Opening up

Liberal government tables changes to Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to include post-secondary schools and some municipalities

P.E.I.’s post-secondary schools and its four biggest municipalities could end up covered under the province’s privacy law, thanks to legislation the government tabled Tuesday.

Justice Minister Jordan Brown tabled amendments to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act that would see those groups fall under the provincial legislation.

Brown said the government went through a consultation process before changing the act.

“We are actively implementing, effectively, the recommendations from that consultation process,” he said.

P.E.I. stood out in recent years with freedom of information legislation that did not include post-secondary schools or municipalities.

Some of the voices calling for change included privacy commissioner Karen Rose, UPEI’s student union, CUPE members at the university and UPEI’s faculty association.

UPEI and Holland College instituted their own access to information and privacy protection policies in recent years, but they weren’t entrenched in legislation, they cost more to make requests and there was no independent appeal process.

The Federation of P.E.I. Municipalities also took recent steps to develop an open municipal government toolkit to help develop more open practices.

With the legislation tabled Tuesday, UPEI, Holland College and College de L’Ile would be made designated educational bodies under the FOIPP Act.

The legislation would also make Charlottetown, Cornwall, Stratford and Summerside designated municipalities.

Under the proposed changes, municipalities could refuse to disclose information if it could be expected to reveal a draft to a resolution or bylaw.

Information that comes from an in-camera meeting of a public body could also be withheld if it could be expected to reveal the substance of deliberations of the meeting.

The amendments would go into effect April 19, 2019, and wouldn’t be retroactive.

The bill’s future, however, is unclear if it isn’t passed in the legislature this spring.

Although not all municipalities are included in the bill, further municipalities could be added in the act’s regulations.

“We don’t want to be heavyhanded in terms of municipalities that would not have the resources to carry the full brunt of this legislation, but we do want to ensure that both the freedom of information and the protection of privacy are paramount principles to municipalities,” he said.

There will be requirements for that under the Municipal Government Act, Brown said.

As for the costs associated with complying with the FOIPP Act, Brown said municipalities and post-secondary schools already get significant resources from the province.

“So, there’s an expectation that when you see that there would be a corresponding responsibility with it.”

Brown said the legislation wasn’t made retroactive in order to give the affected bodies time to deal with the change because of the need for resources and trained staff.

“This is not something that you just flip a switch and you have the capacity to do,” he said.