The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC) will ask the courts April 1 to remove an order that suspends Laurentian University’s obligations to respond to freedom of information requests while it’s still undergoing insolvency restructuring.
Laurentian declared insolvency Feb. 1, 2021, applying for creditor protection, among other relief, under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).
The university’s insolvency restructuring is still underway more than a year later, with the courts extending creditor protection earlier this year until May 31.
The stay of Laurentian’s obligations under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) was initially granted by the courts under Laurentian’s CCAA application Feb. 11, 2021.
The IPC did not initially take a position for Laurentian’s request for a FIPPA stay. Laurentian subsequently sought, and was granted, three extensions of the FIPPA stay.
At a Jan. 27 hearing, the IPC advised the courts that it opposed the latest extension of the FIPPA stay, and following the direction of the court, has brought forward a formal motion on the matter.
The privacy commissioner said there is insufficient evidence to support the continuation of the FIPPA stay.
A factum filed by the IPC said that the only evidence given by Laurentian in support of the continued FIPPA stay are found in an affidavit filed by LU president Robert Haché.
Haché said staff are working on “multiple time sensitive work streams,” including the auditor general’s audit, and do not have further capacity to satisfy FIPPA requests.
However, there are currently only four outstanding FIPPA requests. Those include two requests for information about Laurentian’s decision to close its swimming pool, one request for information of an academic or research nature and one request for information about Laurentian’s nursing department.
The first two of those requests were made prior to the stay of FIPPA requests at Laurentian in February 2021, and the last two have been made since that time.
“There is no evidence that responding to any of these four requests would result in an unreasonable burden on Laurentian,” said the IPC’s factum.
The prediction made by Laurentian over a year ago in its initial application for creditor protection — that it would be deluged by FIPPA requests during the restructuring process — has simply not come to pass, argues the privacy commissioner.
The privacy commissioner also said in its factum that access rights under FIPPA, which is a valid provincial law, continue to apply to insolvent parties who are undergoing CCAA restructuring.
That’s “unless a finding of federal paramountcy is made” (the CCAA is a federal law), but “there has been no such finding made in these CCAA proceedings.”
“The obligations of public institutions such as Laurentian to respond to FIPPA requests should be at least on par with an insolvent’s ongoing obligations to comply with other important statutory duties, such as legislated health and safety or environmental provisions,” the privacy commissioner added.
Laurentian University’s responding factum to the IPC’s request has not yet been loaded to the website dedicated to documents related to its CCAA restructuring.
