|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Document
|
|
MO-1320
|
|
|
|
|
|
Institution/HIC
|
|
Durham Regional Police Service
|
|
|
|
|
|
Summary
|
|
NATURE OF THE APPEAL: The appellants, a husband and wife, made a request to the Durham Regional Police Service (the Police) under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act ) for access to statements provided by witnesses to a fatal motor vehicle accident. The appellants' daughter was killed when she was struck by a car in July of 1998. Their daughter was 17 years of age at the time of death. The appellants stated in their request that they were seeking this information in order that they may understand how the accident occurred, that there is no outstanding legal action, and that the matter of compensation to the family by the driver's insurance company has been settled out of court with a full release. The Police denied access to the statements in their entirety. In their decision, the Police relied on a number of provisions of the Act , relating to reports prepared in the course of law enforcement, inspections or investigations [s.8(2)(a)], and to the circumstances in which personal information may or may not be disclosed to persons other than the person to whom it relates [s.14]. In their decision, the Police also cited section 2(2) of the Act which deals with the application of the Act to the personal information of deceased persons. This inquiry was initiated when I sent a Notice of Inquiry to the appellants, asking for their representations on the issues raised by this Appeal. I have received nothing in response, despite having granted two time extensions to the appellants. In the circumstances, I will proceed to decide these issues on the basis of the material before me. RECORDS: The records consist of thirteen separate witness statements, totalling 33 pages. There are statements from the driver of the car which struck the appellants' daughter, a passenger in the same car, individuals in other cars in the vicinity, and pedestrians. Some statements are handwritten on plain paper, some are typed on plain paper, some are handwritten on Durham Regional Police Service forms, and some typed on those same forms. All of the statements give details about the circumstances under which the appellants' daughter was struck by a car. There is some background information in the records, such as the addresses, occupations and ages of some of the witnesses. In the witness statements, there is also some information about matters not relating to the accident, such as how witnesses came to be present at the scene, what they were doing at the time they witnessed the events, how the accident affected them, and various observations and impressions about the surrounding circumstances. However, the heart of each of the statements, and the focus of the appellants' request, is an account of the accident and its aftermath. CONCLUSION: I have concluded that the Police have properly applied the provisions of the Act in denying access to the records at issue. DISCUSSION: The request by the appellants is not unusual. Other decisions of this office have dealt with attempts by the bereaved relatives of a deceased person to gain access to information about the circumstances of the death. It is not uncommon for such requests, as is apparently the case here, to be made essentially for the purpose of greater understanding of the tragic event. It is not without sympathy for the appellants' situation that I have arrived at my decision here. My role is to interpret and apply the provisions of the Act , which governs the release of information by, among others, the Police. In reviewing the decision of the Police, I am also governed by the Act , and I cannot substitute my own views on the fairness and merits of the appellants' request where the Act provides a clear direction. In the 1999 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, the Commissioner recommended statutory changes which would recognize the needs of grieving families, and remove restrictions from the Act preventing them from having greater access to information about the death of a loved one. Part of that report states: Of the various types of appeals processed by the IPC, those involving a request for information about a deceased family member are among the most sensitive. Requests of this type are submitted to institutions (most often to local police forces or the Ontario Provincial Police) by immediate family members, or their representatives, in order to obtain information surrounding the circumstances of the relative's death. Except in certain limited circumstances, institutions must deny relatives access to this information because disclosure is presumed to be an unjustified invasion of the deceased's personal privacy under the provincial and municipal Acts. .... A statutory amendment to address this sensitive and compelling issue is clearly required, and would be supported by a broad cross section of stakeholders: requesters and appellants; Freedom of Information and Privacy Co-ordinators in both the provincial and municipal sectors, including the police community; professionals in the field of grief counseling; and the IPC. Specific language for a new subsection for section 21 (section 14 of the municipal Act) is included in the Commissioner's Recommendations section, which follows this review of key issues. It may be that in the future, the Act will be amended to reflect the recommendations of the Commissioner. For the present purposes, however, I must apply the Act as it stands today. PERSONAL INFORMATION The first question I must address is whether the records contain personal information of individual
|
|
|
|
|
|
Legislation
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Subject Index
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Published
|
|
Jul 11, 2000
|
|
|
|
|
|
Type
|
|
Order
|
|
|
|
|
|
<<
Back
|
|
|
|
Back to Top
|
 |
|
|
|
© Copyright
2013
Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. All Rights Reserved.
|