City hiring consultant to review release of basketball team’s name to Spec
The City of Hamilton is hiring a consultant to review its own decision to release the name of a Hamilton-based basketball club at the centre of an October COVID outbreak to The Spectator.
An access-to-information expert and a privacy lawyer both say this is the first they've heard of a public body taking such a step. It appears to be the first time Hamilton has ever done so.
The move comes after The Spectator confirmed the name of the basketball team - which saw six patrons" test positive for COVID during an October 2020 outbreak - through two freedom-of-information (FOI) requests submitted in December and processed in March. Citing privacy reasons" in October, public health would mysteriously only call the team Hamilton-based basketball club," despite naming dozens of businesses, schools, long-term-care homes and other settings in outbreak.
Last week, public health - again citing privacy reasons - said it still did not want the team's name released.
When asked how this case differed from others, Hamilton's medical officer of health, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, said: The information you have received - specifically, the name of the Hamilton basketball club' ... - is, in my view, confidential and protected information, which, when combined with other known information, could reveal personal health information about identifiable individuals."
It remains unclear what the other known information" is.
The city now says it is in the process of hiring a consultant, in accordance with the city's procurement policy, who will be asked to determine the factor(s)" that led to the release of the team's name. Their work will inform recommendations" relating to the roles and responsibilities of the city and its staff as it relates to the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and Personal Health Information Protection Act," the city says.
A budget is not yet available as the city is still finalizing the scope of the review.
The club in question is Lincoln Prep, an elite, private basketball academy for high school-aged players based in Hamilton.
We are not in a position to comment on how the city handles these requests under the Freedom of Information Act," said Lincoln Prep coach Zach Angelini when asked for comment on the review. He previously said: Due to privacy concerns I have no authority to discuss personal information about any of the participants in the Lincoln Prep program about COVID-19 or any other issue."
David McKie, an Ottawa-based journalism professor with Ryerson University, Carleton University and the University of King's College and deputy managing editor of the National Observer, called the handling of this case by the city and public health bizarre."
I find it a bit odd and a bit troubling that that kind of secrecy is involved," McKie said in an interview with The Spec. I also find it odd that a third party would become a surrogate for looking into this."
McKie said this is the first time in his decades-long career, which includes 26 years working at the CBC and years teaching courses on - and writing books about - access-to-information, that he has heard of a public body taking such a step.
There is no record of such a review ever taking place in Hamilton, the city says.
Speaking to public health's decision to withhold the name initially, David Fraser, a privacy and access-to-information lawyer based in Halifax, said public bodies are likely to err on the side of caution when there exists the risk of a privacy breach.
The last thing a bureaucrat wants to be accused of invading somebody's privacy," Fraser said. No public servant has been fired for (withholding information due to privacy concerns) as far as I know, but public servants have been disciplined for invading privacy."
Withholding information doesn't necessarily suggest malice" but could suggest ignorance" of FOI laws, he said.
Still, such laws are open to interpretation.
Decisions can vary depending on the specifics of a particular situation, whether the information is personal information or personal health information, or whether the information is considered non-identifiable and therefore, not personal information at all," said the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario in an email to The Spectator. Decisions, to the extent they are discretionary, can also vary depending on how the head of an institution or custodian chooses to exercise their discretion."
As for why this one case in particular is causing such concern for Hamilton public health, it remains unclear.
Katrina Clarke is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: katrinaclarke@thespec.com