If you don’t receive a response to your Request for Information, or you feel that the response is, for some reason incomplete or there are other issues with the response you receive, you may ask the Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) to review the response.
You may ask the IPC to review any decision, act or failure to act by the public body that relates to your access request or request for correction to your personal information or if you believe that a public body has improperly collected, used or disclosed your personal information.
If you have been notified by a public body that they are considering disclosing information about you or your business to a third party applicant, you may ask the IPC to review that decision.
If you have asked that a public body correct your personal information and they fail or refuse to do so, you may ask the IPC to review that decision.
To ask for a review of any of these matters:
- you must do so in writing, either on a complaint form or just by means of a letter or filling out the form, which you can get on this website. While the IPC will accept a complaint by email, she will require that the complaint be perfected by providing a letter or form with your signature.
- Your request for a review must be made within 30 days after you have been notified of the decision by the public body’s response to your Request for Information. If you are submitting a Request for Review more than 30 days after you have the public body’s response, you should provide reasons as to why the IPC should allow you a longer time to deliver your request.
- If you are requesting a review of a public body’s decision to release your information to an applicant, you must complete and submit a Request for Review to the IPC within 30 days after being notified by a public body of its decision to disclose. The IPC has no power to allow you a longer period than 30 days to submit a request for review.
- There is no time limit for asking for a review of an improper collection, use or disclosure of personal information.
- The IPC does not generally accept requests for review or complaints via email, but may do so on the condition that signed copies of the request are mailed or delivered to her office.
The IPC may take steps to attempt to resolve the issue informally, but it this is not successful, she will collect all of the necessary information from both the public body and the applicant or complainant, prepare and report and make recommendations, which will then be presented to the head of the public body for consideration. If the public body chooses not to comply with the recommendations of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, the Applicant seeking records from the public body has a right to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories. There is no appeal from the decision of a public body with respect to a breach of privacy complaint.
Inquiries/Reviews
If you need more information about how to ask the Information and Privacy Commissioner to conduct a review, please contact our office.