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The Intersection of Freedom of Information, Privacy Legislation and Library Services in Canadian Jurisdictions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2016

Margo Jeske ,
Channarong Intahchomphoo ,
Emily Landriault  and
Bruno Ricardo Bioni
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Abstract

The intersection of freedom of information, privacy legislation and library services may be interpreted as the relation between two bodies (law and library) and how they influence one another directly and indirectly. This means library services can be shaped enormously by both federal and provincial freedom of information and privacy laws. We notice that there are cases in various Canadian courts involving disagreements concerning the rule of law in the fields of freedom of information and privacy with libraries. The combined effects of legislation and stronger library policies may make it more challenging for users to understand how to use shared library resources and services properly. For many libraries, this means operational policies and professional ethics codes have to be revised to strictly respect the users and employees’ confidentiality rights. The research method used for this paper included a search of relevant Canadian court cases as case studies.

Keywords

freedom of informationprivacylegislationCanada
Type
International Perspectives
Information
Legal Information Management , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , March 2016 , pp. 14 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2016. Published by British and Irish Association of Law Librarians 

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References

Footnotes

1 Whitman, Jame Q. (2004) The two western cultures of privacy: dignity versus liberty. Yale Law Journal 133(6), 1151–1221CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Parliament of Canada, C-51: http://www.parl.gc.ca/LegisInfo/BillDetails.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&billId=6842344&View=0

3 Commmunications Security Establishment, What we do and why we do it: https:// www.cse-cst.gc.ca/en/inside-interieur/what-nos

4 Liberal Party of Canada, Remarks by Liberal Party of Canada leader Justin Trudeau on Bill C-51: https:// www.liberal.ca/remarks-by-justin-trudeau-on-bill-c-51/

5 New Democratic Party of Canada, Petition: Repeal Bill C-51: http://www.ndp.ca/repeal-c-51

6 CanLII, Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, SC 2000, c 5: http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/laws/stat/sc-2000-c-5/latest/sc-2000-c-5.html

7 The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), About the OECD: http://www.oecd.org/about/

8 OECD, OECD guidelines on the protection of privacy and transborder flows of personal data: http://www.oecd.org/sti/ieconomy/oecdguidelinesontheprotectionofprivacyandtransborderflowsofpersonaldata.htm

9 Ibid

10 Ibid

11 Gellman, Robert. Fair information practices: A basic history: http://www.bobgellman.com/rg-docs/rg-FIPShistory.pdf

12 Solove, Daniel (2013) Privacy self-management and the consent dilemma. Harvard Law Review 126, at 1882.

13 The eight principles: a) Collection Limitation Principle; b) Data Quality Principle; c) Purpose Specification Principle; d) Use Limitation Principle; e) Security Safeguards Principle; f) Openness Principle; g) Individual Participation Principle; h) Accountability Principle. The principles a, c, d, e, g made express reference to the individual in order to enforce themselves the protection of their personal information.

14 Poullet, Y. (2010) “About the e-privacy directive: Towards a third generation of data protection legislation?” in Data Protection in a Profiled World.  New York, Springer Books, 2007. at 27

15 Re Parkland Regional Library (24 June 2005), F2005–003, online: AOIPC <www.oipc.ab.ca/downloads/documentloader.ashx?id=2123>.

16 Vancouver Public Library Board v Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 391 (Gulay Grievance), [2008] BCCAAA 24, 93 CLAS 16.

17 Toronto Public Library Board (Re), 2012 CanLII 38906 (ON IPC), online: OIPC <http://canlii.ca/t/fs0ls>.

18 X v Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec (10 December 2007), 06 10 38, online: QCAI <http://www.cai.gouv.qc.ca/documents/CAI_DSJ_061038de07w.pdf>.