Recent IPC Decisions – February

Every month, the IPC makes decisions on access to information appeals and privacy complaints. Here is a sampling of four recent decisions:

INTERIM ORDER PO-3673-I (Ministry of the Attorney General) - The requester was convicted of manslaughter in 1986 and released from prison in 1992. He had commenced a court application to reopen his case based on a wrongful conviction.  He asked the ministry for access to all records relating to the homicide investigation, his prosecution and conviction. The ministry denied his request on the basis that the records related to prosecution proceedings which have not been completed. We disagreed with the decision because the current proceedings are not in respect of the prosecution of the requester, and the adjudicator continued to process the file under the Act.

ORDER MO-3388 (York Catholic District School Board) - A requester was aware that complaints had been made about them and asked the board for copies. The board denied access and we upheld this decision for the majority of the records because they contain the personal information of other individuals. We ordered the disclosure of one record summarizing the content of the complaints against the requester.

ORDER PO-3678 (Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology) - A request for copies of any complaints or negative comments received about a specific course was appealed because the requester didn’t think an adequate search was conducted. We found the search to be reasonable and the appeal was dismissed.

INTERIM ORDER MO-3395-I (Town of Newmarket) - A request was made for access to records relating to the town’s decision to provide a $2.8 million loan to a local soccer club. The town’s decision to deny access to the records under the third-party information exemption was not upheld. We ordered these files to be disclosed with the exception of one record which qualified under the closed meeting exemption.