40 dundas street west, suite 200, toronto on m5g 2h1 · procedure phase2 . 40 dundas street west,...

40 Dundas Street West, Suite 200, Toronto ON M5G 2H1 40, rue Dundas Ouest, bureau 200, Toronto ON M5G 2H1 Toll free / Sans frais : 1-800-668-8258 Phone / Tlphone : 416-979-2352 Fax / Tlcopieur : 416-979-1087 www.legalaid.on.ca

June 19, 2014

Dear

Re: Access t o Information Request

Thank you for your request for access to information, which was received in this office on May 7, 2014, along with the $5 application fee.

You requested the following records:

" Statistics from 2003 to present on the number of refugee law certificates issued, broken down by calendar year, and by certificate type, as well as statistics from 2003 to present on the number of requests for refugee law certificates refused, broken down by calendar year, by certificate type, and the grounds for refusal (i.e. merit, financial eligibility, etc.)."

Please find enclosed records for the years 2004 to the present indicating the number of certificates issued and refused as well as the reasons for the refusals.

I am responsible for this decision. You may ask for a review of this decision within 30 days of receiving this letter by writing to: The Information and Privacy Commission/Ontario, 2 Bloor Street West, Suite 1400, Toronto Ontario M4W 1A8, Telephone 1-800-387-0073.

If you decide to request a review of this decision, please provide the Commissioners office with the following: the file number listed at the beginning of this letter; a copy of this decision letter; and a copy of the original request for information you sent to our institution.

http://www.legalaid.on.ca/


In addition, you must send an appeal fee to the Commissioner's office. The appeal fee for general information is $25.00.

Yours truly, Robert W. Ward President/CEO Legal Aid Ontario

Encl.



June 19, 2014

Dear

Re: Access to Information R eq u es t



"Policy manuals or other documents setting out when refugee claims (and subsequent procedures) were/are eligible for certificates, from 2003 to present (including appendices).

Explanatory note: I realize that these have undergone many shifts over time, and I do not need to see every version. However, I would like to be able to see: (a) the general policies followed, including when major revisions occurred, and (b) the dates when particular countries (or types of claims from particular countries) were added or removed from the lists that affect the type of coverage provided or the process followed to determine eligibility."

The following records are responsive to this request:

(1) Chapter 5: Refugee and Immigration Law Coverage (from Area Office Policy Manual), dated October 2009

(2) Streamed Coded Country List - Basis of Claim List, dated January 11, 2013

(3) Streamed Coded Country List (for applications made before December 15, 2013), updated December 2012

(4) Legal Eligibility Manual -Refugee, August 4, 2005 (5) RPO Claims -Centralized Intake - Merit Screening (6) RefugeeApplications Manual-ProcedureforBasisofClaim(BOC)

coverage, ineffect February3,2014 (7) RefugeeApplications Manual-Processfor RefugeeAppeal Division

(RAD) coverage - Pilot Project, ineffect March 11,2013 (7) Refugee referralmanual-Process for referring refugee applicants to

clinicsandstaffoffices-Phase2



(8) RPO Claims - Centralized Intake -Merit Screening (9) Appendix 7 -RefugeeApplications -Country List,August 31,2003 (10)Appendix7-RefugeeApplications -CountryList-FearofPersecution, August 31, 2003 (11)Appendix 7 -RefugeeApplications - Country List, November 25, 2002 (12) Appendix 7 - Refugee Applications -Country List - Fear of Persecution, November 28, 2002


If you decide to request a review of this decision, please provide the Commissioner's office with the following: the file number listed at the beginning of this letter; a copy of this decision letter; and a copy of the original request for information you sent to our institution.


Yours truly,

Robert W. Ward President/CEO Legal Aid Ontario

Encl.



June 19, 2014

Dear

Re: Access to Information Request



"LAO's 2013 Evaluation Report of the Refugee Law Office".

