|
|
Document
|
|
P-1428
|
|
|
|
|
|
File #
|
|
P-1428
|
|
|
|
|
|
Institution/HIC
|
|
Ministry of the Attorney General
|
|
|
|
|
|
Summary
|
|
NATURE OF THE APPEAL: The Ministry of the Attorney General (the Ministry) received a request underthe Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act )for access to the requester's file with the Office of the Police ComplaintsCommissioner (the PCC). The request relates to the requester's complaint to thePCC about the conduct of two police officers. The Ministry's search forresponsive records indicated that the Peel Regional Police Services Board (thePolice) had a greater interest in 43 pages forming part of the record. TheMinistry transferred this part of the request to the Police, pursuant tosections 25(2) and (3) of the Act . The Ministry granted access to 137 pages of the record. Access was deniedto the remaining 36 pages on the basis of sections 14(2)(a) (law enforcementreport) and 49(a) (discretion to refuse requester's own information) and section49(b) (invasion of privacy). In a supplementary decision letter, the Ministryalso claimed sections 14(2)(c) (exposure to civil liability), 15(b) (relationswith other governments), 17(2) (tax return information) and 21(1)(a) (consent todisclosure). The requester appealed the decisions to deny access and thedecision to transfer part of the request. This office provided a Notice of Inquiry to the requester (now theappellant), the Ministry and three police officers referred to in the record(the affected persons). Representations were received from the Ministry only. I will address the issue of the transfer of part of the request to the Police asa preliminary matter. In this order, I will refer to the record by the page numbers used by theMinistry in its Document Control List. Page 130 contains two action memoswhich have been photocopied, by the Ministry, onto one page. In my view, thetwo memos are separate documents and while they appear on one page, I will treatthem as two separate parts of the record. In its representations, the Ministry indicates that it is no longer relyingon the exemptions claimed in sections 14(2)(a) and (c) and 49(a) to withholdaccess to pages 65-72, page 126, the top half of page 130 and page 158. TheMinistry submits that pages 65-72 (being Crown Brief documents) were provided tothe PCC by the appellant and, on this basis, the Ministry is prepared todisclose them to the appellant. The Ministry states that it is also prepared todisclose page 126 (facsimile cover sheet), the top half of page 130 (action memoof a telephone conversation with the appellant) and page 158 (handwritten notesof a telephone conversation with the appellant). I have reviewed the information in the pages and find that page 126 does notcontain any personal information and that pages 65-72, 158 and the top half ofpage 130 contain the personal information of the appellant only. No otherdiscretionary exemptions have been claimed by the Ministry for these pages andno mandatory exemptions apply. As indicated above, the Ministry is prepared todisclose these parts of the record to the appellant but has not done so yet. Iwill therefore order the Ministry to disclose these pages to the appellant inthe order provisions below. Accordingly, the pages that remain at issue consist of pages 20, 86, 90, 92,94, 95, 99, 100, 104-106, 127, 130 (being the bottom half or the remaining partof the page), 159, 160, 162, 166, 167 and 168-173, which the Ministry haswithheld under sections 14(2)(a), (c) and 49(a). Pages 124 and 125 are also atissue, withheld under sections 15(b) and 17(2) of the Act . I note that pages 95, 99 and 166 are duplicate copies of pages 86, 90 and127. Therefore, I will not consider the application of the exemptions to pages95, 99 and 166 and my findings on pages 86, 90 and 127 will apply equally to theduplicates. PRELIMINARY MATTER: TRANSFER OF PART OF THE REQUEST In its initial decision, the Ministry advised the appellant that 43 pages ofthe record responsive to the request were created by the Police. The Ministryforwarded these pages to the Police, pursuant to sections 25(2) and (3) of the Act for processing, as it determined that they had a greater interest inthat part of the record. Sections 25(2) and (3) state: (2)Where an institution receives a request for access to a record and thehead considers that another institution has a greater interest in the record,the head may transfer the request and, if necessary, the record to the otherinstitution, within fifteen days after the request is received, in which casethe head transferring the request shall give written notice of the transfer tothe person who made the request. (3)For the purpose of section (2), another institution has a greaterinterest in a record than the institution that received the request for accessif, (a)the record was originally produced in or for the other institution;or (b)in the case of a record not originally produced in or for aninstitution, the other institution was the first institution to receive therecord or a copy thereof. In its representations, the Ministry states that the transferred pages ofthe record consist of the PCC complaint form, witness statement, Use of ForceReport, Prisoner Log, Final Report, letter to the appellant, internalcorrespondence and police officer's notes and were originally created andproduced by the Police. Previous orders of the Commissioner have determined that regardless ofwhether an institution has custody or control of the record, another institutioncan have a "greater interest" in that record, if it was theinstitution that originally produced the record or the institution for which therecord was originally produced (Orders P-279 and P-902). In the circumstances of this appeal, I accept the representations of theMinistry and I find that the transfer of part of the request was properly donein accordance with sections 25(2) and (3) of the Act . DISCUSSION: PERSONAL INFORMATION Under section 2(1) of the Act , "personal information" isdefined, in part, to mean recorded information about an identifiable individual. I have reviewed the information contained in the record and I find that pages20, 86, 127, 159, 160 and 167 do not contain any personal information. I findthat pages 90, 92, 94, 100, 104-106, 124-125, 162 and 168-173 contain thepersonal information of the appellant only. In these pages, the references tovarious individuals does not constitute their "personal information"as this information relates to individuals acting in their professional oremployment capacity. Finally, I find that the remaining portion of page 130 contains the personalinformation of an identifiable individual other than the appellant. DISCRETION TO REFUSE ACCESS TO REQUESTER'S OWN INFORMATION Section 47(1) of the Act allows individuals a
|
|
|
|
|
|
Legislation
|
|
-
FIPPA
-
14(2)(a)
-
15(b)
-
17(2)
-
17(3)
-
25(2)
-
25(3)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Subject Index
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Signed by
|
|
Mumtaz Jiwan
|
|
|
|
|
|
Published
|
|
Jul 17, 1997
|
|
|
|
|
|
Type
|
|
Order
|
|
|
|
|
|
<<
Back
|
|
|