Latest news with #FreedomofInformationandProtectionofPrivacyAct
Global News
2 days ago
- Business
- Global News
‘Denied and obfuscated': Ford government forced to release Eglinton LRT, Ontario Line emails
The Ford government has been ordered to release seemingly innocuous emails containing an outdated schedule for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT and details of construction work on the Ontario Line, which it has fought for years not to make public. Since the summer of 2023, Global News has been trying to obtain access to emails between former Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster and Premier Doug Ford's chief of staff, Patrick Sackville, using freedom of information laws. The government refused to disclose six months' worth of messages between the pair covering the first half of 2023. It argued that the messages contained economically sensitive information and advice to the government, among other reasons. Releasing them, Ontario claimed, could lead to economic harm, make it harder to enter into new contracts and disincentivize staff from providing frank advice to politicians. Story continues below advertisement A lengthy freedom of information appeal followed. During that process, Global News confirmed Sackville had lost months' worth of texts after resetting his cellphone. Global News also agreed to only pursue a portion of the messages between the two men to speed up the hearings. The appeal ended, after close to two years, with the Information and Privacy Commission ordering the government to release several pages of withheld messages. A spokesperson for the premier's office said decisions on what to release and what not to are made by non-political staff. 'Non-partisan public officials apply exemptions to records as applicable under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act,' they wrote in a statement. 'As noted in the decision, the adjudicator did uphold the application of exemptions in this appeal.' The ruling said the government was right to withhold one of seven pages. It was ordered to release the other six. Duff Conacher, the co-founder of the advocacy group Democracy Watch, said he believes that governments use the lengthy appeal process to slow the release of unflattering information. 'Anyone in government knows the freedom of information system can easily be played through the exemptions and loopholes and complaint process to drag out and keep things secret for two, three years — even longer,' he said. Story continues below advertisement Eglinton Crosstown LRT schedule One of the documents the government fought for almost two years to keep secret is a grainy cellphone photograph of an outdated schedule for the completion of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Parts of the schedule are illegible in the image, which Verster emailed to Sackville in the spring of 2023. The schedule, titled 'T- Schedule,' looks to be a draft from June 15, 2023. At the bottom of the schedule, one line is titled 'final occupancy,' which appears to indicate completion of the project. The date listed is Sept. 12, 2023. A spokesperson for Metrolinx said the final occupancy would be a key milestone but does not necessarily indicate a full opening of the line. 'Construction partners set target schedules for their work, however the outcomes of testing and commissioning ultimately decide an opening date,' they said in a statement. Story continues below advertisement The government has recently said it is hoping the Eglinton Crosstown LRT will be open in September 2025. Two years after the date listed in the draft document. View image in full screen A draft schedule for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT from June 2023. 1 In order to block the release of the schedule, Ontario argued that making the image public could harm the economy. The adjudicator who ordered its release disagreed. 'I note that the proposed schedule at page 70 of record 1 is from 2023 and it has been well known for many years that the ECLRT opening is behind schedule,' the adjudicator's decision said. 'I have no evidence that the publicly available information about the delayed opening of the ECLRT has hindered Cabinet Office or Metrolinx in their ability to enter contracts for other transit projects.' James Turk, the director of the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University, said the long fight to withhold the documents was indicative of the government's approach to sharing information. Story continues below advertisement 'It's fairly consistently a government that is opposed to any reasonable standard of transparency,' he said. 'It often will claim differently, but when you look at its actions — there are untold media requests for information that are obstructed or denied or obfuscated.' Ontario Line sidewalk complications The second document released to Global News through the appeal appears to be a similarly mundane email from Verster to Sackville. The communication is dated April 21, 2023, with the subject line, 'Unforeseen structural stuff at Hudson Bay store.' It was sent by Verster to a number of high-ranking officials, including Sackville, the chief of staff at transportation and Ontario's top civil servant. 'Just to give you a real and practical sense of why these transit projects has (sic) so much unpredictability,' Verster wrote. He attached a series of photographs showing that tunnelling operations for the Ontario Line around Bay and Queen streets in Toronto had encountered issues. Specifically, he raised concerns about a false floor holding up the sidewalk outside the Hudson Bay Store. Story continues below advertisement 'We have paused work to ensure the pavement (see pdf) stays in place and will now find a new way to support the pavement and continue excavation,' he added. An image sent by Phil Verster to explain construction snags with the Ontario Line. 1 Releasing that email — the government and Metrolinx had argued — could also come with economic repercussions. The adjudicator rejected the claim. 'Neither Cabinet Office nor Metrolinx have provided sufficient evidence to show how the actual information in the email in record 2 or the specific details in the attached photographs… could reasonably be expected be injurious to the financial interests of the Government of Ontario or the ability of the Government of Ontario to manage the economy of Ontario,' the adjudicator wrote. Conacher, who reviewed the documents, said they should have been released two years ago, without the need for an appeal. Story continues below advertisement 'I don't see a reason why they would have been redacted because they're just showing information about a delayed construction project and some reasons for the delay,' he said, 'which is information the public has a right to know.'
