Canadian privacy & access decisions

The complainant alleged that Transport Canada improperly withheld information related to mediation services provided by the Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution (CICR) under paragraph 20(1)(b) of the Access to Information Act. Transport Canada initially applied the exemption to various details on CICR's invoices. During the investigation, the complainant withdrew the allegation regarding subsection 19(1) and Transport Canada conceded that several categories of information, such as the description of services and total amount, should not have been withheld. However, Transport Canada maintained that the hourly rate and number of hours billed were properly exempt. The Information Commissioner agreed that the hourly rate and number of hours billed met the criteria for exemption under paragraph 20(1)(b) as confidential commercial information consistently treated as such. Conversely, the Commissioner found that the description of services, dates of services, subtotal of charges, taxes, total amount, and amount paid did not meet all the requirements of paragraph 20(1)(b), either because they were not financial/commercial/scientific/technical, not objectively confidential, or not supplied by the third party. The complaint was found to be well founded, and Transport Canada was ordered to disclose the remaining redacted information.

• Whether the description of services billed is financial, commercial, scientific or technical information under s.20(1)(b) ATIA
• Whether the dates of services are financial, commercial, scientific or technical information under s.20(1)(b) ATIA
• Whether the subtotal of charges is confidential under s.20(1)(b) ATIA
• Whether the amount of taxes applied is confidential under s.20(1)(b) ATIA
• Whether the "total amount" is confidential under s.20(1)(b) ATIA
• Whether the "amount paid" was supplied by the third party under s.20(1)(b) ATIA
• Whether the hourly rate of the third party is confidential financial/commercial information consistently treated as such under s.20(1)(b) ATIA
• Whether the number of hours billed is confidential financial/commercial information consistently treated as such under s.20(1)(b) ATIA