The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (the WSIB) received a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act) for access to recordings of WSIB phone calls for a particular claim number. The WSIB issued a decision stating that records responsive to the appellant’s request do not exist, claiming that the WSIB only retains phone call recordings for a 90-day period. The appellant appealed the WSIB’s decision to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, because he believes recordings should exist. The appeal was transferred to the adjudication stage, where an adjudicator may conduct an inquiry under the Act.
Based on her review of the file, the adjudicator is satisfied that ordering the WSIB to conduct further searches would not yield any records because of the WSIB’s 90-day retention policy for recordings. In this order, the adjudicator exercises her discretion under section 52(1) of the Act to not conduct an inquiry and dismisses the appeal.