Guide to FOIP Chapter-5

Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, CHAPTER 5, Third Party Information. Updated 9 March 2023. 66 Information is about an identifiable individual if: • The individual can be identified from the information (e.g., name, where they live); or • The information, when combined with information otherwise available, could reasonably be expected to allow the individual to be identified.145 About means on the subject of or concerning.146 About an identifiable individual means the information is not just the subject of something but also relates to or concerns the subject.147 Identifiable means that it must be reasonable to expect that an individual may be identified if the information were disclosed.148 The information must reasonably be capable of identifying particular individuals because it either directly identifies a person or enables an accurate inference to be made as to their identity when combined with other available sources of information (data linking) or due to the context of the information in the record.149 FOIP uses the words “person” and “individual” in various sections of the Act. Each word has different meanings. Subsection 24(1) of FOIP uses “individual”. Individual means natural persons (human beings).150 Use of the word individual in this provision makes it clear that the protection provided relates only to a natural person or 145 Adapted from Government of Manitoba, FIPPA for Public Bodies – Resource Manual, Chapter 2, Scope of FIPPA – Who and What Falls under FIPPA at p. 44. Available at https://www.gov.mb.ca/fippa/public_bodies/resource_manual/pdfs/chap_2.pdf. Accessed on April 24, 2020. 146 Pearsall, Judy, Concise Oxford Dictionary, 10th Ed. at p. 4, (Oxford University Press). 147 Canada (Information Commissioner) v. Canada (Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board), 2006 FCA 157 (CanLII), [2007] 1 FCR 203. Also see the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada resource, PIPEDA Interpretation Bulletin: Personal Information, 2013, available at https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/privacy-topics/privacy-laws-in-canada/the-personal-information-protectionand-electronic-documents-act-pipeda/pipeda-compliance-help/pipeda-interpretationbulletins/interpretations_02/. 148 ON IPC Order PO-1880, upheld on judicial review in Ontario (Attorney General) v. Pascoe, [2002] O.J. No. 4300 (C.A.). See also SK OIPC Review Report LA-2013-001 at [57]. 149 Originated and adapted from BC IPC Order P14-03 at [16]. 150 Garner, Bryan A., 2019. Black’s Law Dictionary, 11th Edition. St. Paul, Minn.: West Group at pp. 924, 1238 and 1378.

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