Who do our privacy laws protect?
Exceptions | Provincial government cites privacy concerns on request for public servants' salaries
The legislation is intended to protect the public from having personal information distributed or used in ways other than why it was collected.
But can privacy laws also protect governments from releasing potentially controversial or embarrassing information?
Absolutely, say those familiar with Canadian privacy laws.
"Often governments will throw out the privacy act really just to hide what they don't want the public to see," said John Williamson of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
This week, provincial government officials cited privacy concerns on three separate occasions as the reason for why information on public servants' salaries couldn't be released.
Also, federally, Transport Canada has said privacy concerns prevent it from releasing the entire report on the crash in Bathurst that claimed the lives of seven students and one teacher.
"The Liberals are forgetting government is meant to serve taxpayers and not the other way around," said Williamson. "Anything the province does on behalf of taxpayers can be made, and should be made, available to taxpayers. There's no reason why a government would want to cover it unless they just feel they don't want to inform taxpayers." Protecting personal information is also one of the most common reasons given by the federal government when denying an individual's request for information under the Freedom of Information Act.
In Ottawa, the federal information commissioner receives complaints from individuals who were denied government information. The majority of complaints received by the office over the past three years were from people who were told privacy legislation prevented the information from being released.
"It sounds very Orwellian - we're going to use privacy to protect the interests of taxpayers?" said Williamson. "Come one, they're using the privacy laws here to shield themselves from criticism down the road if, in fact, they're doing something the taxpayers are not going to agree with." Privacy laws can be complex for those individuals sifting through the documents to determine whether information should be made available.
However, there are some clear guidelines, said Lisa Campbell, senior counsel with legal services in the federal Office of the Privacy Commissioner.
Essentially, the federal privacy act says personal information collected by government shall not be shared beyond government, she said.
However, there are some exceptions. For example, the exact salary of a civil servant is considered personal information, although the salary range is not, said Campbell.
There are also concerns from citizens who say too much personal information is made available. For example, decisions issued by federal tribunals include the full names of those involved and are posted on the Internet, allowing anyone to search an individual's name and personal information. The privacy commissioner is recommending the decisions state the initials of the individuals involved, said Campbell.
"There are ways of releasing information that do it without violating someone's privacy," she said, adding the legislation is "completely outdated." But some argue privacy laws should include more exemptions for releasing information about the public service.
"People who are working in the public service do not have a right to privacy about what they do on their job or how much they're paid," said Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch. "It's called the public service for a reason. Unfortunately governments across the country are using the excuse of privacy laws to hide key information that the public needs to know about everyone in the government."
Governments must protect citizens' public information while still being accountable and transparent to the public, said David Fraser, a privacy lawyer with the Atlantic Canadian law firm McInnes-Cooper.
For example, the expenses for a cabinet minister's trip to Europe would likely be made public. However, a doctor's billing records, which would essentially reveal their salary, are only made available in some provinces, he said.
And although some form of privacy legislation has existed federally for quite some time, that doesn't mean the laws regulate every activity on the internet.
"It regulates commercial activities. So it says what information your bank can ask about you and what it can do with it, or your local video store," said Fraser. "But if an individual takes a picture of another person on their camera phone in embarrassing circumstances and then they post it on the Internet that's a personal use, not a commercial use, so that's not caught by that law." There are some circumstances where personal information can be released. For example, if an individual gives consent. As well, personal information can be disclosed if it's deemed to be for the greater good of the public.
"I think people, just as a knee-jerk reaction, they say no - it's personal information," said Fraser.
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