Report on staff emails delayed

Watchdog has 19 active freedom-of-information appeal files on subject

- KRISTIN RUSHOWY

Ontario’s privacy watchdog says a report on the use of personal email accounts by staff conducting government business related to the Greenbelt is “not imminent,” and will only be issued after a number of freedom-of-information appeals are dealt with.

In a statement to the Star, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario said it currently has “19 active appeal files concerning requests for records related to the Greenbelt. Upon conclusion of these appeals, we plan to publish a special report on our website encapsulating our findings and providing a coherent and thoughtful summary of our conclusions and insights resulting from all 19 appeals.”

This “will not impact our normal appeal process,” the statement said, adding that “while we cannot provide a specific release date for the special report at this time, we are committed to fully completing the appeals process for the 19 current appeals. The release of the special report, as such, is not imminent.”

Privacy commissioner Patricia Kosseim confirmed that work is underway on the report in a May 21 letter to NDP Leader Marit Stiles, who has formally raised concerns about the use of private emails or the use of code words to evade freedom-of-information requests.