Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
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Report of the 2014 Statutory Review of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act volume ii | full report Committee Members Clyde K. Wells, Chair Doug Letto Jennifer Stoddart March 2015 ISBN: 978-1-55146-544-9 Executive Summary (Volume I) ISBN: 978-1-55146-545-6 Full Report (Volume II) Report of the 2014 Statutory Review of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act Cover Design and Report Layout: Alison Carr Report Editor: Claire Wilkshire Cover Photo: © hanibaram, iStockphoto.com Copies of this and other Newfoundland and Labrador publications are online at http://www.gov.nl.ca/publications/index.html and also available at: Office of the Queen’s Printer P.O. Box 8700 St. John’s, NL A1B 4J6 Telephone: (709) 729-3649 Facsimile: (709) 729-1900 Email: [email protected] The Report is also available at www.parcnl.ca for one year following publication. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abbreviations and acronyms ..................................................vii Introduction ................................................................. 1 1. The stature of the right to access information and the right to protection of personal privacy ................................................ 15 2. How the ATIPPA is administered ..............................................41 2.1 Role of the ATIPP coordinator .............................................................41 2.2 The duty to assist .........................................................................48 2.3 Fees and charges .........................................................................51 2.4 Disregarding requests .....................................................................58 3. Access to information provisions ..............................................67 3.1 Public interest override in access legislation ..................................................67 3.2 Ministerial briefing records ................................................................79 3.3 Cabinet confidences ......................................................................84 3.4 Policy advice and recommendations .......................................................102 3.5 Solicitor-client privilege ..................................................................109 3.6 Business interests of a third party ..........................................................122 4. Records to which the ATIPPA does not apply ...................................129 5. Legislative provisions that prevail over the ATIPPA .............................137 6. Personal information protection .............................................173 6.0 Introduction ............................................................................173 6.1 Notice to affected persons ................................................................174 6.2 Data breach .............................................................................175 6.3 Personal information and politics ..........................................................178 6.3.1 Political staff and constituent matters .................................................179 6.3.2 Risk of liability of Members of the House of Assembly ...................................181 6.3.3 Personal information and political parties .............................................182 6.4 Other questions related to personal information .............................................184 6.4.1 Recorded information ..............................................................184 6.4.2 Business contact and employee information, and work product information ................185 6.4.3 Personal information of the deceased .................................................186 6.4.4 Restrictions on the export of personal information from the province .....................188 6.5 Information on salaries and benefits .......................................................189 6.6 Social media ............................................................................192 6.7 Privacy in the workplace .................................................................193 7. The Information and Privacy Commissioner ...................................195 7.1 Oversight model ........................................................................195 7.2 Status, term of office, and salary of the Commissioner ........................................211 7.3 The role of the Commissioner .............................................................219 7.4 Issues with the Commissioner’s independent review process ...................................244 7.5 Time limits and extensions / complaints, reviews, and appeals .................................258 8. Municipalities—ensuring transparency and accountability while protecting privacy .....................................................277 9. Requested exceptions to the access principle ....................................289 9.1 Memorial University .....................................................................290 9.2 Professional advice given by veterinarians who are government employees ......................293 9.3 Information about prospective parents in an adoption process .................................299 9.4 Opinions given by health professionals in the course of quality or peer reviews ...................302 9.5 College of the North Atlantic ..............................................................307 10. Information management ...................................................309 10.1 Information management and duty to document ............................................309 10.2 Records in the form requested and machine-readable format ..................................315 10.3 Additional powers of the Commissioner—publication schemes ................................323 11. Other issues ................................................................327 11.1 The Commissioner’s recommendations for specific amendments ...............................327 11.2 Sunset clause ...........................................................................329 11.3 Extractive industries transparency initiative (EITI) ...........................................334 12. Recommended statutory changes .............................................339 The draft bill ...............................................................341 Bibliography ...............................................................403 Appendices .................................................................421 Appendix A: Press release on appointment of Review Committee members ........................... 421 Appendix B: List of submissions ................................................................ 426 Appendix C: Complete schedule of public hearings ................................................ 428 Appendix D: List of transcripts and webcasts ...................................................... 431 Appendix E: Summary report on responses to ATIPP coordinator questionnaire ...................... 433 Appendix F: Timelines for access to information requests resulting in report by OIPC .................. 440 Appendix G: OIPC letter and report on informal resolution time frames (2008 to 2014) ................. 446 Appendix H: OPE letter providing additional information on records and information management within government departments ......................................... 462 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ATIPP Access to Information and Protection of FOIP Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Privacy Act ATIPPA Access to Information and Protection of FOIPOP Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Newfoundland and Labrador) Privacy (Nova Scotia) ATI Access to Information GiC Governor in Council BC British Columbia GPS Geo-positioning system CAPA Canadian Access and Privacy Association HIROC Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada CAPP Canadian Association of Petroleum Pro- HOA House of Assembly ducers HOC House of Commons CBC Canadian Broadcasting Corporation IAPP International Association of Privacy Pro- CFIB Canadian Federation of Independent fessionals Business ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Polit- CIPM Certified Information Privacy Manager ical Rights CIPP Certified Information Privacy Professional ICO Information Commissioner’s Office CIPT Certified Information Privacy Technologist IPC Information Privacy Commissioner CLD Centre for Law and Democracy IMCAT Information Management Capacity Assess- CMPA Canadian Medical Protective Association ment Tool CNA College of the North Atlantic IMSAT Information Management Self-Assessment Tool C-NLOPB Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board LA Legislative Assembly (of another province) DNA DeoxyriboNucleic Acid LGiC Lieutenant-Governor in Council ECJ European Court of Justice LPP Legal Professional Privilege EITI Extractive Industries Transparency Initia- MHA Member of House of Assembly tive MOI Management of Information Act (New- FIPPA Freedom of Information and Protection of foundland and Labrador) Privacy Act MRI Magnetic Resonance Imaging FOI Freedom of Information NA National Assembly (Quebec) FOIA Freedom of Information Act NDP New Democratic Party abbreviations and acronyms | vii NL Newfoundland and Labrador OPE Office of Public Engagement NLVMA Newfoundland and Labrador Veterinary PDF Portable Document Format Medical Association PHIA Personal Health Information Act (New- NSW New South Wales foundland and Labrador) NTV Newfoundland Broadcasting Company PIA Privacy Impact Assessment OAS Organization of American States