PO-4611-I

An individual made a request to the ministry under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act for records of directives from the Premier’s office to the ministry regarding the removal of lands from the Greenbelt. The ministry’s searches did not locate any responsive records, apart from the June 2022 mandate letter.
The individual believes that the records he is seeking ought to exist and appealed to the IPC challenging the ministry’s interpretation of the scope of his request and the reasonableness of its searches.
In this interim order, the adjudicator considers the published evidence and findings about how direction was delivered to ministry officials and staff during the Greenbelt project. The adjudicator finds that the appellant has established a reasonable basis for believing that the records he is seeking exist but that the ministry has applied too narrow and literal an interpretation of his request. The adjudicator finds that the ministry conducted a reasonable search for responsive emails; however, the adjudicator orders the ministry to conduct a further search for other types of responsive records.