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Update Regarding the City of Toronto’s Records Management Practices

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Like many Torontonians, I was deeply concerned to learn of the allegations that certain records of three former staff members of the Mayor of Toronto’s office were ordered to be destroyed.

In response to these allegations, I immediately wrote to the Mayor warning that any inappropriate destruction of records has the potential to seriously erode the public’s trust and confidence in the City of Toronto as an accountable and transparent government institution. I also reminded the Mayor that he is an officer of the City for the purposes of the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA), and that the premature destruction of any records would, among other things, prevent members of the public from making request to access information. I therefore asked for immediate confirmation that these records had not and would not be destroyed, and for details of any deletions that had occurred.

The Mayor’s office responded the next day, stating: “At no point did any member of the Mayor’s Office order the records of former employees to be erased.”

While I was comforted by this reply, I have always followed a policy of “trust but verify.” For this reason, I wrote to the City Clerk requesting that City staff meet with members of my office to ensure that appropriate records management practices were in place and that no records had been inappropriately deleted. We received the full cooperation of City staff.

My staff met with the City Clerk and senior officials of the Clerk’s office, including those involved with information management at City Hall. City staff confirmed that no one had deleted, or ordered the deletion of, any emails of current or former employees of the Mayor’s office.

In particular, City IT staff advised that they had checked for any activity in the email accounts of former Mayor’s staff after their departure, and that there had been no activity whatsoever.

In addition, City staff provided the following information about the City’s information management policies and practices:

1. The City archives all emails through an email archiver.
2. Emails are retained for seven years on the email archiver.
3. Emails cannot be deleted or modified on the email archiver without the involvement of City IT staff – and no such action had been taken.
4. Blackberries of former staffers are returned to the City’s corporate IT department, imaged (duplicated) and then wiped clean.
5. The City’s Information Management Services department provides training and support to City staff on MFIPPA and the numerous policies and procedures relating to information management.

Based on the above, I am satisfied that there was no inappropriate deletion of emails of former Mayor’s office staff.

Ann Cavoukian, Ph.D. Commissioner

Commissioner Cavoukian dismayed by the indiscriminate deletion of emails in Ontario cabinet ministers’ offices

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, Dr. Ann Cavoukian, has released the findings of her investigation into a complaint by Member of Provincial Parliament Peter Tabuns, who alleged the Chief of Staff to the former Minister of Energy had improperly deleted all emails concerning the cancellation of the Mississauga and Oakville gas plants. Over the course of the investigation, the Commissioner learned that in early 2013, staff in the former Premier’s office had approached the Secretary of Cabinet about how to permanently delete emails and other electronic documents. As a result, the scope of the investigation was expanded.

At the root of the problems uncovered over the course of our wide-reaching investigation was the practice of indiscriminate deletion of all emails sent and received by the former Chief of Staff to the Minister of Energy. This practice violates the Archives and Recordkeeping Act (ARA) and the records retention schedule developed for ministers’ offices by the Archives of Ontario. This practice also undermines the transparency and accountability purposes of the ARA and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Personal Privacy Act (FIPPA).

The Commissioner has recommended that the government take concrete steps in three specific areas to ensure that records that may be subject to an access request under FIPPA and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Personal Privacy Act (MFIPPA) are retained:

• Office of the Premier and Ministers’ Offices – Require that a directive be issued that a senior official in each minister’s office and the Premier’s office be designated as the person who is accountable for records retention policies and practices, and for ensuring that ministers’ staff receive training on their records management obligations. The Premier should clearly communicate that these obligations must be taken very seriously, along with her expectation that all staff must comply.

• Legislative Changes – Amend both FIPPA and MFIPPA to address institutions’ responsibilities to ensure that all key decisions are documented and records securely retained – making it a serious offence to wilfully or inappropriately destroy records.

• Records Retention Policies – Conduct a review of the Archives of Ontario records retention policies and practices that apply to the records management processes in ministers’ offices and the Premier’s office, ensuring that responsibility for retaining official or business records is clearly set out.

Report: Deleting Accountability: Records Management Practices of Political Staff

News Release: Commissioner Cavoukian dismayed by the indiscriminate deletion of emails in Ontario cabinet ministers’ offices

Commissioner Cavoukian’s Letter to Mayor Rob Ford About Retention of Documents

Wed, 29 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

On May 29, 2013, Commissioner Cavoukian wrote to Toronto Mayor Rob Ford about her concerns regarding a Toronto Star story alleging the destruction of records related to three former staff members.

Read the Letter

Toronto Star Story

IPC Annual Report: 25 Years of Access and Privacy Leadership

Tue, 28 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

TORONTO, ON (May 28, 2013) – Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, Dr. Ann Cavoukian, today released her 2012 Annual Report, highlighting the accomplishments of the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) over the past 25 years.

The report shows that 2012 was another very active year for the protection of privacy and access to information, at the same time, the costs per provincial personal information requests were substantially lowered. New records were set for personal information and freedom of information requests filed, under the three Acts (FIPPA, MFIPPA and PHIPA) falling within the Commissioner’s jurisdiction. Also making great strides last year were the Commissioner’s made-in-Ontario concepts of Privacy by Design and Access by Design, which call for proactively embedding privacy and access by default within operational processes and technologies – right from the outset.

