The ISED Canada Retaliation Files: The Fight for Truth –Part 4: Dereliction of the Duty to Assist

In this fourth installment, we dismantle Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s (ISED) claim that it meaningfully engaged with the access to information process in good faith.

We examine systematic failure to uphold its statutory duty to assist, as required by section 4(2.1) of the Access to Information Act — which obliges institutions to provide reasonable guidance, neutral engagement, and timely access without regard to the identity of the requester.

What actually happened? A visually impaired requestor, with known accommodation needs, was bombarded with inaccessible spreadsheets, opaque clarification prompts, and silence where engagement was legally mandated.

We also scrutinize the stunning hypocrisy in ISED’s own Section 6.1(1) application, which repeatedly refers to the identity, history, and public profile of the requestor — in direct contradiction to the Act’s explicit non-discrimination provision.

💬 “They didn’t treat the request on its merits. They treated me like the problem.”

This is not about overwork. This is about how institutions behave when faced with scrutiny from someone they don’t want to acknowledge.

📜 Topics Covered:

Legal framework of the “duty to assist” under the ATIA

Failure to separate identity from assessment

Evidence of procedural bias and intentional disengagement

🎥 Part 4 of an 11-part series unpacking @ISEDCanada 's unprecedented bid to shut down over 120 FOI/ATIP requests — and what it reveals about bureaucratic power, narrative management, and disability discrimination in Canadian public institutions.