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Document
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PO-1897-I
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File #
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PA-000129-1
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Institution/HIC
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Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Recreation
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Summary
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NATURE OF THE APPEAL: This is an appeal from a decision of the Ministry of Tourism (the Ministry), made under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act ). The requester (now the appellant) sought access to "all reports, correspondence, and/or briefing notes originating from or received by Tourism Minister Cam Jackson relating to municipal restructuring over the past two years, 1998 and 1999". The requester is a journalist with a newspaper. Subsequently, the request was clarified and the requester confirmed with the Ministry that copies of correspondence addressed to other individuals and not Minister Jackson were not to be included. The Ministry conducted a search in response to the request. By its decision letter and attached "Index of Records", the Ministry indicated that it had located twenty-one records. It provided access to some of the records, with severances, and denied access to the rest. The appellant has appealed the Ministry's decision to deny access to some of the records in their entirety. She does not appeal the severances. During the course of mediation, some issues were narrowed or clarified. The Ministry's position on the records it located is that they are not in its custody or control within the meaning of section 10(1) of the Act . The appellant disagrees, and also asserts that the Ministry has failed to conduct a reasonable search for records responsive to her request, by unduly and unilaterally restricting the scope of her request. The appellant believes that there should be more records than those identified on the issue of municipal restructuring, given that she requested records for a two-year period, and given that the Minister is the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Burlington and also a Cabinet representative for the Hamilton-Wentworth and Halton areas. The Ministry's position is that the scope of the appellant's request is limited to Minister Jackson's role as Minister of Tourism and does not relate to any additional roles he may or may not play within Cabinet. I sent a Notice of Inquiry to the Ministry, initially, inviting its representations on the matters at issue. These were shared with the appellant, who has also provided representations. Subsequently, I sought the Ministry's reply representations on specific matters raised in the appellant's representations, as described below, and I have received those reply representations. RECORDS: Record 13 is an "Action Sheet" which appears to contain information about a contact from a member of the public. The form was completed on November 18, 1998. Records 16 to 20 are memos from a named individual to Minister Jackson. Record 21 is titled "Municipal Restructuring: Caucus Briefing". CONCLUSION: I have determined that the Ministry unilaterally narrowed the scope of the request, and accordingly, I order it to conduct a further search. I have deferred a decision on the question of whether the Ministry has custody and control of the records at issue until the results of a further search are known. DISCUSSION: SCOPE OF REQUEST/REASONABLE SEARCH Section 24 of the Act imposes certain obligations on requesters and institutions when submitting and responding to requests for access to records. This section states, in part: (1) A person seeking access to a record shall, (a) make a request in writing to the institution that the person believes has custody or control of the record; (b) provide sufficient detail to enable an experienced employee of the institution, upon a reasonable effort, to identify the record; and ... (2) If the request does not sufficiently describe the record sought, the institution shall inform the applicant of the defect and shall offer assistance in reformulating the request so as to comply with subsection (1). Further, section 25 provides, in part: (1) Where an institution receives a request for access to a record that the institution does not have in its custody or under its control, the head shall make all necessary inquiries to determine whether another institution has custody or control of the record, and where the head determines that another institution has custody or control of the record, the head shall within fifteen days after the request is received, (a) forward the request to the other institution; and (b) give written notice to the person who made the request that it has been forwarded to the other institution. As I have set out, the appellant's request was for "all reports, correspondence, and/or briefing notes originating from or received by Tourism Ministry Cam Jackson relating to municipal restructuring over the past two years, 1998 and 1999". The appellant believes that there should be more records than those identified, for the reasons I have outlined above. As I have also indicated, the Ministry's position is that the scope of the appellant's request is limited to Minister Jackson's role as Minister of Tourism and does not relate to any additional roles he may or may not play within Cabinet. In her representations, the appellant states that it is unreasonable for the Ministry to suggest that the scope of her request is limited to the Minister's role as Minister of Tourism, and does not relate to any additional roles he may or may not play within Cabinet. She encloses copies of three news articles taken from the Hamilton Spectator. One article describes the Minister as the "only cabinet voice for Burlington and Hamilton". It states, among other things, that the Minister "promised to look out for Hamilton". Other articles describe the Minister's involvement in municipal restructuring relating to Burlington, Flamborough and Hamilton. It was reported that he raised issues around restructuring at meetings attended by the Minister for Municipal Affairs and Housing and the Premier, leading to certain action being taken by the Premi
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Legislation
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Subject Index
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Signed by
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Sherry Liang
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Published
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Apr 23, 2001
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Type
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Order – Interim
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Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. All Rights Reserved.
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