Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner - Report A-2011-003 Released

The Information and Privacy Commissioner, Ed Ring, has released his Report A-2011-003 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-2011-003
Report Date: March 24, 2011
Public Body: Memorial University of Newfoundland

Summary: The Applicant applied to Memorial University (“Memorial”) under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the “ATIPPA”) for access to information contained in three reference forms that were provided on her behalf in relation to her application for admission as a student into Memorial’s School of Music. Memorial allowed access to one of the reference forms upon receiving the consent of the instructor who provided the reference. However, Memorial denied access to the other two reference forms after the instructors who provided those references expressly refused to provide their consent. Memorial claimed that the information in the two reference forms was excepted from disclosure by section 24(1) (disclosure harmful to the financial or economic interests of a public body), section 27(1) (disclosure harmful to the business interests of a third party) and section 30(1) (disclosure of personal information). The Commissioner determined that Memorial is not entitled to rely on section 24(1) or section 27(1) to refuse access to the information in the two reference forms. The Commissioner also concluded that any opinions expressed in the forms about the Applicant constituted the Applicant’s personal information and this information should be released to the Applicant. The Commissioner did, however, find that the reference forms also contained the addresses and contact information of the instructors, which amounted to the personal information of the instructors. The Commissioner found that, pursuant to section 30(1), the personal information of the two instructors should not be released to the Applicant.

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

2011 03 30             12:05 p.m.