Ontario's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Acts) help to protect your personal information held by provincial and local government organizations. It is the responsibility of the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) to ensure that government organizations abide by the Acts. For more information please refer to Your Privacy and Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner or the Privacy Complaint Process Flow Chart.

The IPC is committed to providing excellent service to the public, while at the same time striking a balance between quality, timeliness, fairness, flexibility, and client responsiveness.

Intake

The Registrar and a team of Analysts are responsible for the following Intake functions.

Screening

The Commissioner has delegated authority to the Registrar and Analysts to "screen out" files where the IPC has no jurisdiction or where it has determined that the type of file should not proceed through the privacy complaint process. Privacy complaints may therefore be dismissed at the Intake stage.

General Intake Functions

For those files that are not screened out, the Analyst will complete various intake functions including:

• contacting the complainant to clarify the privacy issues;
• explaining the IPC procedures for processing privacy complaints; and
• contacting the institution to obtain its position about the complaint and discussing the possibility of settlement.

Intake Resolution Stream

The Registrar will stream a privacy complaint to the Intake Resolution Stream if it appears that a quick informal resolution can be achieved without having to go through a formal investigation.

Investigation Stream

The Registrar will stream all other privacy complaint files to the Investigation Stream. An Investigator will be assigned to:

• clarify the complaint;
• contact the parties, gather information, and attempt settlement

• send a Draft Privacy Complaint Report which includes: a summary of the complaint; a discussion of the information obtained during the investigation; conclusions; and recommendations (if any) to the parties, if the file is not settled;
• provide the parties with an opportunity to comment on any factual errors and/or omissions in the Draft Privacy Complaint Report;
• send a Final Privacy Complaint Report to the parties under his/her signature, with the endorsement of the Assistant Commissioner or Commissioner; and
• follow-up with the institution to ensure that any recommendations have been implemented.