Access to Information and Protection of Privacy

*General Requests: any request that do not contain your personal information.

Examples of general requests include:

• An agreement
• A City report
• Emails about a City program 

Personal Requests: requests for records that contain your personal information. 

Examples of a personal request include:

• Your Human Resources Files (if you are/were a City employee)
• Bylaw complaints in which you are a party
• 311 call ticket notes in which you are a party

Personal Information Request on behalf of someone else: In some instances, someone else ​(an applicant) may be​ submitting a personal request on behalf of ​a​n individual, and it ​i​s necessary to determine whether the applicant has the authorization of the individual whose information is requested, or has some other right under the Act.

Common examples of persons who might reasonably request information about another individual are the legal representative of the individual and insurance companies who have their insured's authorization. Applicants may use the Authorization of Representative form form to document permission. When submitting your application online, you can upload the completed form.

Requests received by the CAP Office on or before June 11, 2025 will be processed in accordance with the FOIP Act. Requests received on or after June 12, 2025 will be processed in accordance with ATIA. If you have questions at any time about an access request, please contact the assigned Analyst or foip@edmonton.ca. 

The primary impact is that the City’s legislated timelines are counted in business days rather than in calendar days. This means that weekends and holidays will be counted when determining how long the City has to respond to a request.

The Protection of Privacy Act (POPA) provides that the City has until June 11, 2026 to have a privacy management program in place. The City already has many of the components of a privacy management program, such as incident response procedures, and the City ensures that every collection, use or disclosure of personal information is authorized. Updates and additions to our program to align with the new Act will be made available as they are ready.

The right of access to records does not apply to records that are excluded under section 4 of the former FOIP Act/section 4 of ATIA. The right of access is also subject to limited and specific exceptions that are set out in the former FOIP Act and ATIA. 

There are 2 types of exceptions under the Act: "mandatory" and "discretionary." Mandatory means the City must apply the exception and discretionary means that the City may choose to apply the exception to withhold the records. For example, the City must (“mandatory”) withhold information that would be an unreasonable invasion of someone else’s personal privacy, but it may (“discretionary”) withhold information that is analysis or advice used to make a decision.

When information is withheld in response to an access-to-information request, the applicant will be advised of the exception to disclosure that was applied.

The Act provides some situations where fees can be reduced or waived entirely. The CAP Office can assist you in narrowing the scope of your request and provide other suggestions to reduce your costs. The CAP Office can also accept written requests with supporting documentation to be considered for a fee waiver.

The Act states that the applicant may not need to pay fees for the release of records in the public interest.  If you believe it is in the public interest to release the records you are requesting, please raise this with the CAP Analyst assigned to your file.

The FOIP Act provided the City with 30 calendar days to respond to your request. 

The primary impact of the new legislation is that the City’s legislated timelines are counted in business days rather than in calendar days. This means that weekends and holidays will be counted when determining how long the City has to respond to a request.

Processing does not begin until fees are paid or until a clear request is received. 

The City may take an additional 30 business days if the scope of your request is large or if we need to consult with a third party about the records, or longer if allowed under the Act. 

No. We process requests in the order that they are received, but we do our best to respond as quickly as possible.

You may change your address and contact information for some City services by contacting 311.  If you want to correct other information about yourself please contact the CAP Office at foip@edmonton.ca or 780-496-5222.