The yawning black hole that can be P.E.I.'s access to information system
CBC
In October of 2020, CBC News filed a freedom of information request with the P.E.I. government seeking an investigation report from the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission on the transfer of land between Brendel Farms and Red Fox Acres Ltd., a company controlled by members of the Irving family.
At issue: Had a Prince Edward Island law meant to prevent any one corporation or person from acquiring too much land been bypassed?
The minister of land at the time, Bloyce Thompson, took the unusual step of seeking an official opinion from P.E.I.'s privacy commissioner on whether the Brendel lands report could be made public.
The official verdict: It could, if a freedom of information request were made.
But on March 12, 2021, the province told CBC News a third party had requested a review from the privacy commissioner on the release of the information the public broadcaster had requested.
More than 22 months later, that review has not been completed, and the information has not been released to the public.
This is just one in a growing list of access requests that have been held up awaiting reviews — in this case and others, for years — with most of those reviews coming at the request of third parties.
While applicants aren't told who's behind a request for review when the information they ask for is delayed, in some of these cases it's possible — or even likely — the third party seeking a review is the group or corporation contracted by the government to provide a specific service.
In April 2022, CBC News requested copies of documents submitted by Island EMS to the Department of Health regarding the ambulance service. That request has been sent for a third-party review.
In June, we asked for records sent to the Department of Education from the non-profit group operating the province's school lunch program. This was after the lunch program's website was taken down with little explanation in May. Thousands of Island families had been paying up to $5 per meal for their kids through the website.
The release of that information has also been delayed by a request for review by a third party.
Ken Rubin is a researcher and freedom of information advocate who's filed thousands of requests all across the country, including in P.E.I.
He said P.E.I.'s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act needs to be updated so that groups that provide publicly funded services are included – rather than being considered outside parties with the ability to delay or even prevent information from being released.
"Information is squirreled away in places that is really public data… and it's no longer publicly available," said Rubin.
