails from Mr. MacLennan’s email account. However, the other findings in the Report were not affected and remain accurate.
