Recent Articles
-
Drafting Privacy Impact Assessments in 2025
Today’s article explains how to draft Privacy Impact Assessments “right now”, as of the second half of 2025, using the best currently available resources, while ensuring compliance with the new legislative requirements.
-
IPCO Instructs Requestor to Resubmit FOI Request
Today’s article is a response to a question from an FOI Assist Knowledge Base reader in Ontario.
-
Reasonable Search Affirmed
Although institutions are expected to make a genuine effort to locate all records responsive to a request, institutions are not required to prove with absolute certainty that no responsive records (or no additional responsive records) exist in response to an access request. Under both FIPPA and MFIPPA, it is sufficient for an institution to provide…
-
FOIPN Presentation: Frivolous and Vexatious Requests
FOI Assist was proud to sponsor, exhibit and present at this year’s Freedom of Information Police Network (FOIPN) Conference, held earlier this week at Science North in Sudbury, Ontario. A copy of the slide deck from the Frivolous and Vexatious Requests presentation is available below.
-
FOI Assist is at Science North!
FOI Assist is proud to be a sponsor and exhibitor at the 2025 Freedom of Information Police Network (FOIPN) Conference, taking place this week at Science North in Sudbury, Ontario.
-
Requests for Continuing Access
In Ontario, requestors can make requests for “continuing access” to records held by an institution.
-
Transitory Records
Institutions regularly generate and receive a wide variety of records, but not every record is intended for long-term retention. Records that serve only temporary purposes and hold no ongoing institutional or public value are referred to as transitory records.
-
New IPCO Guidelines for the Law Enforcement Exemption
The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPCO) has released a new interpretation bulletin providing key guidance and case citations for institutions applying the Law Enforcement exemption under Ontario’s access to information legislation.
-
When are Personal Phone Records Subject to FOI?
For the past two years, a significant case has been unfolding in Ontario’s Freedom of Information (FOI) system, highlighting the delicate balance between expectations of privacy on our personal devices and the public’s demand for access to government records. In late 2022, Global News submitted an FOI request seeking access to Premier Doug Ford’s personal…
-
Growth, Change, and Gratitude
As the year draws to a close, we look back on a transformative 2024. For the Freedom of Information community, it was a year of significant legislative updates, technological advances, and moments of collaboration that exemplified the core principles of transparency and public service.
-
Bill 194 Receives Royal Assent
Ontario’s Strengthening Cyber Security and Building Trust in the Public Sector Act, 2024 (“Bill 194”) passed third reading and received royal assent on November 25, 2024. It will come into effect on a date to be announced by the provincial government.
-
Avoiding Fee Estimate Pitfalls: Lessons from IPCO Order MO-4569
A recent decision of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario provides a cautionary tale about the importance of crafting fee estimate letters with precision and compliance in mind.
FOI Assist Knowledge Base 