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The Ministry of Health (the Ministry) received a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act) for access to the following information concerning the Drug Quality and Therapeutics Committee (DQTC):
1. A list of individuals who are currently being used by the DQTC to review drug products, including their business addresses, telephone and fax numbers, where available.
2. A list of all current DQTC members including their business addresses, telephone and fax numbers.
For each part of the request, the requester indicated that, if a list was not available, the request should be interpreted to provide a document which provides the same information for each individual.
The Ministry denied access in total to the names of the consultants responsive to part one of the request pursuant to sections 18(1)(c) and 21 of the Act. It identified a document entitled "Drug Quality and Therapeutics Committee" as being responsive to part two of the request and granted partial access to this record. The home addresses and telephone numbers of some of the DQTC members were not disclosed on the basis of the mandatory exemption in section 21 of the Act. The requester appealed.
During mediation the appellant indicated that he was not pursuing access to those portions of the record responsive to part two of the request which were not disclosed to him.
Further mediation was not possible and notice that an inquiry was being conducted to review the decision of the Ministry was given to the Ministry and the appellant. Representations were received from both parties.
The record at issue is a three-page document entitled "List of Consultants". The portions responsive to the request which have not been disclosed to the appellant are the names and affiliations of the individuals on the list. The Ministry has used both the terms "consultants" and "reviewers" to refer to these individuals.
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