What are Hamiltonians asking for via FOI? We can’t tell you.
The documents could expose wrongdoing. They could lead to scandal. Or they could be nothing.
Whatever the files hold, you can't see them. Neither can we.
The documents in question are freedom-of-information (FOI) requests submitted to the City of Hamilton from January 2019 to May 2021. The Spectator filed an FOI through Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA) legislation asking for records of FOIs, including who filed them with the city, what information they asked for, and if the information was granted or denied.
The request was only partially granted. The who" and the what" remain unclear.
The city responded to The Spectator's request with already-publicly available aggregate data from 2019 and 2020.
The 2019 data - provided in a chart - only identifies FOI-submitters as media," business," individual/public," etc.
The general description" of what each individual or organization asked for is limited to animal," property," law enforcement," etc.
In 2019, a total of 261 requests came in and 185 were completed. In 2020, a total of 194 requests came in and 167 were completed.
Asked why more information wasn't released, Lisa Barroso from the city clerk's office said: A requester's identity and their request is filed with a reasonable expectation of confidentiality."
Three privacy experts say the contents of such requests can - and should - be made public.
Once that information is out there, then it should be ... made available to the public," said Ann Cavoukian, Ontario's former information and privacy commissioner. I don't know why they couldn't release the actual information."
Still, Cavoukian thinks the name of the person or organization that filed the request should remain private. It's nobody's business who is asking for what, and making someone's name public could deter others from filing FOIs, she said.
But the contents of such requests could still be released without identifying anyone, she said.
Halifax-based privacy lawyer David Fraser agrees.
The Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act applies to any record in the custody or control of the municipality," Fraser said. This includes FOI requests. You should be able to say, I would like a copy of every application ... and redact out the identifying information relating to the applicant,' and they should be able to release that."
He points out there's a compelling case for public bodies to release more information: it makes life easier for everyone.
Fraser gave the example of someone filing an FOI asking the city for its vehicle maintenance records. If Fraser were later looking for similar information, without knowing that someone already asked for it, he'd have to file a separate request and pay a fee. If he knew the information had already been sourced, paid for and released to someone else, he could just ask the city for that information and - presumably - not pay a fee. (Fees can reach upwards of hundreds of dollars, depending on what you're looking for.)
It's unclear how the city handles post-release requests.
Staff are bound by the (MFIPPA) legislation and depending on the content may not have consent to release the documents publicly and may need to reobtain consent to release the documents for further requests," said Sarah Ghandour, a city spokesperson.
Other jurisdictions do things much differently.
In Nova Scotia, the province publicly discloses the FOI requests when it receives them, and it makes public the information released as a result of the FOI (after a 14-day delay to give the applicant time to review the information). The federal government also publishes FOI summaries.
The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC) is in fact calling on government bodies within Ontario to follow Nova Scotia's lead.
The IPC believes that government organizations in Ontario should take steps, as have other Canadian jurisdictions, to publish summaries of access requests and make available records already released under access to information - with applicable redactions and without disclosing the identity of requesters, of course," said an IPC spokesperson in an email to The Spec.
By publishing summaries of completed access requests and providing copies of redacted decision letters, public organizations can reduce time, cost, and effort associated with access requests for both themselves and requesters. More fundamentally, government can enable greater openness, accountability, civic engagement, and public trust of its citizenry ..."
Could Hamilton's FOI disclosure one day mirror Nova Scotia's? Maybe.
This is something we may consider and regularly review what others are doing in the areas of freedom of information requests to ensure we are balancing information access and the privacy of the requester," Ghandour said.
Arthur Schafer, director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba, says public bodies' default position" should always be one of openness and transparency.
Everything that can be disclosed should be," he said.
Katrina Clarke is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: katrinaclarke@thespec.com