The Information and Privacy Commissioner, Michael Harvey, has released his Report A-2021-018 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-2021-018 |
| Report Date: | April 14, 2021 |
| Public Body: | Serious Incident Response Team |
| Summary: | The Serious Incident Response Team of Newfoundland and Labrador (“SIRT-NL”) received an access to information request for the file relating to an investigation into the actions of a police officer that were the subject of a complaint. SIRT-NL withheld the entire record from the Complainant, citing section 34(1)(a) and (b) (disclosure harmful to intergovernmental relations or negotiations) and section 40 (disclosure harmful to personal privacy) of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 2015 (“ATIPPA, 2015”). It also claimed that section 30 (legal advice) applied to part of the record. In addition, SIRT-NL requested the Commissioner’s opinion on whether it was a public body as defined by ATIPPA, 2015 and also suggested that section 21 of the Serious Incident Response Team Act (“SIRT Act”) applied so as to exclude the responsive records from the scope of ATIPPA, 2015. The Commissioner found that SIRT-NL is a public body subject to ATIPPA, 2015; that section 21 of the SIRT Act did not apply to exclude the record, as that Act had not been proclaimed at the material time; that section 34(1)(a) and (b) of ATIPPA, 2015 applied so as to justify withholding the record; and that it was not necessary to discuss the application of sections 30 or 40 of ATIPPA, 2015. The Commissioner recommended that SIRT-NL continue to withhold the record. |
– 30 –
Media contact
Sean Murray
Director of Research and Quality Assurance
709-729-6309
2021 04 15
2:37 pm