Section 90(2) of the Legal Aid Services Act allows Legal Aid Ontario to disclose information received by an office or employee of LAO in the provision of legal aid services if that disclosure is authorized by the Corporation. Legal Aid Ontario is committed to transparency and public access to information within the limits of its governing legislation. In that spirit, Legal Aid Ontario publishes information on its website which is of interest to the public. It is the position of LAO that the evaluation report of the Refugee Law Office is information that would be of interest to the public. Therefore a decision has been made to post this report on the external LAO website at www.lao.on.ca in the near future.

Section 22 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) states that a head may refuse to disclose a record where the head believes on reasonable grounds that the record or the information contained in the record will be published by the institution within 90 days after the request is made or within such further time as may be necessary for printing or translating the material for the purpose of printing it. Because the 2013 evaluation report of the Refugee Law Office will be made available on LAO's public website within 90 days, the request for the disclosure of the report is refused pursuant to s.22 of FIPPA.


http://www.legalaid.on.ca/http://www.lao.on/http:www.lao.on.ca




Yours truly,




June 19, 2014

Dear




"Policy manuals or other documents setting out the internal policies followed at LAO when there is a complaint made against a member of an LAO certificate panel, from 1998 to present.

Explanatory note: I am interested in documents other than the complaints policy that is currently available on LAO's website."

-The following records are responsive to this request:

(1) Complaints Policy, approved September 15, 2002, in effect until the centralization of complaints and coordinating policy were approved by LAO's Compliance Committee on 26 June 2012.

(2) Complaints Form (3) Complaints Process-Overview (4) Complaints Process - InitialStage (5) Complaints Process-Second Stage (6) Complaints Process -Third Stage

We do not have records for the period from 1998 until 2002.






Yours truly,


Encl.



June 19, 2014

Dear




"Statistics regarding the number of complaints made against members of LAO's certificate panels, broken down by panel, and by calendar year, from 1998 to present."

Please find enclosed a response from the Complaints Department, with explanations. The statistics are based on fiscal year rather than calendar year, and the complaints are not broken down by panel.

The Complaints Department was created in 2003. Prior to that, complaints were handled by the Investigations Department. There are no statistics from the Investigations Department from 1998 to 2002.





Yours truly,


Encl.




June 19, 2014

Dear




"Statistics regarding how many lawyers have been removed from LAO's certificate panels, broken down by panel, by calendar year, and by reason of removal, from 1998 to present."

Enclosed is a table that sets out the number of lawyers removed from LAO's certificate panels from 2005 until the present. Please note that the names of the lawyers and the areas of the province in which they practised have been redacted to protect privacy.




Yours truly,




Encl.



June 19, 2014

Dear




"Statistics about the number of complaints against members of LAO's certificate panels that LAO referred to the Law Society of Upper Canada, broken down by panel, and by calendar year, from 1998 to present."

Please find enclosed a response from the Complaints Department, with explanations. The statistics are based on fiscal year rather than calendar year, and are not broken down by panel.

The Complains Department was created in 2003. Prior to that, complaints were handled by the Investigations Department. There are no statistics from the Investigations Department from 1998 to 2002.

I am responsible for this decision. You may ask for a review of this decision within 30 days of receiving this letter by writing to: The Information and Privacy Commission/Ontario, 2 Bloor Street West, Suite 1400, Toronto Ontario M4W 1A8, Telephone 1 -800-387-0073.




Yours truly,


Encl.




June 19, 2014

Dear




"Statistics regarding the number of lawyers about whom LAO has asked the Law Society of Upper Canada to conduct quality assurance audits pursuant to s.92(8) of the Legal Aid Services Act, broken down by panel, and by calendar year, from 1998 to present."

There are no records responsive to this request.




Yours truly,




June 19, 2014

Dear




''The total amount of money that LAO has reimbursed the Law Society of Upper Canada under section 92(11) of the Legal Aid Services Act, broken down by calendar year, from 1998 to present."





Yours truly,




June 19, 2014

Dear




"Copies of all records provided to the LAO Board of Directors relating to quality of counsel concerns, from 1998 to present."

