Canadian Privacy Decisions

The complainant requested records concerning a collision between a vessel and a seaplane. Transport Canada withheld information citing several exemptions, including conduct of investigations, personal information, third-party commercial/financial information, third-party negotiations, and accounts of deliberations. The Information Commissioner found that Transport Canada failed to justify the application of most exemptions and did not properly consider its discretion to disclose information for public interest reasons. Consequently, the Commissioner ordered Transport Canada to disclose most of the withheld information.

• Proper application of exemptions for conduct of investigations (s.16(1)(c) ATIA)
• Proper application of exemptions for personal information (s.19(1) ATIA)
• Proper application of exemptions for third-party commercial/financial information (s.20(1)(b) ATIA)
• Proper application of exemptions for third-party negotiations (s.20(1)(d) ATIA)
• Proper application of exemptions for accounts of deliberations (s.21(1)(b) ATIA)
• Institution's discretion to disclose information for public interest reasons (s.20(6) ATIA)

The complainant alleged that the Privy Council Office (PCO) did not conduct a reasonable search for records related to the management of the government's parliamentary agenda. The OIC investigation found that the initial search was inadequate, as additional relevant records were located during the investigation. The Commissioner ordered PCO to provide a supplementary response to the access request.

• Reasonableness of the search conducted by the institution
• Completeness of the search for specific parliamentary agenda records
• Identification and retrieval of all responsive records

The complainant alleged that Library and Archives Canada (LAC) improperly withheld records concerning NORAD intelligence from 1958-1963, citing exemptions related to confidential information from government bodies and international affairs. During the investigation, LAC made two supplementary releases. The OIC found that while NORAD qualified as an international organization of states for the purpose of exemption 13(1)(b), not all the information LAC initially withheld met the exemption criteria. However, an order was deemed unnecessary as LAC had released further information and the remaining withheld records met the exemption requirements.

• Whether NORAD qualifies as an 'international organization of states' under subsection 13(1)(b) of the ATIA.
• Whether the withheld information was obtained in confidence from NORAD.
• Whether LAC properly applied exemptions under subsection 13(1) and subsection 15(1) of the ATIA.
• Whether LAC reasonably exercised its discretion to withhold information under subsection 13(2).