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P-992

Document		P-992


File #		P-9400770


Institution/HIC		Ministry of Community and Social Services


Summary		NATURE OF THE APPEAL: This is an appeal under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act ). The requester represents a native rights group. He requested copies of records from the Ministry of Community and Social Services (the Ministry) with regard to investigations conducted by the Ministry, and the Leeds and Grenville Children's Aid Society, into the unreported disappearance of a Crown ward from a Smith Falls area group home. The Crown ward was later found dead and criminal charges were laid against four individuals in connection with his death. This request has been the subject of several appeals and judicial review applications. I will briefly outline the history of this matter, in order to provide the necessary context for this order and the records which will be considered. In its initial response to the request, the Ministry gave the requester a copy of a memo detailing revisions to its "Serious Occurrence Reporting Procedures". Access to the other 15 responsive records identified by the Ministry was denied in full pursuant to the exemption found in section 14(1)(b) of the Act , which pertains to interference with law enforcement investigations. The requester appealed this denial of access. Upon receipt of the appeal, the Commissioner's office forwarded a Confirmation of Appeal notice to the Ministry. In this notice, the Ministry was asked to provide copies of all responsive records directly to the Commissioner's office. In response to the Confirmation of Appeal, the Ministry provided the 15 records at issue but made the decision to delete parts of eight records which it considered to fall within the non-disclosure provisions of the Young Offenders Act (the YOA ). As a result of this decision, Assistant Commissioner Irwin Glasberg issued Order P-737, in which the Ministry was ordered to produce to the Commissioner's office the parts of these eight records which the Ministry claimed to withhold under the YOA . The Ministry brought an application for judicial review of Order P-737. Subsequently, the Ministry revised its view that the non-disclosure provisions of the YOA applied to these records, withdrew its application for judicial review, and forwarded the previously withheld portions of these records to the Commissioner's office. These portions of the records are the subject of this order. In the meantime, however, the Commissioner's office proceeded to rule on the parts of the records which were originally provided by the Ministry in response to the Confirmation of Appeal. This was done in order to ensure that any information which might be found not to be exempt would be disclosed in the most timely fashion which could be achieved in the circumstances. This aspect of the matter was dealt with in Order P-806. Substantial disclosure was ordered. The Ministry then brought an application for judicial review of Order P-806. That matter was recently resolved by the Ontario Court (General Division), Divisional Court ( Attorney General for Ontario et al . v. John Higgins, Inquiry Officer et al. , (19 June 1995), Toronto Docs. 1/95 and 2/95). The Court declined to overturn Order P-806, and the materials ordered to be disclosed by that order have now been given to the appellant. The table below identifies the record pages which contain the passages previously withheld by the Ministry under the YOA (i.e. the passages under consideration in this order). As previously mentioned, these withheld passages occur in eight of the fifteen responsive records originally identified by the Ministry. For greater certainty, I am enclosing a copy of each of the eight records, in full, with the copy of this order sent to the Ministry's Freedom of Information and Privacy Co-ordinator. The passages which are at issue in this appeal are indicated on these copies in square brackets . The parts of these eight records which were found to be exempt in Order P-806 are highlighted in blue on these copies. The record numbers used throughout this order are those originally assigned by the Ministry, which have also been used in all other orders dealing with this request. Record Page Numbers of Number Description Pages Partly Withheld 1 Interoffice Memo 1 2 Contentious Issue Sheet 5 4 Answers to Minister's questions 3 7 Contentious Issue Report (with handwritten notes) 1-7 8 Untitled; includes chronology re deceased 1-5 9 Interoffice memo 1-3 11 Contentious issue sheet 1-5 15 Draft Interim Report of Ministry Review Team 1-7. A Notice of Inquiry was provided to the appellant, the Ministry and the Crown Attorney for Lanark County (the Crown Attorney), who was also notified in connection with Order P-806. This Notice was also sent to counsel for four individuals facing criminal charges as a result of the death of the Crown ward. Because the records appeared to contain personal information, the Notice of Inquiry raised the possible application of the mandatory exemption in section 21(1) of the Act (invasion of privacy). Representations were received from the Crown Attorney and the Ministry. PRELIMINARY ISSUES: WHETHER THE DISCLOSURE SCHEME IN THE YOA APPLIES TO THE RECORDS As noted above, in Order P-737, Assistant Commissioner Irwin Glasberg ordered the Ministry to provide the full texts of the records at issue to the Commissioner's office. In the course of the order, the Assistant Commissioner indicated that, upon receipt of the records, the Commissioner's office would consider whether they fall within the scope of the YOA , and only in the event that they do not would the inquiry proceed. On this basis, the Notice of Inquiry issued in this appeal requested representations on the question of whether the YOA applies, stating as follows: The Ministry's previous reluctance to provide parts of the records to this office was based on the provisions of sections 43(1) and 46(1) of the YOA (copies attached). The parties are invited to comment on this issue in their representations and to indicate whether, in their view, this is a relevant factor with respect to access under the Act . No representations were submitted in this regard. However, in view of the approach taken in Order P-737, I must consider th


Legislation		FIPPA 14(1)(b) 14(1)(f) 21(2)(a) 21(2)(f)


Subject Index		not applicable to deceased's records Young Offenders Act


Signed by		John Higgins


Published		Aug 31, 1995


Type		Order


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