Personal emails stored on workplace computers are not covered by access to information laws, an Ontario judge has ruled.
In overturning a decision of the province’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, which granted an Ottawa resident access to the personal emails of a city solicitor, Madame Justice Anne Molloy said the purpose of Ontario’s access to information laws is not to provide unfettered access to any document within a government office, but rather “to enhance democratic values by providing its citizens with access to government information.”
“It can be confidently predicted that any government employee who works in an office setting will have stored, somewhere in that office, documents that have nothing whatsoever to do with his or her job, but which are purely personal in nature,” the judge wrote.
The case arose from a 2007 request by John Dunn to the City of Ottawa for all emails sent by the executive director of the Children’s Aid Society to various CAS personnel, including Rick O’Connor, since February of that year.
Mr. O’Connor, the judgment says, volunteers as a board member with CAS, and his position there is entirely unrelated to his job as city solicitor. He kept correspondence relating to the CAS in a separate folder on the city’s email server.
Ontario law states that residents may access records “under the control” of public institutions, with certain exceptions. Judge Molloy decided the City of Ottawa did not have “control” of the files.
“The Children’s Aid Society is not an agency subject to freedom of information legislation,” she wrote. “Mr. O’Connor, in his personal capacity, is also not subject to having his personal documents seized and passed over to any member of the public who requests them.”
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