Wait a second…

A little while ago, I revealed that I had gotten the results of an FOI request for Jennifer Lynch’s so-called list. I received no real, tangible results, other than a simple listing of press clippings.

Now, Terry O’Neill, meanwhile, has been on a similar quest, and here are his findings ( H/t to Blazing Cat Fur ) See if you can spot the difference:

 I am pleased to report that, after submitting a Freedom of Information request over the summer, I am now in possession of a 49-page printout isting the contents of Ms. Lynch’s file, and that two articles bearing my byline are among the 1/001 news articles, columns, opeds, editorials, and blog entries which the Chief Commissioner has collected. Break out the champagne.

Ok. Same results so far. I didn’t notice too many blog entries – one or two mentions of the Shotgun Blog and VDare.com - but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t miss something along the way. Let’s read onward, shall we?

Actually, break out the champagne and a cheque for $62, 840 because a certain Heather Throop, “Director General, Corporate Management Branch” ( of the CHRC, I presume), informed me by way of registered mail that I would need to pay that amount to obtain information beyond a mere listing of the contents. Sadly, I don’t happen to have that sort of money lying around.

My FOI request had sought copies, not only of all the clippings and printouts in Ms. Lynch’s file, but also of any “notes, memos or correspondence” that Ms. Lych or anyone else in the CHRC may have written that are “directly on any of the clippings or prinouts, appended to any of the clippings or printouts, or placed in the afrementioned file”

Now, here is the wording of my own request:

1) Jennifer Lynch’s list of approximately several hundred, 1200 names, listing critics of the CHRC both in the blogs and the mainstream media who have apparently engaged in “misinformation, gross distortions” and “caricaturizations” of the CHRC and/or its employees. This list was referred to by Jennifer Lych in an article by Joseph Brean in the National Post, Monday, June 22nd, entitled ” ‘Canadians Misinformed’ on Hate Speech”.

2) Any notes, files, lists, comments, correspondence, or other written material that may be in any way related to the list mentioned above, or the names and entries contained within the list mentioned above.

Now, I’d say both of our requests are pretty similar, right? They’re both pretty thorough, and they both cover pretty much the same territory. There’s just one difference, though:

I was not told that I would have to pay to fund any further investigation into my request. Unless Terry O’Neill went further after the results of his request arrived, as the option is available to complain to the Information Commissioner regarding your request if you are unsatisfied with your results. Perhaps he did that – I don’t know. All I do know is that both of us filed very similar requests, both of us received results signed off by one Heather Throop, and only one of us was told that to go further, we would have to pay money.

I’m just sayin’, there’s a bit of a discrepancy there…

I will email Mr. O’Neill to see if we can’t compare notes a little bit. Stay tuned…

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