About This Website

Welcome to the FOI Assist™ Knowledge Base, where I publish tips and guidance for institutions responsible for receiving and responding to FOI requests in accordance with Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA).

The FOI Assist Knowledge Base is intended for the same audience as the FOI Assist™ software: It should be of greatest interest to ministries, agencies, boards, commissions, government-funded corporations and non-profits, universities, colleges, hospitals, municipalities, health units and police services who are subject to FIPPA or MFIPPA.  However, members of the public, including journalists, researchers, political parties, law firms, vendors and RFP respondents, may find the content interesting as well, both as an “inside look” on how FOI requests are processed by government institutions and as general guidance on how to prepare and prosecute FOI requests more effectively.

About Me

My name is Justin Petrillo. I created the FOI Assist software to help Ontario’s provincial and municipal government institutions of all sizes track and respond to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.

I am a lawyer, with over fifteen years of experience advising on commercial, intellectual property and FOI/privacy issues.

From 2013 to 2015, I managed the FOI program for the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan Am Games Organizing Committee while serving as Legal Counsel to the Games.

Before becoming a lawyer, I worked as a software developer at well-known technology companies including NVIDIA and Microsoft.