Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner
October 13, 2017
Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner – Report P-2017-005 Released
The Information and Privacy Commissioner, Donovan Molloy, Q.C., has released Report P-2017-005 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, go to ATIPPA Privacy Reports at:
www.oipc.nl.ca/reports/commissioner
| Summary: | The Complainant made a complaint to this Office alleging that their privacy had been breached by the disclosure of a letter addressed to the Town of Eastport regarding its fire department. An investigation found that the letter containing the Complainant’s personal information was provided to the Chief of the Eastport Fire Department, but was unable to identify who provided the letter to him. The letter had been addressed to the five towns and one local service district of the Eastport Peninsula Joint Council and contained personal information of its author. The complainant had made a request for confidentiality in the letter. A best practice would have been to contact the complainant to explain that it would not be possible to address the issues without sharing the letter with the individuals referenced in it, and ask if they still wished to proceed. In this circumstance, a request for confidentiality intended to exclude the individuals referenced in the letter was not reasonable if the complainant wished their issues to be addressed. Proper use or disclosure of personal information requires the public body to limit use or disclosure to minimum necessary and there is no indication that this was done in this instance. Recommendations were made to the local public bodies regarding handling personal information, the disclosure of personal information to town councils and avoiding conflicts of interest. |
- 30 -
Media contact
Sean Murray
Director of Special Projects
(709) 729-6309
2017 10 13 3:45 p.m.