|
Summary
|
|
O R D E R This appeal was received pursuant to subsection 50(1) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 1987 (the " Act ") which gives a person who has made a request for access to personal information, under subsection 48(1) of the Act , a right to appeal any decision of a head to the Information and Privacy Commissioner. The facts of this case and the procedures employed in making this Order are as follows: 1. On January 21, 1988, the Ministry of Community and Social Services (the "institution") received the following request: Par la présente et en vertu des droits qui me sont reconnus par la Loi sur l'accès à l'information et à la protection des renseignements personnels de 1987, je demande que vous me fassiez parvenir par la poste copies complètes, lisibles et intelligibles de TOUS les documents de quelque nature que ce soit, y compris notes, rapports, mémos, procès-verbaux, formulaires, lettres, déclarations, résumes, etc, dans TOUS les dossiers, et de tous ceux qui sont à l'exterieur d'un dossier, de votre ministère, de tout organisme dont vous avez la résponsabilité et de tout organisme chargé d'appliquer une loi dont vous avez la responsabilité, où vous possédez des renseignements sur ma personne ou qui me concernent de quelque manière que ce soit. The institution translated the request as follows: In virtue of the rights guaranteed under the Freedom of Information and Individual Privacy Act, I am hereby requesting that I be forwarded, by mail, complete, legible and intelligible copies of ALL documents, of any type they may be, including notes, reports, memos, minutes, forms, letters, statements, summaries, etc., from EACH and EVERY file, as well as those documents which aren't held in files, containing information on myself or concerning me in any way possible, which your ministry or any agency designated to apply legislation for which you are responsible, has in its possession. 2. The requester specifically asked for copies of the following files of the Social Assistance Review Board (the "SARB"), pertaining to himself : E-09-23-09; E-11-04-15; F-01-15-12; F-03-05-17; F-04-02-04; F-04-07-15; F-06-18-26; F-07-15-09. He advised that there were other files for which he did not have the numbers and he was requesting them as well. 3. On January 28, 1988, the institution's Freedom of Information and Privacy Co-ordinator (the "Co-ordinator") forwarded the request to the Chair of SARB. 4. On February 9, 1988, the Chair photocopied the following records pertaining to the requester which were held by SARB, and sent them to the Co-ordinator for transmittal to the requester, without severances: E-09-23-09; E-11-04-15; F-01-15-12; F-03-05-17; F-04-02-04; F-04-07-15; F-06-18-28*; F-07-15-09. The Chair indicated that File F-06-18-26 contained information pertaining to another individual and not the requester. However, File F-06-18-28, a file not specifically referred to by the requester, contained information pertaining to the requester and an unsevered copy of this record was provided to the Co-ordinator. The Chair also informed the Co-ordinator that shredded pieces of correspondence, received from the requester and contained in envelopes in the files, could not be provided to the requester. This correspondence had originally been sent to the requester by SARB and the requester had shredded the correspondence and returned it to SARB. It was not possible for SARB's staff to photocopy these shredded pieces of correspondence. 5. On February 12, 1988, the Co-ordinator wrote to the requester enclosing copies of all the above-mentioned records. The letter and enclosures were sent by courier to the requester's post office box. Because couriers do not deliver to post office boxes, the letter and enclosures were returned to the institution after some time. Subsequently, the Co-ordinator sent the letter and enclosures by regular mail to the post office box. 6. On March 8, 1988, the requester wrote to the Co-ordinator, claiming that he had not received all information about him held by SARB. In particular, he referred to two letters he had sent to a former Chair of SARB dated 6/12/87 and 9/9/87, and a letter from the former Chair to him dated 6/17/87. The requester also asked for transcripts of hearings, with reference to file numbers F-04-07-15 and F-03-05-17. 7. Upon receipt of this letter, the Co-ordinator asked SARB to conduct a further search of its files. 8. On April 22, 1988, the Chair advised the Co-ordinator by letter that SARB had been unable to locate any further correspondence relating to the requester. The Chair indicated that it was possible that copies of the requested correspondence had been lost or destroyed during the period of transition from the former Chair to herself. As far as the requested transcripts were concerned, the Chair advised the Co-ordinator that they did not exist because they had not been ordered. She pointed out the practice of SARB to order a transcript only in the following circumstances: (a) in the event of an appeal to the Divisional Court; (b) at the request of a SARB member; or (c) at the request of a party. When a party requests a transcript, that party is responsible for the cost of transcription. Therefore, if the requester wanted the transcripts of any hearings before SARB, he could request that the proceedings be transcribed, but would be required to assume the cost of transcription. This information was conveyed to the requester by the Co-ordinator. 9. On March 9, 1988, the requester wrote to my office expressing dissatisfaction with the institution's response to his January 11, 1988 request. 10. One of my staff met with the Co-ordinator on April 22, 1988, and on April 25, 1988 the Co-ordinator asked SARB to review its files again and to look specifically for the following correspondence identified in the requester's March 9, 1988 letter to me: - letter from the requester to the former Chair, dated 6/7/87; - letter from the requester to the former Chair, dated 26/6/87; - letter from the requester to the former Chair, dated 9/7/87; - copy of a letter to the requester from a named individual dated
|