Opening the Door: Access to Government Information A primer for Media Students Mohawk College Sept. 18, 2002

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Opening the DoorAccess to Government
InformationA primer for Media StudentsMohawk
CollegeSept. 18, 2002

• Bob Spence
• Communications Co-ordinator
• Office of The Information and Privacy
• Commissioner/Ontario (IPC)

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Overview

• Introduction to the IPC/Ontario
• Relevant Legislation
• Access and Appeals
• Privacy and Complaints
• IPC Resources

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Introduction to the Information and
PrivacyCommissioner/Ontario
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The Commissioner
Ann Cavoukian, Ph.D. Information
Privacy Commissioner/Ontario
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Mandate and Role

• The IPC provides an independent review of
  government decisions and practices.
• The Commissioner is appointed by and reports to
  the Legislative assembly she remains independent
  of the government of the day to ensure
  impartiality.

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Mandate and Role (contd)

• The IPC has five key roles
• Ensure that Government organizations comply with
  access and privacy laws
• Resolve appeals
• Investigate Privacy complaints
• Research and provide advice on proposed
  legislation and policy
• Promote public education

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Relevant Legislation

• The Acts

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What Is the IPC Concerned With?

• The IPC ensures compliance with
• The Freedom of Information and Protection of
  Privacy Act (1988)
• The Municipal Freedom of Information and
  Protection of Privacy Act (1991)

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What Do the Acts Entail (I)

• They provide citizens with a right of access to
  information held by the government in accordance
  with the following principles
• Information should be available to the public
• Exemptions to the right to access should be
  limited and specific.

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What Do the Acts Entail (ii)

• The other key purposes are to protect the
  personal information held by government
  organizations and to provide individuals with a
  right of access to their own personal
  information.

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What Organizations Are Covered by the Acts?

• FIPPA
• Provincial ministries
• Most provincial agencies, boards and commissions
• District health councils
• Community colleges
• MFIPPA
• Boards of health
• Police and transit commissions
• School boards
• And most other local boards

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Examples of What was learned through FOI

• Number of assaults in overcrowded Ontario jails
  increasing
• Ontario pollution violation tally wrong, say
  environmentalists
• A number of Ontario cabinet ministers came under
  fire for their expense accounts.

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Requests and Appeals

• There were 22,761 requests filed in 2001, the
  highest number of requests since 1995.
• There were 950 appeals opened in 2001, an 11 per
  cent increase over 2000 and a 42 per cent
  increase over 1998.

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What Information is Exempt?

• draft by-laws, records of closed meetings
• Defence
• advice or recommendations
• law enforcement
• relations with governments
• third party business information
• solicitor-client privilege

• economic and other interests of a government
  organization
• danger to safety or health
• personal information
• published information
• limitations on access to own personal information

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Access and Appeals
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Making Your Request

• Determine which organization has the information
  you want.
• Send a written request to that organizations
  Freedom of Information Co-ordinator.
• include the 5 application fee

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Access Fees

• In addition to the 5 request fee, there can be a
  number of other administrative fees
• Photocopying (20 cents/page)
• Floppy disks (10/disk)
• Manually searching for a record (7.50/15
  minutes)
• Preparing a record for disclosure
• (7.50/15 minutes)
• Developing a computer programme or other method
  of producing a record from machine readable
  record (15/15 minutes)

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How Should the Government Respond?

• Government organizations must respond within 30
  days, unless
• A large number of records have been requested
• A search through a large number of records is
  necessary or
• Consultations with a person outside that
  organization are deemed necessary.

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If They Say No.

• Try to determine what No really means
• Never or
• If you narrow your request..

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Appeals

• If you are not satisfied with a government
  organizations response, you can appeal this
  decision to the IPC.
• The IPC has the power to order the relevant
  institution to disclose information.

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Reasons to File an Appeal

• denied access to some or all of information
  sought.
• disagree with fee being charged.
• did not receive a response within 30 days and/or
  disagree with reason given for time extension.
• request to have personal information corrected
  was denied.

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How to Lodge an Appeal

• Within 30 days of receiving the decision you
  must
• Write a letter to the IPC explaining why you
  disagree with the decision
• Include a copy of your original request, and the
  response and
• Include the appeal fee.

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Appeal Proceedings
In some instances, complex cases may be passed
straight from intake to adjudication
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Privacy and Complaints
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What is Personal Information?

• Recorded information about an identifiable
  individual
• Government organizations often need to ask for
  individuals
• Name
• Address
• Banking information
• Sex
• Marital status
• Both Acts require that the government protect the
  privacy of the individuals whose information it
  holds.

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Examples of Privacy Complaints

• Province of Ontario Savings Office disclosed to
  an outside polling firm clients names,
  addresses, SIN numbers, and account balances.
• Ministry of health and long-term care forwarded a
  patient file To the patient, accidentally
  including records relating to another patient.

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The IPCs Involvement

• In 2001, the IPC received 96 privacy complaints.
• Privacy complaints follow a similar procedure to
  that of FOI appeals. Mediators investigate
  complaints and propose solutions.

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Privacy Process overview
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Questions?