Calgary Herald
16-06-2025
- Calgary Herald
Former 911 operator pleads guilty to provincial offences in connection with data breaches
Former Calgary 911 operator Marian Buonincontri was handed a total of $30,000 in fines Monday for violating a provincial privacy act over breaches of police databases. Article content Buonincontri, 59, was scheduled to stand trial on three criminal charges, including breach of trust by a public officer, but as a result of her guilty pleas to charges under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, Justice Karen Molle dismissed those allegations. Article content Article content Article content According to a statement of facts, drafted by Crown prosecutor Brian Holtby and defence counsel Pat Fagan, Buonincontri unlawfully accessed the Canadian Police Information Centre database, the Calgary Police Service police record management system and the Alberta motor vehicle database. Article content Article content The statement, read into the record by Holtby, said Buonincontri worked as a civilian 911 operator from May 27, 2013, to Jan. 26, 2023. Article content 'Her duties included answering emergency and non-emergency calls, gathering critical information, and dispatching emergency services,' Holtby told Molle. Article content 'To effectively fulfil her duties, the defendant was allowed to access a number of databases through a computer system maintained by (Calgary 911 services).' Article content The CPIC database is maintained by the RCMP, the Calgary police database contains records of individuals' involvement with city law enforcement, and the motor vehicle database holds records of registered owners. Article content Article content Holtby said all three databases contained the personal information of individuals. Article content 'The defendant knew that she could access and collect personal information from these databases for the sole purpose of discharging her responsibilities as an emergency communications officer and, later, a senior communications officer,' the prosecutor said. Article content 'Between March 1, 2022, and Jan. 26, 2023, the defendant accessed personal information in the three databases . . . for purposes other than discharging her employment responsibilities. This was done multiple times. Article content 'During the same period, the defendant collected personal information she had accessed in the three databases. She did so by taking photographs of computer screens displaying personal information she had improperly accessed. The defendant did this with her personal cellphone. Multiple images of this kind were located on her cellphone after it was seized by police.'
Calgary Herald
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Calgary Herald
Alberta's new access to information rules come into effect
Alberta's new access to information rules that the province characterizes as modernizing dated legislation but critics say permit more government secrecy came into force Wednesday following the approval of four orders – in – council. Article content The Access to Information Act was first introduced by Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally last November and was passed by the legislature and received royal assent the following month. Article content Article content Article content Wednesday's orders-in-council come six months later and proclaim the new legislation into force while also setting out new regulations for the act. Article content Article content 'Access to information plays a vital role in ensuring public confidence and trust in the integrity of government institutions,' reads a statement from Nally's office. Article content 'The regulations and policies that will support the Access to Information Act will help secure that trust by demonstrating the government's open and accessible approach to handling official records and enabling and encouraging government departments to proactively disclose more information to Albertans.' Article content The act replaces the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act by splitting it into two, with the new Protection of Privacy Act also coming into force on Wednesday. Article content Nally has cited the need to overhaul the prior legislation that hadn't been updated in two decades, including by creating a new central website, Transparency Alberta, that includes information about government decisions, spending, and activities, though not a database of completed information requests as seen in other Canadian governments. Article content Article content 'We expect that the number of records available through Transparency Alberta will grow,' Nally said. Article content The new rules have been criticized as further limiting what information can be disclosed. Article content They exempt communications between political staff and ministers as not disclosable, with the regulations defining political staff as 'an employee, other than an employee appointed under the Public Service Act, who holds a position in the Office of the Premier or an office of a member of the Executive Council (cabinet).' Article content The former timeline for the government to respond to an access to information request is also extended from 30 calendar days to 30 business days.
