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FOIP News Issue No. 8, September 20, 2002

“FOIP News” is an electronic newsletter produced by Information Management, Access and Privacy (IMAP), to highlight news relating to Alberta’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) Act. FOIP News is issued as needed. Web site links are provided to allow you to easily obtain more information on a news item. FOIP Training Calendar

Three FOIP training courses will again be offered this fall. The dates of the upcoming courses are: • Introduction and Privacy: Calgary, Oct. 15 Edmonton, Oct. 28 • Access to Information: Calgary, Oct. 16 Edmonton, Oct. 29 • Managing a FOIP Program: Calgary, Oct. 17 Edmonton, Oct. 30 For more information and additional course dates please see the training calendar. The calendar is available on the FOIP Web site at www3.gov.ab.ca/foip/other_resources/training/index.cfm.

Job Opportunities

IMAP is currently searching for a FOIP Advisor to work in Advisory Services and a Senior Policy Analyst to work in the Legislation and Policy area. The closing date for applications is September 27, 2002. For more information click on www.pao.gov.ab.ca/jobs and search under Management/Administration.

FOIP Request Statistics

The number of FOIP requests received in 2001-2002 by local public bodies was down 12% from last year. However, this can be attributed to the proclamation of the Health Information Act, which removed requests for personal health records from the scope of the FOIP Act for health care bodies. Municipalities, police services, and post-secondary institutions saw increases in the number of FOIP requests from the previous year. In total, local public bodies received 558 FOIP requests. The majority were requests for personal information (326), followed by 227 requests for general information. There were 5 requests for correction of personal information.

Of the 227 requests for general information, 95 were from the general public, 76 from businesses, 32 from interest groups, 19 from the media, 3 from elected officials and 2 from academics/researchers.

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The following chart provides a comparison in the number of requests for the last four years.

Requests Received by Local Public Bodies

Sept. 1, 1998

to March 31,

1999*

April 1, 1999

to March 31,

2000**

April 1, 2000

to March 31,

2001

April 1, 2001

to March 31,

2002

Totals Health Care Bodies 26 216 213 65 520 Local Government 126 161 189 476 Police Services 101 144 186 431 School Jurisdictions 27 41 54 47 169 Post-Secondary 39 48 63 150 Housing Management 6 8 6 20 Police Commissions 6 3 0 9 Public Libraries 1 2 2 5 Drainage Districts 0 0 0 0 Irrigation Districts 0 0 0 0 Metis Settlements 0 0 0 0

LPB Requests Received 53 536 633 558 1,780

* School Jurisdictions reported from September 1, 1998 Health Care Bodies reported from October 1, 1998

** Post-Secondary Institutions reported from September 1, 1999 All other Local Public Bodies reported from October 1, 1999

Twenty-three local public bodies did not submit a report. It’s not too late. Please contact Agnes Lineger at (780) 415-2407 or e-mail agnes.lineger@gov.ab.ca.

Questions about Statistics

Each year when IMAP collects statistics we receive some questions about how to count requests. Some of these are asked and answered below. How do I know if a request for information is a FOIP request? A FOIP request must be made in writing and must specifically refer to the FOIP Act. The request may be made on the FOIP request form or in a letter. If the public body did not respond to the request for information by following the recommended process in the FOIP Guidelines and Practices manual - such as sending an acknowledgement letter providing the applicant with an expected response date, severing records, advising the applicant of their right to appeal the public body’s decisions to the Information and Privacy Commissioner - do not report it as a FOIP request on the statistical form. The town’s FOIP Coordinator processes FOIP requests for the public library. Who should report the FOIP request, the town or the public library? The town and public library are separate public bodies under the FOIP Act even though they share the services of one FOIP Coordinator. A FOIP request for access to records held by the library would be reported as a request received by the library.

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When is a FOIP request considered completed? A request is considered completed for statistical purposes when the applicant is notified of the public body’s decision about the release of the records. Normally this is the date on the letter advising the applicant of the public body’s decision on the request.

Even More Statistics

IMAP counts the calls to the FOIP Helpdesk for advice and assistance with FOIP questions. Last fiscal year we handled nearly 1700 calls. The majority were received from municipalities (28%), which is to be expected as municipalities comprise the largest local public body sector. Government departments and agencies made 14% of enquiries, followed by post-secondary institutions at 12% and schools at 9%. The surprise has been the increase of calls from the general public, now accounting for 27% of calls, up from 18% last year. It seems that public awareness of FOIP and privacy issues generally is on the rise.

