Canadian privacy & access decisions

The complainant alleged that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) improperly withheld information under section 17 (safety of individuals) and subsection 19(1) (personal information) of the Access to Information Act. The request sought communications between specific CBC and Twitter employees since January 1, 2018. During the investigation, the CBC released some information previously withheld under subsection 19(1) and section 17, but also applied subsection 16(2) (facilitating the commission of an offence) to some remaining information. The Commissioner found that the CBC failed to demonstrate how disclosing the name and contact information of an information security team member would reasonably be expected to facilitate an offence, especially since some of this information was publicly available. Regarding section 17, while acknowledging that psychological harm could fall under the exemption, the Commissioner concluded that the CBC did not show the harm went beyond distress or that there was a reasonable expectation of harm if the information, including names and Twitter handles of journalists, were disclosed. The Commissioner ordered the CBC to disclose the information withheld under subsection 16(2) and section 17. The CBC notified the Commissioner that it would implement the order.

• Whether s.16(2) facilitating the commission of an offence was properly applied to the name and contact information of a CBC employee
• Whether there was a clear and direct linkage between disclosure and the alleged harm under s.16(2)
• Whether the information met the requirements of s.16(2)
• Whether s.17 safety of individuals was properly applied to the names and Twitter handles of CBC journalists
• Whether psychological harm is encompassed by s.17
• Whether the CBC demonstrated a reasonable expectation of harm under s.17 for journalists' identifying information
• Whether s.17 safety of individuals was properly applied to the name and contact information of a non-journalist CBC employee
• Whether the CBC demonstrated a reasonable expectation of harm under s.17 for the non-journalist employee's identifying information