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Document
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MO-1449
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Institution/HIC
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Toronto Police Services Board
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Summary
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NATURE OF THE APPEAL: The appellant submitted a request to the Toronto Police Services Board (the Police) pursuant to the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act ) for access to copies of all materials regarding their investigation into the death of her brother. The Police responded to the appellant initially, indicating that if she was seeking the information pursuant to section 54(a), she was to provide them with evidence that she was the deceased's personal representative and an explanation of the relevance of the requested information to the administration of his estate. The appellant provided the Police with a copy of a "Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee without a Will" issued in the appellant's name. The Police issued a decision indicating that access to the memorandum book notes of a named officer could not be provided as such record does not exist. The Police indicated further that some information which is contained in the memorandum books of other officers is not responsive to the request as this information pertains to other events recorded by them during their tour of duty. The Police granted partial access to the remaining records. The Police denied access to certain information in these remaining records on the basis of the following sections of the Act : advice or recommendations - section 7(1) (a portion of page 16 only); relations with other governments - section 9(1)(d) (pages 57 - 64); invasion of privacy - section 38(b) in conjunction with sections 14(1)(f), 14(3)(a) and (b) (all of the records); discretion to refuse requester's own information - section 38(a) (those records for which sections 7(1) and 9(1)(d) were claimed). The appellant appealed this decision. During mediation, the appellant clarified that she was not pursuing access to the information which was identified as non-responsive or the information which the Police stated does not exist. The appellant indicated that she is seeking access to the Police "ten" codes which are noted throughout the records. The Police then issued a second decision claiming the exemption in section 8(1)(l) (law enforcement) for this information. Also during mediation, the appellant was provided with certain information from the Coroner's office. As a result, pages 1 and 57 to 64 are no longer at issue. As section 9(1)(d) was claimed only for pages 57 - 64, this section is no longer at issue. I sent a Notice of Inquiry to the Police initially. The Police did not indicate that they were applying section 38(a) to the information for which section 8(1)(l) was claimed. Accordingly, I raised the possible application of this section to this information as well. The Police submitted representations in response to the Notice and I attached the non-confidential portions of them to the Notice which I sent to the appellant. The appellant provided extensive representations in response. I subsequently sent the non-confidential portions of these submissions to the Police and sought reply representations from them on all issues raised in the previous Notice. The Police made representations in reply. RECORDS: The records at issue consist of: Record 1 (pages 2 - 3) - Sudden Death Supplementary Occurrence Report Record 2 (page 4) - Sudden Death Supplementary Occurrence Report Record 3 (page 5) - Sudden Death Supplementary Occurrence Report Record 4 (page 6) - Sudden Death Supplementary Occurrence Report Record 5 (page 7) - Sudden Death Supplementary Occurrence Report Record 6 (pages 8 - 17) - Occurrence Report Record 7 (pages 63 -69) - police officer's notes (May 9, 1999) Record 8 (pages 70 - 74) - police officer's notes (February 6, 1999) Record 9 (pages 75 - 82) - police officer's notes (February 6 and 7, 1999) Record 10 (pages 83 - 92) - police officer's notes (February 6 and 7, 1999) Record 11 (pages 93 - 108) - police officer's notes (May 9 and 10, 1999) Record 12 (page 109) - copies of photographs DISCUSSION: PERSONAL INFORMATION Personal information is defined in section 2(1) of the Act as "... recorded information about an identifiable individual". In addition, section 2(2) of the Act provides that "personal information does not include information about an individual who has been dead for more than thirty years." The records all relate to the investigation conducted by the Police into the circumstances of the appellant's brother's death. As such, I find that they are "about" the deceased brother. The appellant indicates that her brother passed away on or about February 6, 1999. As he has been dead for less that 30 years, the information about him in the records qualifies as his personal information. Some of the records also contain information about other identifiable individuals, including other family members as well as witnesses at the scene. This information consists of certain identifying information and their statements and observations which were given to the Police during the investigation and thus qualifies as the personal information of these other individuals. Records 1, 4, 6, 7, 10 and 11 also contain the appellant's personal information. PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE Section 54(a) of the Act provides: Any right or power conferred on an individual by this Act may be exercised, (a) 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; Personal Representative The term "personal representative" used in section 54(a) is not defined in the Act . However, section 54(a) relates to the administration of an individual's estate and the meaning of the term must be derived from this context. Decisions of this office and the courts have confirmed the limited nature of a personal representative to obtain information relating to th
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Legislation
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Subject Index
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Published
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Jun 29, 2001
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Type
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Order
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2013
Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. All Rights Reserved.
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