The Right to Information and Protection of Privacy Act reflects a continuing commitment to the privacy principles set out in the CSA Standard CAN/CSA-Q830, Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information.
RTIPPA details the manner in which personal information is collected, corrected, retained, protected, used, and disclosed by a public body.
Why do public bodies collect personal information?
In the course of doing its regular business, it is necessary for some public bodies to collect, manage, use and disclose a certain amount of personal information about individual people. The Right to Information and Protection of Privacy Act stipulates that no personal information may be collected by or for a public body unless:
- the collection of the information is authorized or required by or under an Act of the Legislature or an Act of the Parliament of Canada;
- the information relates directly to and is necessary for an existing program or activity of the public body; or
- the information is collected for law enforcement purposes.
A public body can collect only as much personal information about an individual as is reasonably necessary to accomplish the purpose for which it is being collected.