I have identified records that are responsive to your request. I have concluded that this information is exempt from disclosure under section 13 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) - advice to government. Section 13(1) states that a head may refuse to disclose a record where the disclosure would reveal advice or recommendations of a public servant, any other person employed in the service of an institution or a consultant retained by an institution. It is LAO's position that records provided to the LAO Board of Directors dealing with quality of counsel concerns would fall within this exemption. None of the exemptions set out in s.13(2) would apply to the records requested.

The Supreme Court of Canada in John Doe v. Ontario (Finance), 2014 SCC 36, provided an expansive definition of the types of records that would constitute advice within the meaning of s.13 of FIPPA. The Supreme Court stated that advice can include policy options, which can range from detailed discussions, setting out the pros and cons of each option, with a set of recommendations, to a simple list of options for future consideration, without any evaluation as to their merits. The Supreme Court stated that the rationale for excluding advice or recommendations within government institutions was to preserve an effective and neutral public service so as to permit public servants to provide full, free and frank advice. The ordering of disclosure of advice given by public officials and of confidential discussions within the public service on policy options would erode government's ability to formulate and justify its policies.



It is LAO's position that this definition of advice would cover the records sought in this case, and accordingly LAO is refusing to disclose the requested records.

In the alternative, if s.13 does not apply, I have concluded that this information is subject to section 90 of the Legal Aid Services Act (LASA) and is not subject to disclosure under FIPPA for that reason.

Section 90 provides as follows:

90.(1) A member of the board of directors, an officer or employee of the Corporation, an area director, a member of an area committee, a lawyer, a service-provider or a member, officer, director or employee of a clinic, student legal aid services society or other entity funded by the Corporation shall not disclose or permit to be disclosed any information or material furnished to or received by him or her in the course of his or her duties or in the provision of legal aid services.

(2) A person referred to in subsection (1) may disclose information or allow it to be disclosed in the performance of his or her duties or in the provision of legal aid services or with the consent of the applicant or if authorized by the Corporation.

The Information and Privacy Commissioner has stated in Order P0-2994 that section 90(1) of LASA is intentionally broad and is meant to capture all types and forms of information and materials, including records that originated with or were exchanged within LAO. The records that you seek fall within this definition because they contain information that was furnished to or received by any of the enumerated persons in the course of his or her duties or in the provision of legal aid services.

Please be aware that it is the position of Legal Aid Ontario that s. 90 of the Legal Aid Services Act, by legislation, prevails over the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act: see s.103 of the Legal Aid Services Act and s. 67(2) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.






Yours truly,




June 19, 2014

Dear




"A list of all litigation (if any), from 1998 to present, involving LAO and the removal of lawyers from LAO panels, including the case number, docket number, or other identifying information."


I am responsible for this decision. You may ask for a review of this decision within 30 days of receiving this letter by writing to: The Information and Privacy Commission/Ontario, 2 Bloor Street West, Suite 1400, Toronto Ontario M4W 1AS, Telephone 1-800-387-0073.



Yours truly,




June 19, 2014

Dear




"The following information regarding the following lawyers: (a) and, (b)

(1) Date of joining the refugee law panel (2) Date(s) of suspension(s) from the refugee law panel (if any) (3) Date of removal from the refugee law panel (if any) (4) Number of refugee law certificates from 2008 to present for which the

lawyer served as counsel, broken down by calendar year, by country, and by type of certificate (e.g. RPO opinion, RPO hearing, JR opinion, etc)

(5) Total amount of money paid to the lawyer by LAO in refugee law matters from 2008 to present, broken down by calendar year, and by country

(6) Number of LAO funded former refugee law clients of the lawyer from 2008 to present who asked to change to another counsel, broken down by calendar year, and by country

(7) Number of complaints to LAO made against the lawyer from 2008 to present, broken down by calendar year

(8) Number of complaints to LAO made against the lawyer from 2008 to present that were referred by LAO to the Law Society of Upper Canada, broken down by calendar year.

I am unable to confirm or deny whether reports exist which are responsive to your request. That is so because disclosure of that information, should it exist, would disclose personal information as defined under s.2 of FIPPA.