Annotated FOIP Act

The Annotated FOIP Act has been completely revised to reflect RSA 2000 and has been reissued in a new loose-leaf binder. This publication is produced by Jay Krushell and Alberta Queen's Printer. It is a section-by-section guide to the FOIP Act, summarizing the way in which the Act has been interpreted in Orders of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. The Annotated FOIP Act provides an expert commentary on the FOIP Act; it is easy-to-use and is updated at least twice a year. It is invaluable for anyone who processes FOIP requests. The binder includes: • a table of concordance listing the sections of the Alberta FOIP Act and their

equivalent in Ontario and British Columbia; • short summaries of all the Orders of Alberta's Information and Privacy

Commissioner and judicial review decisions released before April 5, 2002; • the text of each section of Alberta's FOIP Act and analysis of how the Act has

been interpreted, with references to relevant definitions and related provisions;

• the full text of the Alberta FOIP Regulation; and • a detailed subject index.

The Annotated FOIP Act may be purchased from the Queen’s Printer in the loose-leaf binder format or through a subscription to the Queen’s Printer online service, QP Source. More information about purchasing a copy or subscribing to QP Source is available on the Queen’s Printer Web site at www.qp.gov.ab.ca.

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Information & Privacy Commissioner Orders & Investigation Reports

A few of the recent orders and investigation reports are highlighted here. F2002-IR-006 City of Calgary An individual alleged that the City of Calgary contravened the privacy provisions contained in the FOIP Act when it included his home address and his name in a publicly-available report entitled the “Building Permit Application Report.” The other information contained in the report is the permit number, the construction location, the intended use (e.g. single family home), the type (e.g. new or alteration), the estimated value of the construction, and the number of residential units created. The Portfolio Officer found that the sale of the building permit information, when the personal information disclosed is limited to the name of the individual and the construction site address, is authorized by the Act. Section 40(1)(b) allows a public body to disclose an individual’s personal information if the disclosure would not be an unreasonable invasion of the individual’s personal privacy under the exception for personal privacy (section 17). Section 17 expressly states that it is not an unreasonable invasion of an individual’s personal privacy to disclose information about a building permit if the disclosure is limited to the name of the individual and the nature of the permit. The Portfolio Officer agreed with the advice provided by Alberta Government Services in its “Frequently Asked Questions for Municipalities,” that disclosure of an individual’s home address would not be authorized if that address were different from the work-site address. The Frequently Asked Questions for Municipalities are available at www3.gov.ab.ca/foip/faq/municipalities.cfm.

Town of Ponoka The Information and Privacy Commissioner has allowed the Town of Ponoka to disregard another access request made under the FOIP Act. In April 2002, the Commissioner allowed the Town to disregard an access request for the same information. The Commissioner found that an individual’s access request was repetitious and systematic, and amounted to an abuse of the right to make the access request under the FOIP Act. Another individual, who was associated with the original applicant, then made an access request for the same information. As the applicant was the directing mind behind the individual’s access request, the Commissioner found that the second individual’s access request was no less an abuse of the right to make an access request than if the original applicant had made the request himself.

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Meeting Calendar

Health Sector Information Access and Privacy Network

September 23, 2002 Edmonton

Post-Secondary FOIP Network September 27, 2002 Calgary

School Jurisdictions FOIP Network October 18, 2002 Nisku

Municipal - Central Alberta Network of Information Management

October 30, 2002 Rocky Mountain House

Municipal – Edmonton Area FOIP Regional Alliance

November 21, 2002 Sherwood Park

Health Sector Information Access and Privacy Network

December 2, 2002 Edmonton

Municipal - Southern Alberta FOIP Regional Alliance

January 16, 2003 Lethbridge

Municipal - Central Alberta Network of Information Management

January 31, 2003 Banff

Did You Know….

…. Prince Edward Island will proclaim its Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act in November 2002. …. The Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) has been developed by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to address Web users’ concerns about online privacy. More information about W3C is available at: www.w3.org and about P3P at www.p3ptoolbox.org. …. The Alberta Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s web site contains a list of upcoming conferences and events. Click on www.oipc.ab.ca.

Alberta Government Services FOIP Help Desk: Information Management, Access and Privacy Phone: 780-427-5848 16th Floor, 10155 – 102 Street Toll free dial 310-0000 first Edmonton, Alberta T5J 4L4 E-mail: foiphelpdesk@gov.ab.ca Phone: (780) 422-2657 Fax: (780) 427-1120 Web site: www3.gov.ab.ca/foip If you have an e-mail address, please let us know. Send an e-mail

to foiphelpdesk@gov.ab.ca stating your name and organization and we will add you to our e-mail distribution list.