NORTHERN ARM, N.L. — The Town of Northern Arm got a slap on the wrist from the province’s privacy commissioner for disclosing certain personal information about a former town councillor to some residents of the town.
The case in the central Newfoundland town began last year when a town employee filed a harassment complaint against a town councillor.
As outlined in a report from the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, the town council retained an outside investigator to conduct an investigation, and the resulting report concluded the allegation was well-founded.
It also recommended that the councillor undergo anti-harassment training and that he be removed from council.
The town provided abridged copies of the report — omitting the summaries of witness interviews — to a number of residents who requested it.
The former town councillor alleged the town had breached his privacy by releasing the report to the residents, and filed a complaint with the province’s information and privacy commissioner.
The privacy commissioner found that "while the disclosure of some of the personal information of the (former town councillor) was justified in the circumstances, some other personal information (of the former town councillor) and others had been improperly disclosed, contrary to the privacy provisions of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 2015 (ATIPPA, 2015)."
The commissioner recommended that the town acknowledge the breach of privacy, submit a privacy breach report to the office, develop an appropriate privacy policy and consider privacy training for town councillors and staff.
The commissioner’s report notes that, during the course of the investigation, the town acknowledged it had breached the former councillor’s privacy, and the privacy of other people, by circulating the details of the report outside of council.
(Though, at the time, it did not file a privacy breach with the commissioner’s office, as is required.)
The commissioner’s report stated that the “full (harassment complaint report) therefore ought to have remained confidential, except to the parties and councillors, and only the minimum information necessary for the town to act on the report ought to have been disclosed to the public.”
The commissioner also pointed out that, “People who stand for public office have to expect that their actions in office are to a large extent public, and therefore are exposed to greater public scrutiny than they would be in private life. In particular, there is an obvious public accountability interest in residents being informed that an elected official has had a complaint of harassment made against him, that the complaint has been investigated and that the town has taken action in response to recommendations in the investigation report. The public interest in accountability outweighs any loss of privacy that might be required by the disclosure of the minimum necessary information to fulfil that purpose.”
The commissioner concluded in this case that there is no evidence that the disclosures by the town were made maliciously or with any improper intent.
“People who stand for public office have to expect that their actions in office are to a large extent public, and therefore are exposed to greater public scrutiny than they would be in private life." — Newfoundland and Labrador Information and Privacy Commissioner Michael Harvey
“Rather, a lack of training and experience appears to have been the main contributors to this privacy breach and the failure of the town to report it to this office. Under the circumstances the development of a privacy policy, and undertaking privacy training for councillors and staff, are appropriate remedies.
“Many smaller municipalities in Newfoundland and Labrador do an admirable job of providing municipal services despite their size and modest resources. However, smaller bodies often have very little experience with access and privacy matters. It can easily happen that a town does not clearly think through the privacy implications associated with conducting a harassment investigation or other internal matters, particularly where it may be the first one they have faced. Other towns, then, may find themselves in similar circumstances to the Town of Northern Arm. We hope that this report might help illustrate some things that other towns might keep in mind when undertaking investigations and deciding what information to disclose.”
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