The definition of "personal information" in s.2 of FIPPA means recorded information about an identifiable individual, including:



(b) information relating to the education or the medical, psychiatric, psychological, criminal or employment history of the individual or information relating to financial transactions in which the individual has been involved,

(f) the views or opinions of another individual about the individual.

Personal information is not subject to disclosure under s.21 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). Section 21(1) states that a head shall refuse to disclose personal information to any person other than the individual to whom the information relates except in the following circumstances: (a) with the written consent of the individual to whom the information relates; (b) compelling circumstances affecting the health or safety of an individual; (c) the personal information has been specifically collected to create a record accessible to the general public; (d) disclosure is expressly permitted by statute; (e) for a research purpose if the disclosure is consistent with the conditions under which the information was collected; (f) disclosure does not constitute an unjustified invasion of privacy. None of these exemptions apply in this case.

In addition, section 21(3)(f) states that a disclosure of personal information is presumed to constitute an unjustified invasion of personal privacy where the personal information describes an individual's finances, income, assets, liabilities, net worth, bank balances, financial history or activities, or creditworthiness. In accordance with 21(5), I am neither confirming nor denying that such records exist.

Furthermore, I am unable to confirm or deny whether records exist which are responsive to your request on the basis that disclosure of that information, should it exist, would disclose information relating to an investigation. Section 14(2)(a) of FIPPA states that a head may refuse to disclose a record that is a report prepared in the course of law enforcement, inspections or investigations by an agency which has the function of enforcing and regulating compliance with a law, with respect to items 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8. In accordance with s.14(3) of FIPPA, I am neither confirming nor denying whether a record to which s.14(2) applies exists.

I am also claiming the exemption under s.19(1) of FIPPA on the basis that the information sought under items 6,7 and 8 is subject to solicitor and client privilege. Section 89(1) of the Legal Aid Services Act (LASA) states that all legal communications between the Corporation, an officer or employee of the Corporation, an area director or member of an area committee and an applicant for legal aid services are privileged in the same manner and the same extent as solicitor-client communications. Communications about the quality of service,



including applications to change solicitors, and complaints by applicants would be privileged under LASA, and are therefore not subject to disclosure under s.19(1) of FIPPA.

In the event that the above provisions of FIPPA are not applicable, I have concluded that all of the information in the request is subject to section 90 of the Legal Aid Services Act (LASA) and is not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), for that reason. Section 90 provides as follows:

90.(1) A member of the board of directors, an officer or employee of the Corporation, an area director, a member of an area committee, a lawyer, a service-provider or a member, officer, director or employee of a clinic, student legal aid services society or other entity funded by the Corporation shall not disclose or permit to be disclosed any information or material furnished to or received by him or her in the course of his or her duties or in the provision of legal aid services.

(2) A person referred to in subsection (1) may disclose information or allow it to be disclosed in the performance of his or her duties or in the provision of legal aid services or with the consent of the applicant or if authorized by the Corporation.

The Information and Privacy Commissioner has stated in Order P0-2994 that section 90(1) of LASA is intentionally broad and is meant to capture all types and forms of information and materials, including records that originated with or were exchanged within LAO. It is submitted that records dealing with a complaint to Legal Aid Ontario regarding a panel lawyer are covered by s.90 of LASA and are excluded from the scope of FIPPA pursuant to s.67(2).


If you decide to request a review of this decision, please provide the Commissioners office with the following: the file number listed at the beginning of this letter; a copy of this decision letter; and a copy of the original request for information you sent to our institution.

In addition, you must send an appeal fee to the Commissioners office. The appeal fee for general information is $25.00.


Yours truly




June 19, 2014June 19, 2014June 19, 2014June 19, 2014June 19, 2014June 19, 2014June 19, 2014June 19, 2014June 19, 2014June 19, 2014June 19, 2014June 19, 2014

40 dundas street west, suite 200, toronto on m5g 2h1 · procedure phase2 . 40 dundas street west,...

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