Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner
– Report A-2011-016 Released

The Information and Privacy Commissioner, Ed Ring, has released his Report A-2011-016 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-2011-016
Report Date:     December 13, 2011
Public Body:      Department of Child Youth and Family Services

Summary:

Applicants applied to the Department of Child Youth and Family Services under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the “ATIPPA”) for access to a report resulting from an independent review of a particular case. In both cases, the Department denied access to the entire report citing section 30. The Department also argued that the new Children and Youth Care and Protection Act, which came into force well after the access requests were filed, operated to remove this record from the scope of ATIPPA. The Department therefore concluded that the release of the record at issue should be considered with respect to the provisions of the new Children and Youth Care and Protection Act. The Commissioner stated that his task is to review the decisions of the Department to withhold or release records. The Department’s decisions were made prior to the enactment of the Children and Youth Care and Protection Act. The Commissioner found that the ATIPPA was the applicable legislation at the time the decisions to deny access were made. Therefore, the Commissioner also found that section 30 did not apply to the majority of the record, as it consisted of a review of the policies and procedures that were followed in the handling of the case. He recommended that this information be released. Some of the information was the Second Applicant’s own personal information and it was recommended that this be released as well. Section 30 was found to be applicable where the record contained the personal information of other individuals.

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

2011 12 15                       10:45 a.m.