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Summary
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This is an appeal from a decision of the Royal Ontario Museum (the ROM), under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act). The requester (now the appellant) made a request to the ROM in December 1999 for a lengthy list of records pertaining, in the main, to the employment and departure from employment of a named president of the ROM (the primary affected party). The appellant also sought a list of consultants retained by the ROM from February, 1997 to the date of the request and payments made to those consultants (other affected parties).
The issues have been considerably narrowed and clarified since the initial request, both through correspondence between the ROM and the appellant, and through the assistance of a mediator with this office. The ROM has released certain records responsive to the appellant's request, denied access to other records in their entirety, and indicated that records do not exist with respect to other parts of the request (which is not an issue in this appeal). In its decision denying access to certain records, the ROM relies on the mandatory exemption found in section 21 of the Act (unjustified invasion of personal privacy), the mandatory exemption found in section 17 (third party information), and the discretionary exemption found in section 18 (economic and other interests of an institution). The appellant has raised the applicability of section 23 of the Act (the "public interest override").
I sent a Notice of Inquiry to the ROM and to the affected parties initially, inviting their representations on the issues raised by the appeal. I was unable to contact some of the affected parties. I received representations from the ROM, the primary affected party and some of the other affected parties, some of whom have also provided their consent to release of the information or part of the information pertaining to them. Some of these representations were shared with the appellant, who was also invited to make submissions, and has.
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