Tag Archives: Reference

Charging Fees When No Records Are Found?

Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and its Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA) both give institutions the right to charge fees for the work involved in responding to an Freedom of Information (FOI) request. Besides the $5.00 application fee (which is applicable to every disclosure request),Continue reading “Charging Fees When No Records Are Found?”

Decoding the names of FOI decisions

What do the names of FOI decisions mean? The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPCO) assigns a unique identifier to each decision made by its adjudicators.  Generally, the identifier is a short string of letters and numbers, such as P-22, PO-2400, or MO-1508.  But in the early days of IPCO, orders were identified withContinue reading “Decoding the names of FOI decisions”

Update: FOI Flowcharts have been sent (copies are still available)

If you requested a poster-sized printed copy of the FOI Flowchart, it has now been sent.  Keep an eye on your incoming mail, as the posters will be arriving shortly.  If you are an FOI professional in Ontario and you haven’t seen the FOI Flowchart yet, I suggest taking a look.  It is available forContinue reading “Update: FOI Flowcharts have been sent (copies are still available)”

Verifying the Identity of the Requestor

The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Manual (the “FOI Manual”) notes that when a requestor asks an institution for the requestor’s own personal information, the institution must first verify the identity of the requestor before any personal information is disclosed.  The FOI Manual suggests that an institution may be able to fulfill theContinue reading “Verifying the Identity of the Requestor”