Section 71.1 - Minister May Establish Categories of Records Available Without Request

• Overview
• Section Reference 
• Summary 
• Procedure 
• Sectional Index of Commissioner's Orders 
• Return to Manual Table of Contents 

Overview 

This section enables the minister responsible for FOIPPA to establish categories of records appropriate for routine release by government ministries. 

Section Reference 

Section 71.1 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act 

71.1 (1) Subject to subsection (2), the minister responsible for this Act may establish categories of records that are in the custody or under the control of one or more ministries and are available to the public without a request for access under this Act. 

(2) The minister responsible for this Act must not establish a category of records that contain personal information unless the information 

(a) may be disclosed under section 33, or 

(b) would not constitute, if disclosed, an unreasonable invasion of the personal privacy of the individual the information is about. 

(3) Section 22 (2) to (4) applies to the determination of unreasonable invasion of personal privacy under subsection (2) (b) of this section. 

(4) The minister responsible for this Act may require one or more ministries to disclose a record that is within a category of records established under subsection (1) of this section or section 71 (1). 

(5) If required to disclose a record under subsection (4), a ministry must do so in accordance with any directions issued relating to the disclosure by the minister responsible for this Act. 

(6) The head of a public body may sever from a record made available under this section any information the head of the public body would be entitled under Part 2 of this Act to refuse to disclose to an applicant. 

(7) If information is severed from a record, the record must include a statement of 

(a) the fact that information has been severed from the record, 

(b) the nature of the information severed from the record, and 

(c) the reason for severing the information from the record. 

Summary 

Sections 70 and 71 of FOIPPA establish obligations for public bodies to routinely release certain types of records. Section 71.1 adds the ability for the minister responsible for FOIPPA to direct routine release by ministries. 

These ministerial powers are limited to government ministries and cannot be used in relation to non-ministry public bodies. Unlike sections 70 and 71, no fees can be charged for records that are released pursuant to section 71.1. 

A number of Ministerial directives have already been issued pursuant to section 71.1 and the details can be found on the webpage for proactive disclosure directives. Records that are disclosed pursuant to existing proactive disclosure directives can be found on the webpage listing Open Information resources. 

Ministerial directives do not replace any other ways that the public might obtain information in the custody or control of a public body, including FOIPPA’s access provisions. However, the exception to disclosure set out in section 20 (1) (c) would be applicable if an access request sought records that are already subject to a proactive disclosure directive.