This review was heard by the office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for Prince Edward Island.
The Applicant requested access to information, pursuant to s. 7 of Prince Edward Island’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPP Act). These requests pertained to the Environmental Advisory Council, the work of a company involved in a wetland awareness campaign, and the Watercourse and Wetland Regulations of the Environmental Protection Act. The Department of Communities, Land and Environment provided only partial access to these records. In turn, the Applicant sought a review of the decision, claiming that the Department did not fulfill its duty to assist.
There are two main issues in this review:
1. Was the duty to assist fulfilled, pursuant to subs. 8(1) of the FOIPP Act?
2. Did the Department properly apply subs. 14(1) of the FOIPP Act when deciding to refuse to disclose information?
The Commissioner found that the Department fulfilled its duty to assist the applicant in most respects, because the standard expected is a reasonable search, not a perfect search. However, the Department did not conduct a timely search of an email archive and did not openly communicate with the applicant regarding the issue.
The Commissioner also found that s. 14 did not apply to the withheld information and ordered the Department to provide access to the applicant. Given that the duty to assist was fulfilled in part, the Commissioner ordered the refund of one half the fees paid by the Applicant for the information request.
View the Decision on CanLII: 2017 CanLII 49927 (PE IPC) | Prince Edward Island (Communities, Land and Environment) (Re) | CanLII
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