Certificate in Freedom of Information and Records Information Management

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The Office of Open Learning at the University of Guelph is offering a Certificate in Freedom of Information (FOI) and Records Information Management (RIM) provides a comprehensive overview of all aspects of FOI and RIM programs. Participants will have a sound understanding of the legislation affecting access and privacy and the knowledge, skills and abilities to develop, implement and sustain FOI and RIM programs in a variety of work environments. The curriculum reflects current issues and expectations of the Ontario Information Privacy Commissioner.

The certificate consists of four in-classroom courses. Each course is one-week in duration and takes place on the University of Guelph’s campus. There are no prerequisites for each course which means that participants can start at any time and have flexibility with respect to course sequence.

Learn More

2012 IPC Annual Statistical Reporting Deadline Extended

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

We have extended the deadline for filing statistical reports to March 15. All institutions covered by the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA) and Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) are required to submit statistics – even if you have had no requests during the 2012 calendar year. We have a collection of helpful resources to help you complete this task, including statistical forms, FAQ, completion guide, reconciliation chart to verify consistency of your statistics, and glossary of terms.

Institutions that fail to report will be noted in the IPC’s 2012 Annual Report.

You can file your stats online at https://statistics.ipc.on.ca. If you have forgotten your password, you can click on the link "Forgot Password" and you will be sent one automatically. If you are a first time user, please send an email to statistics.ipc@ipc.on.ca for your login and password.

If you need any assistance with completing your report please do not hesitate to email info@ipc.on.ca or you can contact one of the IPC’s Information Officers at 416-326-3333.

Privacy by Design featured in World Economic Forum

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group, published a report in February of 2013 entitled, “Unlocking the Value of Personal Data: From Collection to Usage”. With input from stakeholders around the world, the publication explores opportunities to update the policies and practices that are used to manage personal data. The report also acknowledges the changing landscape of personal data ecosystem and the novel approaches that will be required to address it. These new approaches to data governance must be flexible, adaptive, and contextually driven. Most importantly, the solution will require a set of principles and guidelines to manage these challenges.

Privacy by Design has long provided important foundational principles that can protect the privacy of individuals and organizations. Already recognized as a global privacy standard in 2010, the report emphasizes that “Privacy by Design is key to ensuring privacy is proactively embedded into the technology itself”. The report also credits Privacy by Design with assisting to find privacy protective features required for the evolving personal data ecosystem. Whatever these new approaches may be, it is evident that Privacy by Design will be critical to the systems and initiatives that guide the personal data ecosystem.

Date Published:February 28, 2013

News From:World Economic Forum

Ontario privacy commissioner wants councillors included in freedom of information laws

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

In the wake of a Star investigation, commissioner Ann Cavoukian has asked the province to change access legislation.

Ontario’s information and privacy commissioner has asked the province to change legislation so the public can gain access to city councillors’ records.

If the province agrees, it would mark a milestone for government transparency in Canada.

With the exception of some provincial ministers, elected officials in this country are typically not covered by access to information laws.

Date Published: February 28, 2013

News From: Toronto Star

PET Award 2013 - Call for Nominations Now Open

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

You are invited to submit nominations to the 2013 PET Award.

The PET Award is presented annually to researchers who have made an outstanding contribution to the theory, design, implementation, or deployment of privacy enhancing technology. It is awarded at the annual Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PETS).

The PET Award carries a prize of 3000 USD thanks to the generous support of Microsoft. The crystal prize itself is offered by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, Canada.

Any paper by any author written in the area of privacy enhancing technologies is eligible for nomination. However, the paper must have appeared in a refereed journal, conference, or workshop with proceedings published in the period from April 16, 2011 until March 31, 2013.

The complete Award rules including eligibility requirements can be found at http://petsymposium.org/award/rules.php.

Anyone can nominate a paper by sending an email message containing the following to award-chairs13@petsymposium.org:

Paper title
Author(s)
Author(s) contact information
Publication venue and full reference
Link to an available online version of the paper
A nomination statement of no more than 500 words.

All nominations must be submitted by March 31, 2013. The Award Committee will select one or two winners among the nominations received. Winners must be present at the PET Symposium in order to receive the Award. This requirement can be waived only at the discretion of the PET Advisory board.

More information about the PET award (including past winners) is available at http://petsymposium.org/award/

More information about the 2013 PET Symposium is available athttp://petsymposium.org/2013/.

Commissioner’s Statement on the Demise of Bill C-30

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

On February 11, 2012, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced that the government, “will not be proceeding with Bill C-30, and any attempts that we will continue to have to modernize the Criminal Code will not contain the measures contained in C-30, including the warrantless mandatory disclosure of basic subscriber information or the requirement for telecommunications service providers to build intercept capability within their systems.”

I’m utterly delighted that the government has listened to the enormous public outcry against unauthorized, warrantless access.

I want to express my thanks to Ontarians, and indeed all Canadians, who joined us by the thousands in standing up for freedom and democracy. Together we demonstrated that the true value of privacy must be recognized – and ideally enhanced, not diminished – in any effort to modernize law enforcement powers.

The death of Bill C-30 upholds our fundamental right to privacy, and in turn, preserves our freedoms. This is a victory for every Canadian!

Ann Cavoukian, Ph.D.
Information and Privacy Commissioner, Ontario

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