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Document
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M-629
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Institution/HIC
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Ingersoll Police Services Board
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Summary
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NATURE OF THE APPEAL: This is an appeal under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act ). The Ingersoll Police Services Board (the Police) received a request from a mother for access to records pertaining to the death of her son. The Police identified 76 pages of records as being responsive to the request, and denied access to them on the basis of the following exemptions found in the Act : third party information - section 10(1) invasion of privacy - section 14(1). The Police also indicated that access to the records was being denied on the basis of section 54(a) of the Act . In appealing this decision, the requester (now the appellant) indicated that she is the administrator of her son's estate, and provided a copy of the Letters of Administration in the Estate. During mediation, the Police withdrew their reliance on the mandatory exemption in section 10(1) of the Act . In reviewing the records I agree that this section has no application. Accordingly, it is no longer at issue in this appeal. A Notice of Inquiry was provided to the Police and the appellant. Representations were received from both parties. During the Inquiry stage, the appellant indicated that she has already received a copy of the Coroner's Report and Post Mortem (pages 45 - 48, 50 and 51, and duplicate page 53) and is not seeking access to this record. Accordingly, these pages are not at issue in this appeal. She also indicated that she is not seeking access to correspondence between herself and the Police or the Crown regarding this matter. Pages 69 - 76 consist of two letters written by the appellant to an Assistant Crown Attorney and one letter from the Assistant Crown Attorney to the appellant. These pages are not at issue in this appeal. RECORDS AT ISSUE The records at issue consist of a 65-page report on sudden death which contains the following: cover page and index (pages 1 - 2) incident synopsis (pages 3 - 6) sequence of events (pages 7 - 9) police reports (pages 10 - 19) list of witnesses (page 20) witness statements (pages 21 - 43) compassionate notification request (page 44) Centre of Forensic Sciences (CFS) submission (page 52) photographs of deceased (pages 49 and 54 - 65) The remaining pages consist of a letter to the Chief of Police from the Regional Coroner regarding the deceased (pages 66 - 67) and a letter to the Chief of Police from an Assistant Crown Attorney regarding the appellant and the deceased (page 68). DISCUSSION: PERSONAL INFORMATION Under section 2(1) of the Act , "personal information" is defined, in part, to mean recorded information about an identifiable individual, including any identifying number assigned to the individual and the individual's name where it appears with other personal information relating to the individual or where the disclosure of the name would reveal other personal information about the individual. I have reviewed the information contained in the records and find that it satisfies the definition of personal information. I further find that the information relates to the deceased and a number of other individuals. Three witness statements (pages 23 - 28, 37 and 38), and pages 44 and 68 also contain the personal information of the appellant. Section 36(1) of the Act gives individuals a general right of access to their own personal information held by a government body. In addition to the general right of access an individual has to his or her own personal information, section 54(a) provides that: Any right or power conferred on an individual by this Act may be exercised, if the individual is deceased, by the individual's personal representative if exercise of the right or power relates to the administration of the individual's estate; EXERCISE OF RIGHTS OF DECEASED In their decision letter, the Police take the position that section 54(a) clearly describes the circumstances under which individuals may exercise the rights of deceased persons, and indicate that the appellant's request does not fit within these prescribed circumstances. The Police did not provide representations regarding their interpretation of this section. I dealt with similar arguments in Order M-544 which concerned a request from the daughter of a deceased individual for police records regarding his death. In my view, my analysis of section 54(a) in that order applies equally in the circumstances of this appeal. I stated in that order that: In my view, the Police have misconstrued the intent of this section, in that they have interpreted it as a definitive prohibition on disclosure of information pertaining to deceased individuals except in the very exceptional and narrow circumstances set out in the section. In essence, the Police have applied section 54(a) as an exemption against disclosure of personal information as it relates to a deceased individual. Section 54 of the Act should be interpreted rather, as simply providing a mechanism whereby access rights may, in certain defined circumstances, be exercised on behalf of an individual by another party. With respect to section 54(a), if it is determined that the records contain the personal information of the deceased, the appellant would be able to exercise the deceased's right to request the deceased's personal information, if she is able to demonstrate that she is the deceased's "personal representative" and that her request for access to the information "relates to the administration of the deceased's estate". It is also to be noted that, if section 54(a) applies, the deceased retains his or her right to personal privacy except insofar as the administration of his or her estate is concerned. The personal privacy rights of deceased individuals are expressly recognized in section 2(2) of the Act , where "personal information" is defined to specifically include that of individuals who have been dead for less than thirty years. In this appeal, the majority of the records do n
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Legislation
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Subject Index
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Published
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Oct 26, 1995
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Type
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Order
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© Copyright
2013
Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. All Rights Reserved.
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