Canadian privacy & access decisions

The complainant alleged that Biron Health Group (Biron) sent him promotional emails without his consent after he underwent mandatory COVID-19 testing upon arrival at Montreal Trudeau Airport. He provided his email solely for test results. Biron initially believed it had implicit consent due to an established business relationship. The OPC found that Biron could not reasonably assume implicit consent, as travellers had no choice but to use Biron for mandatory testing and would not expect their health information to be used for marketing. Biron ceased the practice and deleted affected email addresses from its marketing database. The complaint was settled during the investigation.

• Whether Biron Health Group had implicit consent to send promotional emails to individuals undergoing mandatory COVID-19 testing
• Whether the collection of personal information for mandatory health testing could be used for secondary marketing purposes

The complainant alleged that Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) failed to provide records in response to an access request concerning a contract awarded to Brookfield Global Integrated Solutions (BGIS) and a related subcontract. PSPC initially stated it could not identify relevant records, arguing the subcontract was not under its control. The investigation found that while the records were not in PSPC's physical possession, they were under its control for the purposes of the Access to Information Act, based on the legal relationship between PSPC and BGIS and the terms of their contract. The Commissioner concluded that PSPC did not conduct a reasonable search because it made no effort to obtain the subcontract and related documents from BGIS. The complaint was found to be well founded, and the Commissioner recommended PSPC retrieve and process the records. However, PSPC declined to implement the recommendations.

• Whether the subcontract and related records were "under the control" of Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) for the purposes of the Access to Information Act
• Whether the contents of the record relate to an institutional matter
• Whether PSPC could expect to obtain a copy of the record upon request
• Whether PSPC conducted a reasonable search for records responsive to the request