Federal (Canada) privacy & access decisions

The complainant alleged that Transport Canada improperly withheld portions of a Hazardous Occurrence Investigation Report concerning a Canadian National Railway (CN) employee's death, citing subsection 19(1) (personal information) and paragraph 20(1)(b) (confidential third-party information) of the Access to Information Act. The Information Commissioner found that certain information, such as train numbers, track numbers, and locations, did not meet the requirements for exemption under subsection 19(1) as their disclosure would not create a serious possibility of identifying individuals. While some information did qualify as personal information, Transport Canada failed to demonstrate it had properly exercised its discretion under paragraph 19(2)(c) regarding public interest disclosure. Furthermore, the Commissioner concluded that the institution and CN did not prove that the information withheld under paragraph 20(1)(b) met all four requirements of that exemption, particularly regarding confidentiality and public interest. Consequently, the complaint was found to be well founded, and Transport Canada was ordered to disclose the information not properly exempted.

• Whether information such as train numbers, track numbers, and locations constitutes personal information under s.19(1) ATIA
• Whether disclosure of portions of witness statements would create a serious possibility of identification under s.19(1) ATIA
• Whether Transport Canada reasonably exercised its discretion under s.19(2)(c) ATIA regarding public interest disclosure
• Whether the withheld information is financial, commercial, scientific or technical under s.20(1)(b) ATIA
• Whether the withheld information is confidential by an objective standard under s.20(1)(b) ATIA
• Whether the information was supplied by a third party to a government institution under s.20(1)(b) ATIA
• Whether the third party consistently treated the information as confidential under s.20(1)(b) ATIA

The complainant alleged that Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) improperly withheld information under various sections of the Access to Information Act in response to a request for records related to a specific contract. During the investigation, the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) narrowed the scope to NRCan's application of paragraphs 20(1)(b) and 20(1)(c). NRCan and the third party, Welund North America, failed to demonstrate that all requirements for these exemptions were met for most of the withheld information. The OIC found that only a void cheque and unit prices/quantities qualified for exemption. The Commissioner recommended that NRCan disclose all other information previously withheld under these paragraphs. NRCan made an additional disclosure but did not fully implement the recommendation. The complaint was found to be well founded.

• Whether the information is financial, commercial, scientific or technical under s.20(1)(b) ATIA
• Whether the information is confidential under s.20(1)(b) ATIA
• Whether the information was supplied by a third party under s.20(1)(b) ATIA
• Whether the third party consistently treated the information as confidential under s.20(1)(b) ATIA
• Whether disclosure could result in material financial loss or gain to the third party under s.20(1)(c) ATIA
• Whether there is a reasonable expectation of harm under s.20(1)(c) ATIA
• Whether disclosure could injure the competitive position of the third party under s.20(1)(c) ATIA