Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner — Report A-2010-008 Released

The Information and Privacy Commissioner, Ed Ring, has released his Report A-2010-008 under authority of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. A summary of the Report is included below.

To view the Report in its entirety, please go to //www.oipc.nl.ca/accessreports.htm 

Report: A-2010-008
Report Date: June 9, 2010
Public Body: College of the North Atlantic

Summary: The Applicant applied to the College of the North Atlantic (the "College") under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the "ATIPPA") for access to records relating to amendments to an agreement between the College and the State of Qatar involving the establishment of a campus of the College in Qatar (the "Comprehensive Agreement"). The College denied access relying on the exceptions to disclosure set out in sections 20 (advice and recommendations), 21 (legal advice), 22 (disclosure harmful to law enforcement), 24 (disclosure harmful to the financial or economic interests of a public body), and 30 (disclosure of personal information). The Commissioner determined that the College was entitled to refuse access to certain information based on sections 20, 24 and 30 but could not rely on the section 22 exception to deny access to information and the Commissioner recommended release of that information. The Commissioner recommended that the College reconsider its decision to withhold on the basis of section 21 information contained in an analysis of the Comprehensive Agreement conducted by the College's external legal counsel. The Commissioner made a finding that the College did not respond to the Applicant in an open, accurate and complete manner resulting in a failure to meet the duty to assist imposed on it by section 9. The Commissioner recommended that the College provide the Applicant with a Fee Estimate of cost of conducting a reasonable search for any remaining records responsive to the Applicant's request.

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Media contact:
Ed Ring
Information and Privacy Commissioner
709-729-6309

2010 06 15                                                   11:40 a.m.