Calgary Herald
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Calgary Herald
Sparks fly in council over bodycam bills, speed cams
There's good news — the province is picking up the tab to equip Edmonton police officers with 280 body cams and the software to operate them, after the switch from dashboard cams to body-worn cameras. Article content Article content The bad news is the city could be on the hook for a small army of 40 people to monitor them, and to redact for confidentiality issues when footage is required for the Crown or the public. Article content Article content Listening to the Edmonton Police Service annual report, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi called the bill 'shocking' and saw one more piece of evidence that the province is stiffing Edmonton taxpayers. Article content Article content 'What concerns me is that province continues to download policing cost onto municipalities. The province mandated that these officers wear body cameras, and my understanding was that they will recover the full cost. What I'm hearing today is that the back-end cost of those body cameras, we will be required — EPS will be required — to hire close to 30 to 40 people to monitor the cameras … to keep all the content together,' Sohi said. Article content Section 33C and 33B of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act authorizes the collection of information from the public. Article content The recordings are disclosed to the courts when required, but private information of third parties captured in any recording is first redacted. Article content Article content Legally, officers are not required to inform the public they are being recorded during an interaction, but they are trained to do so when they can, the EPS website said. Article content Body-worn video was mandated by the Government of Alberta in March 2023 for all police agencies. Article content About the size of a deck of cards, the camera is worn on the front of the uniform. Article content The officers activate recording with audio and video during interactions with the public 'when the nature of the interaction is known to be, or become, investigative or enforcement related in nature.' Article content When the cameras are actively recording, the officers' body-worn camera will illuminate red lights. Article content Some 35 officers on EPS' encampment response teams, community safety teams, and transit and community safety teams began wearing cameras in July 2023. Article content The EPS began servicewide implementation of body-worn video in September. In a phased approach, a total of 280 officers were outfitted in the areas of public safety unit, crime auppression branch, various patrol branches, Whyte Avenue beats, gang suppression, the commercial vehicle investigation unit and the traffic enforcement section.
Cision Canada
14-05-2025
- Health
- Cision Canada
Who do you serve, actually? National transparency groups call out Vancouver Coastal Health for restricting information during the COVID-19 pandemic
TORONTO, May 14, 2025 /CNW/ - Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), the public agency responsible for delivering community and acute care services to more than a quarter of B.C.'s population, has been selected as the 2024 recipient of the municipal Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy for its routine breaking of access to information laws during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a Sept. 2024 report, Michael Harvey, B.C.'s Information and Privacy Commissioner, found multiple examples of how the health authority failed to meet the province's standards. For example, the audit found only a quarter of public requests met the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act's 30-day response benchmark. In almost three quarters of responses, VCH failed to comply with the Act's time limits. This resulted in the agency sometimes extending the time limit without a valid reason or the agency applied an extension to respond even after the original time limit to respond had already passed. About one-third of the time, the authority did not even acknowledge a request for information was received. "The COVID-19 pandemic placed a premium on timely access to medical information to combat the virus," said Philip Tunley, a director of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE). "In a profession usually committed to informed decision-making by patients and to doing no harm, VHC miserably failed to rise to that basic challenge." In his report, Harvey acknowledged that while VCH was under unprecedented pressures during the pandemic, the audit also pointed to other more systemic problems. These included: Following a 2021 amendment to FIPPA, VCH, like other public bodies, decided to charge a $10 FOI application fee for general access requests. VCH administered this fee by only accepting payment by cheque or money order, unnecessarily exacerbating the barrier to access. The agency later changed this approach. VCH has a policy for routinely releasing certain records without the need for an FOI request, also known as proactive disclosure. However, contrary to this policy, there were instances where VCH processed requests for these records as an FOI request and charged the application fee, rather than pointing applicants to where the records were already publicly available. Further, some records that were already public were difficult to find online. VCH was particularly unresponsive to the media during this period. The average number of days it took to respond to FOI requests from the media was 116 days, peaking at 171 days in 2021/2022. Upon completion of the audit, Harvey made eight recommendations to improve VCH's compliance with B.C.'s FIPPA rules. These recommendations included expediting communication with individuals seeking information, and strengthening policies around records management. This year's Code of Silence jury also agreed to bestow a dishonourable mention to the Region of Waterloo, located in the heart of southwestern Ontario's greenbelt. Community groups and journalists have faced an up-hill battle to get access to information from the region on a controversial mega-project that will impact local farmland. The challenge of building consensus and citizen engagement in rural communities becomes impossible when responsible agencies withhold information about projects of this nature," Tunley said. The Code of Silence Awards are presented annually by the CAJ, the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University (CFE), and the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE). The awards call public attention to government or publicly-funded agencies that work hard to hide information to which the public has a right to under access to information legislation. Vancouver Fire Rescue Services (VFRS) was the recipient of the Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy in the municipal category last year for charging exorbitantly high fees for access to a fire investigation report already paid for by taxpayers. The final 2024 Code of Silence Award, for the law enforcement category, will be announced on May 28. SOURCE Canadian Association of Journalists
