Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner – Report A-2019-015 Released

  • Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner

July 12, 2019

The Information and Privacy Commissioner, Victoria Woodworth-Lynas, has released her Report A-2019-015 under authority of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 2015. A summary of the Report is included below.

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

Report: A-2019-015
Report Date: July 12, 2019
Public Body: The Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment
Summary: The Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment (the “Department”) received an access request seeking disclosure of complaints about the Applicant, Town Councillors and the responses to these complaints. The Commissioner found that the Department did not comply with the mandatory deadline to respond to the request within the legislated timeframe as set out in section 16(1) of the ATIPPA, 2015 (time limit for final response). Further, the Department did not meet its duty to assist the Applicant by failing to respond to this request in a timely manner as set out in section 13 (duty to assist applicant). The Applicant complained to the Commissioner. After being contacted by this Office, the Department provided a final response to the Complainant, withholding some of the information, including the signatures on a petition, under section 40 (disclosure harmful to personal privacy). The Commissioner found that the Department properly applied the exceptions and recommended the Department continue to withhold the information

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Media contact
Sean Murray
Director of Research and Quality Assurance
709-729-6309

2019 07 12 3:35 pm