Many terms which are used in FIPPA are defined in Section 1
of the Act. Here are some of the most important ones.
Access and Privacy Coordinator
Local Public Bodies
Personal Health Information
Personal Information
Personal Information Bank (PIB)
Public Body
Record
Severing
Third Party
Access and Privacy
Coordinator: the person designated in each public body to receive FIPPA
applications and to handle the daily administration of FIPPA matters. The Coordinator will
tell you whether a formal application for access is necessary and explain the process. For
the address, telephone and fax number of the Access Coordinator in each public body, see Where to Send Your Application.
FIPPA is the acronym for The Freedom of Information and
Protection of Privacy Act of Manitoba.
Local Public Bodies:
public bodies, other than Manitoba government departments and agencies, to which FIPPA
applies. Includes local government bodies (City of Winnipeg, municipalities, local
government districts, Northern Affairs community councils, conservation districts,
planning districts); educational bodies (school divisions and districts, universities and
community colleges); and health care bodies (regional health authorities, hospitals, and
health and social service districts). For a complete list of all local public bodies that
fall under FIPPA, see Where to Send Your Application.
Personal Health
Information: recorded information about an identifiable individual that relates
to that person’s health, health care history, provision of health care to the
individual, or payment for health care. Includes identifying numbers or symbols assigned
to an individual, such as the personal health information number, as well as identifying
information about an individual that is collected in the course of the provision of health
care. Access to your own personal health information is governed by The Personal Health
Information Act.
Personal
Information: recorded information about an identifiable individual including
name, home address and telephone number, age, family status, ethnicity, income, sexual
orientation etc. Also any identifying numbers or symbols assigned to an identifiable
individual, for example a social insurance number. Information about corporations,
businesses, or organizations is not personal information. Oral comments about an
individual, which have not been recorded, are not personal information.
Personal Information Bank (PIB):
a series of records or an information system that is organized or capable of
being searched by a personal identifier (an individual’s name or identifying number).
FIPPA requires that personal information banks be reported in the Directories of Records, including the authority and
purpose for collection of the personal information and the categories or types of
information involved. The Access
and Privacy Directory of the Manitoba Government also reports any other uses or
disclosures of the information; local public bodies are required to keep their own record
of additional uses or disclosures and to make it available to the public upon request.
Public Body: a
Manitoba Government department, a government agency or a local public body. For more
information, see Public Bodies Under FIPPA.
Record:
information in any form, including written, photographed, recorded or stored on any
storage medium or by any means. Examples of records are minutes, letters, memoranda,
reports, notes, blueprints, financial transaction records, photographs, audiovisual
material and information stored and retrieved electronically. Copies of documents, drafts
and other working materials are also records under FIPPA.
Severing: the
process of concealing information in a record that the public body has decided either
cannot be, or should not be, disclosed to an applicant, because it falls under an
exception to access in FIPPA. The information that is not to be released is covered by
opaque tape or blacked out with a marker, and the section, subsection and clause number of
the applicable exception (or exceptions) is written on the tape or in the margin. A copy
of the record is then made for the applicant to view.
Third Party: a
person, group or organization who is not the applicant requesting access and is not a
public body. Public bodies hold large quantities of information about individuals, groups,
corporations and non-profit organizations which, if disclosed to others, might result in
harm to them. FIPPA contains third party notice and intervention provisions to protect the
personal information or business interests of third parties.