It was a privilege to speak last week to all of the attendees of the Freedom of Information Police Network (FOIPN) Fall Conference at the Belleville Police Service Headquarters in Belleville, Ontario.
I was asked to deliver a presentation on the Absurd Result Principle, a legal principle with a long history in the Canadian and English legal systems.
Today’s article should be of interest to anyone who applies the mandatory third party exemption in section 17(1) of FIPPA (or its equivalent in section 10(1) of MFIPPA) to purchase agreements, service agreements, and supporting documents such as the records of discussions surrounding decisions to purchase products and/or services.
The Divisional Court of Ontario recently unanimously affirmed a decision of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPCO) describing how the mandatory third party exemption in section 17(1) of FIPPA applies to information supplied by a vendor during the procurement process and to the resulting service agreement itself.
Freedom of Information professionals should be aware of exclusions found in legislation other than FIPPA and MFIPPA that may apply to access requests received by their institution.
I have created a 5×7″ double-sided reference card to help FOI Professionals remember some of the tricky details specific to general records requests, access to personal information requests, and correction requests under both the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, including a complete list of fees, exemptions and exclusions.
When processing an FOI request for access to personal information, can the institution use FIPPA s.21(1) / MFIPPA s.14(1) to exempt third party personal information from disclosure?
The short answer is “no”, but the slightly longer answer is, “not exactly”.
FOI Assist