Week Two

Week two started off on a liberating note. It was liberating because on Tuesday my phone and computer was setup at my workstation and it made my work a lot simpler and efficient. I was able to type up my work plan that I had discussed with Charlotte my first week. After, we discussed how to improve my work plan and most importantly how my work schedule could highlight a detailed roadmap, including specifics of the design and development process, for the surveillance policy. I also got some cues from Charlotte as how to use a Gantt chart (Note, I have never used a Gantt chart before). I did email Meaghan and Karsten at the Lab and Beyond office to inform them about my unfamiliarity with using a Gantt chart. Workplan

With my computer handy, I got to surf the FOIP site to examine some incidents reports by the Commissioner. It was intriguing and insightful, to say the least, as to the findings reported by the Commissioner. Some reports expressed deep concerns about the use of personal information by law enforcement, public bodies and even employers; yet at the same time, the adjudicator in some of the cases supported how these bodies used personal information. Or one can describe the use as “misuse” because, in some cases, the adjudicator couldn’t simply give a definitive response. It is for this reason; I found some of these incident reports intriguing.

I examined the annual FOIP report by Alberta’s Service Minister. The report highlighted some significant achievements by the FOIP and how FOIP is been continually upgraded to ensure that access and privacy matters are taken seriously in the province. An interesting fact about FOIP in 2010 is that the majority of access requests were by individuals and business. Individuals wanted information on themselves. As well, municipalities and local public bodies saw a jump of 10% in the number of access request from 2009 to 2010. This indicates an increasing trend by the general public, individuals in this case, in requesting information. This increase should be of significance to municipalities. The importance should be reflected in municipalities having a healthy FOIP department to handle these inquiries and not taking access request lightly.

Another interesting fact about the FOIP Incident reports is there was high number of big institutions who were found violating the FOIP Act. I found that quiet alarming because these were institutions we tend to uphold as being adherent to the law, but apparently it was the contrary.

I examined surveillance policies by various school boards, health institutions, and various local government bodies. There were FAQs about municipal bodies which included, but not limited to these questions, “which municipalities are subject to the FOIP act”, “which records of the municipalities are subject to the FOIP”, “what the definition for a record is”, and so on. These FAQs did provide some clarity as to how municipalities operate in accordance with the FOIP and their obligations in fulfilling aspects of the FOIP Act. A municipality could be investigated by the privacy commissioner if it failed to manage its records properly and did not have a bylaw to administer the destruction of a record.

CBC also had some interesting articles on the City of Calgary when the city decided to install surveillance in its downtown. Not only was it an expensive project for the city, but it also showed how balancing privacy and public safety could sometimes be tenuous. It is for such reasons why it is important to have a FOIP act that helps municipalities draw a line between what is lawful and a violation.

I got to attend two meetings this week. They included a council meeting and the Solid Waste Education Planning meeting. At the council meeting I witnessed how the council deliberated on issues and how they voted. As well, the body language of councilors was worth noticing, as it gave some cues if they were going to respond or not. At the council meeting I got to know how the municipality works with the county of Camrose to provide some services to the county residents. This is an area I would like to know more about. Hopefully, I would find some interesting council meetings to attend in the coming weeks. My hope is to gain as much familiarity and understanding about city council deliberations. The Solid Waste meeting discussed how to plan the kitchen and yard waste disposal event in June. What I got out of this meeting was how to coordinate municipal events such as these, and also staff addressing the concerns that volunteers for the program might have.

References
FOIP Annual Report for 2009-2010 http://www.servicealberta.ca/foip/documents/foip2010.pdf
Frequently asked questions about municipalities
http://www.servicealberta.gov.ab.ca/foip/documents/faq-municipalities.pdf
Calgary tests surveillance cameras in downtown. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2009/01/13/cgy-cameras-calgary.html
City turns on downtown surveillance cameras. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2009/03/13/cgy-cameras-calgary.html?ref=rss