Canadian Lawyer InHouse

13 canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse April 2015 13 Q U I Z Jill Dougherty, partner and Macdonald Allen, associate, Weirfoulds llp GO TO CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM TO WATCH A WEIRFOULDS LLP LAWYER TALK ABOUT THIS QUIZ. 1 On the fi rst Friday of the month your institution receives its fi rst access to information request of the new year. By when does your institution have to give written notice of its decision to the requester? (a) the last Friday of the month (B) 30 days later (C) It depends 2 Your institution, a police services board, receives an access to information request seeking information and documentation about the qualifi cations of the chief of police. Your access to information and privacy co-ordinator determines that another institution, the Ministry of the attorney General, has custody or control of the record the requester is seeking. how many days after the request is received do you have to transfer the request to the other institution? (a) 7 days (B) 10 days (C) 15 days 3 In which of the following situations can your institution extend the time limit to respond to an access request for a period of time that is reasonable: (i) the request is for a large number of records; (ii) the request necessitates a search through a large number of records; (iii) your access to information and privacy co-ordinator is on vacation; (iv) meeting the time limit would unreasonably interfere with the operations of the institution; and, (v) consultations with a person outside the institution are necessary to comply with the request. (a) ii (B) i, iv (C) iii, iv (D) v 4 Your institution receives an access to information request on March 31, 2015. On april 20, 2015, you deliver a fee estimate to the requester. On april 30, 2015, the requester pays the deposit required by your fee estimate. how long after receiving the requester's deposit do you have to give written notice of the institution's decision? (a) 7 days (B) 10 days (C) 15 days Tick tock: timely responses to access to information requests In Ontario, the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act are increasingly being used as tools to obtain access to information from government institutions including, but not limited to, provincial ministries, and most provincial agencies, boards, and commissions, as well as colleges of applied arts and technology, universities, hospitals, municipalities, police services boards, public library boards, school boards, conservation authorities, boards of health, transit commissions, certain municipal electricity corporations, and certain local housing corporations. Under FIPPA or MFIPPA an individual, an investigative reporter, an unsuccessful RFP bidder, or any other interested person has a right of access to a record or a part of a record in the custody or under the control of an institution unless the record falls within one of the legislated exemptions or the head of the government institution has reasonable grounds to believe that the request is frivolous or vexatious. Once a government institution receives a request for information, along with the $5 application fee, the responsibility shifts to the institution to respond in a timely manner. Access to information requests can be burdensome, and often require meticulous attention to detail to ensure that the institution does not disclose private, confi dential, or protected information. When faced with a time-pressured response, attention to detail can be the fi rst thing that is overlooked. When a request is received, will your institution be ready to respond? Take the quiz to fi nd out.

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