FOIPPA Toolkit: Dealing with External and Internal Conflicts

For anyone working in local government, an additional layer of consideration exists with your work products and communications, being your duties under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (“FOIPPA”). Under FOIPPA, public bodies (such as local governments) have obligations to fulfill requests for information made under FOIPPA (referred to in this paper as “access requests”, “FOI requests” or “requests”), as well as obligations to safeguard personal information and other confidential information. When it comes to processing access requests, this already challenging work can be further complicated by bad apples both inside and outside the organization, from applicants submitting vexatious requests to members within the organization blatantly disregarding their duties under FOIPPA.

This paper provides an overview of some common external and internal conflicts surrounding FOIPPA processes and obligations. Regarding external conflicts, we first identify some key responsibilities in navigating and fulfilling FOI requests that may come to a head when dealing with difficult applicants. We then discuss applications to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (the “OIPC”) to disregard FOI requests in prescribed circumstances, outlining the grounds on which such an order may be granted, the circumstances that might lead to a successful section 43 application, and the kind of evidence that is necessary to meet this very high threshold. Regarding internal conflicts, we discuss the proper recourse where staff or elected officials fail to adhere to their obligations under FOIPPA, including where privacy is breached or where records are not provided in response to an access request, whether intentionally or not.

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