Commissioner McLeod has written to the government in the wake of her 21-month investigation into 27 government public bodies
The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, Diane McLeod, plans to monitor aspects of the way the Government of Alberta handles access requests, after the publication of her investigation report in May this year. McLeod is taking this approach because the government has indicated it has not accepted two recommendations in her report.
McLeod’s report was issued after a systemic investigation that examined how government public bodies were processing access to information requests. Her investigation found that the government had adopted practices and interpretations that are non-compliant with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP Act). McLeod made a number of recommendations to remedy this non-compliance, as announced in a news release on May 9th. She noted that although the FOIP Act would be replaced by the Access to Information Act (ATIA), her findings and recommendations are largely still valid under ATIA, because the legislation’s relevant provisions are the same or substantially similar.
At the beginning of the investigation, the government informed the Commissioner that Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction (SARTR) would respond on behalf of all government public bodies. Last month, the Minister of SARTR, Dale Nally, wrote to the Commissioner indicating that the government had accepted most of the report’s recommendations, with the exception of recommendations that the government end the practice of requiring access to information applicants to limit the topics contained in an access request and to split access requests containing multiple topics.
“I am pleased that the government has accepted most of my recommendations and either has implemented or is in the process of implementing them,” said McLeod. “I am confident that this will strengthen the access to information rights of Albertans seeking access to records from these public bodies. In his letter, Minister Nally offered to work with my office on the implementation of these recommendations in accordance with ATIA. We would be pleased to work with the government team on this matter. However, I was disappointed to read that the government is not accepting two of the recommendations.”
Commissioner McLeod has written to the SARTR Minister regarding this matter, noting that the government evidence submitted during the investigation indicated that applicants were being directed by government public bodies to commit to a single topic when clarifying requests and to split multi-topic requests into multiple individual access requests. The government evidence went on to say that “whether a request should be treated as a single request or divided into multiple requests should be based on how an organization’s records are maintained and what is the most straightforward and logical way to search for responsive records”. McLeod found this practice to be in contravention of the FOIP Act.
“Since the FOIP Act has now been repealed, I will be monitoring requests for review coming into my office concerning Government of Alberta public bodies to determine whether this activity is still occurring under ATIA,” added McLeod. “If I find this to be the case, I will investigate under ATIA to determine whether the government public bodies are permitted to require applicants to split access requests and their rationale for the same.”
Through the OIPC, the Information and Privacy Commissioner performs the responsibilities set out in Alberta’s access to information and privacy laws, the Access to Information Act, the Protection of Privacy Act, the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act during the transition period, the Health Information Act, and the Personal Information Protection Act. The Commissioner operates independently of government.
For more information:
Elaine Schiman
communications@oipc.ab.ca
Communications Manager
Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta
Mobile: (587) 983-8766