CASUAL LEGAL: Need More Time to Deal with FOIP Requests?

Need More Time to Deal with FOIP Requests?

By Sean Ward

Reynolds Mirth Richards Farmer LLP

AMSC Casual Legal Service Provider

While there are many challenges municipalities face as a result of a lack of resources or administrative support, one of the more common concerns that arises is the difficulty in responding to complex and lengthy requests for access to information under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

The Act imposes on municipalities very specific timeframes in which they must respond to a FOIP request, generally within thirty (30) days of receiving the request. Within that time, a municipality must search for any records responsive to the request, must consider any applicable exceptions including as it relates to personal information of any third parties that must be redacted from those records, and then must process the records in final form for disclosure to the applicant.

This can be a difficult timeframe to meet where the request involves hundreds or even thousands of records. Thankfully, there are some options available to municipalities struggling to meet this deadline. Firstly, the Act allows municipalities to unilaterally extend the time for up to 30 more days, in certain circumstances including where there are a large number of records or where responding within the initial 30 days would unreasonably interfere with the municipality’s operations.

Municipalities can then seek a further extension of time beyond those initial 60 days by making a request before the expiry of this period to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (the “OIPC”). That request can be made by completing a form available on the OIPC’s website. The Commissioner then has the discretion based on the particular facts of the request and the documents in issue to further extend the deadline to respond.

Although it is a discretionary decision, the OIPC has issued a Practice Note which is available on its website that identifies the factors it will consider in granting such a request. Of interest to municipalities, the Practice Note suggests that generally 500 or more pages is the threshold that will be applied to determine the large volume that may merit an extension. It is also very important to note the OIPC expressly advises that staff shortages because of holidays, personal leaves or chronic lack of resources will not justify an extension of time.

It is therefore important for municipalities to review and consider FOIP requests as soon as they are received. It can take some time to identify the scope of documents in question, and it is important to allow sufficient time to make those inquiries and get the information necessary to support any potential extension of time before missing any of the deadlines under the Act, understanding that a lack of resources or administrative support will not allow for any extensions of time.

To access AMSC’s Casual Legal Helpline, AUMA members can call toll-free to 1-888-668-9198 or email casuallegal [at] amsc.ca (casuallegal[at]amsc[dot]ca) and reach the municipal legal experts at Reynolds Mirth Richards and Farmer LLP.  For more information on the Casual Legal Service, please contact Will Burtenshaw, Director – Risk Management Services, at (780) 409-7450, or toll-free at 310-AUMA (2862) or via email at wburtenshaw [at] auma.ca (wburtenshaw[at]auma[dot]ca).  Any Regular or Associate member of the AUMA can access the Casual Legal Service. 

DISCLAIMER: This article is meant to provide information only and is not intended to provide legal advice. You should seek the advice of legal counsel to address your specific set of circumstances. Although every effort has been made to provide current and accurate information, changes to the law may cause the information in this article to be outdated.