Investigation Report – FIPPA Refused Access – Executive Council
investigations & monitoring
fippa
Summary
An individual complained to our office after they made a request under The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA or the Act) to Executive Council for threat or threat assessment records involving elected officials. The public body responded that, pursuant to subsection 12(2) of FIPPA, it was refusing to either confirm or deny the existence of records containing the information requested and the requests for access were, therefore, refused.
Clauses 12(2)(a) of FIPPA is a discretionary provision. It states that the head of a public body may refuse to confirm or deny the existence of a record containing information described in section 24 (disclosure harmful to individual or public safety) or 25 (disclosure harmful to law enforcement or legal proceedings) of the Act.
Our office considered whether the requested records, if they existed, would be subject to sections 24 or 25 of FIPPA and, if so, whether a refusal to confirm or deny the existence of the requested records would be a reasonable exercise of discretion by the public body.
We concluded that, if records as requested existed, they may contain the type of information described in the exceptions. However, given the fact that it is common knowledge that elected officials are receiving threats, the decision to refuse to confirm or deny the existence of records in this case did not appear to be reasonable. As such, the complaint was supported and our office issued a recommendation to Executive Council.
The public body complied with the time limit to respond in writing to our report and recommendations. It accepted the recommendation but requested additional time to reprocess the access decision. The revised access decision was provided to the complainant on May 20, 2026, within the extended timeframe requested by the public body.
Read the full report below for details.
Case MO-03643