Category: Uncategorized

  • The FOI Request Process Poster

    The FOI Request Process Poster

    I’ve created a “flowchart” poster which describes the entire process of answering an FOI request for records under Ontario’s Freedom Of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) as well as under Ontario’s Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA).

  • Leave no paper trail?

    Leave no paper trail?

    “Family minister’s foster care review instructions leave no paper trail” Katie Nicholson, Joanne Levasseur · CBC News · Posted: Feb 20, 2019 4:00 AM CT The article above appeared on the CBC website just this morning.  I think it offers an important lesson to institutions who may be tempted to avoid keeping appropriate written records as a way of limiting their…

  • How many FOI requests should my institution expect to receive?

    How many FOI requests should my institution expect to receive?

    Every year, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPCO) publishes a statistical report which shows how many FOI requests each institution in Ontario received in a given year, as well as other statistics related to the performance of each institution’s FOI program, such as how many requests were completed in a given year, how…

  • The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Manuals

    The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Manuals

    Wait — there’s more than one? When I was asked to manage the FOI program at the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games, I spent the first few weeks interpreting FIPPA directly using only David Goodis’s excellent annotated Act.  My life got a whole lot easier when I discovered the Ministry of Government Services’ Freedom of Information…

  • When is an FOI request frivolous or vexatious?

    When is an FOI request frivolous or vexatious?

    Besides the exemptions and exceptions available under Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA), both FIPPA and MFIPPA also allow institutions to deny requests “if the head is of the opinion on reasonable grounds that the request for access is…

  • Exemptions vs. Exclusions: What is the difference?

    Exemptions vs. Exclusions: What is the difference?

    Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and its Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA) both provide members of the public with a general right of access to government information, subject to certain exclusions and exemptions.  But what is the difference between an “exemption” and an “exclusion”? In…