The Act became effective June 10, 2006.
No. The Act is in addition to and does not replace existing procedures for access to information or records. It should be seen as an instrument of last resort.
The Act allows for the delegation of responsibility for different aspects of the Act, including the final decision to release or not to release information. The University must ensure that the final decisions are made in a consistent and co-ordinated manner within the time constraints imposed by the Act. The final decision to release or not to release information rests with the President and the Senior Management. The President has designated the Freedom of Information Coordinator as the authority up to that point.
Criteria for releasing information by the University that were established before the Act came into effect must now be integrated with the legislation. The University must release information unless the Act specifically provides that all or some of the requested information be exempted from disclosure. Therefore, the University will undertake to actively disseminate routinely releasable information. The Freedom of Information Coordinator will assist faculties, departments and units in determining whether records can be released under traditional University criteria.
The Act is in addition to and does not replace existing procedures for access to information of records. A request for information that cannot be answered through existing procedures may becomes a formal access request. A formal access request received anywhere on campus will be directed to the Freedom of Information Coordinator. Please see the Access Procedure for details.
Under the Act the applicant must be provided with a notice indicating:
- Whether access to the requested record or part of it is granted or refused;
- If access is to be granted to the record, or part of it, where, when and how access will be given;
- If access is refused, the reason for the refusal and the provision of the Act on which this is based,
- The name and location of the Freedom of Information Coordinator who can explain the reasons for the refusal and;
- The name and contact information of the Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario if the applicant asks for a review of the decision.
Yes. The University must indicate the Act's section numbers that are being relied on to deny access or the section number for those portions of the record that are severed. With respect to severed records, the section numbers must be specified in the space remaining after severing, or in the margin of the record. Where one or more pages have been removed, the number of pages that have been severed and an explanation of the applied exemptions must be explicitly stated. The Freedom of Information Coordinator will co-ordinate the severing process.
Yes, all records in the custody and control of the University regardless of media or subject or location are covered by the Act. These include records in the offices of University employees. To ensure that University-wide issues concerning records collection, creation, use, and disposal are dealt with in a systematic fashion, the University has created records management guidelines for use by all staff.
Personal information is defined as any recorded information about an identifiable individual, including but not restricted to:
- Ethnic origin, race, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, etc.
- Information regarding education, financial, employment, medical, psychiatric, psychological or criminal history;
- Identifying numbers such as social insurance number;
- Home address, home telephone number, etc.;
- Personal opinions of, or about, an individual;
- Personal correspondence; and
- The individual's name where it appears with or reveals other personal information