Privacy commission finds Alberta government failed to follow freedom of information laws

Alberta's privacy commissioner says the UCP has been breaking the rules around freedom of information requests.

Alberta’s privacy commissioner said the Government of Alberta has failed in multiple ways to uphold freedom of information policies.

The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP) was passed in 1995 and requires all public bodies, including government bodies, to make eligible information available to the public.

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“Access to information rights are the foundation of an individual’s ability to exercise their democratic rights by facilitating access to government information,” said Diane McLeod, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, in a report on her findings.

“Accountability is the cornerstone of the exercise of good governance,” she continued. “Acting accountably within the context of the FOIP Act requires that government administer its responsibilities under the FOIP Act in a manner that not only respects these rights but also adheres to the spirit and intent of the Act.”

The report details an investigation launched in regards to 34 requests for review filed over alleged refusals to process access requests by Alberta government public bodies.

It found 27 Government of Alberta public bodies failed to uphold FOIP principals, with violations including:

• Refusing access requests on the basis applicants didn’t provide enough information;
• Requiring applicants to limit the number of topics in a request to one;
• Limiting the time frame on the search for records; and
• Requiring applications to split requests containing multiple topics into multiple requests.

McLeod also found the Government of Alberta had issued directives and policies that allowed staff to refuse access requests in a way not permitted under the FOIP act.

The privacy commissioner made several recommendations to resolve the issues she found and said she expects them to be followed, despite provincial plans to repeal the FOIP act and replace it with the Access to Information Act.

“My findings and recommendations in this report are in large part still valid under the new legislation. This is because the relevant provisions of the new Act are the same or substantially similar to the provisions of the FOIP Act,” McLeod said.

“For that reason, I expect government public bodies to apply my findings and recommendations to their practices under both the existing and the new legislation.”

In an email to The Canadian Press, a spokesperson for Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally said the ministry is considering the privacy commissioner’s findings and plans to work with McLeod to address concerns.

The full report can be accessed here.