MFIPPA holds the City accountable and ensures that information is publicly available.
MFIPPA gives you the right to access municipal government information/records and as well, requires that any personal information held by the City of Port Colborne is protected.
How to make a Freedom of Information Request (FOI)
Completed application is received by the MFIPPA Coordinator.
The MFIPPA Coordinator contacts responsible departments/divisions to notify of request and are asked to provide responsive records in a prescribed time.
Records reviewed to determine if exemptions apply under the MFIPPA.
Records severed to remove non-responsive or exempt information.
Interim decision letters may be issued regarding fee estimates, third party notices, time extensions, etc.
In most cases, decision letters issued within 30 days after date of application.
Correction to personal information
If you are requesting access to, or a correction of your own personal information, please include with your completed application form [PDF/172KB], a photocopy of a piece of identification (e.g. driver's licence) bearing your signature. This will allow City Staff to verify your identity so that your personal information is not disclosed to someone other than yourself.
Expedited requests
It is not possible to expedite a request. It may be noted that a request is urgent, but there are no guarantees of a response time shorter than 30 days.
If you are not satisfied with the City of Port Colborne's response to your request for information or the fee estimate, you can make an appeal to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.
You must file your appeal within 30 days of receiving the decision letter or fee estimate.
The Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) accepts appeals and privacy complaints.
Privacy Policy
The City of Port Colborne is committed to collecting and using your personal information responsibly. The privacy and protection of your personal information is of utmost importance to us. The Municipality is subject to the provisions of the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA). The Act requires that a local government protect the privacy of an individual's personal information that exists in its records and that it follow rules regarding the collection, retention, use, disclosure and disposal of personal information in its custody or control.
The City endeavours to ensure that only required personal information is collected in accordance with authorized statues, by-laws, etc. and complies with the privacy provisions. Most of the information accessible on the Municipality's website doesn't require you to provide personal information about yourself. You may access it anonymously. The only personally identifying information arising from your use of the City of Port Colborne website is what you voluntarily supply.
The City collects and retains personal information for a number of reasons:
To process your requests for services, products or additional information;
To communicate/contact you regarding services that you have requested;
To advise you of changes to our services and of service interruptions;
To meet legal and regulatory requirements;
To maintain a payment history;
To collect unpaid accounts;
To establish, administer and maintain billing, payment and other services related to accounting as well as security measures concerning your business and client relationship with us.
Depending on the purposes(s) for which we need to collect it, we may ask for the following personal information about you including but not limited to:
Basic identification information such as your name, address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail address, birth date;
Medical information such as any condition that may affect your ability to participate in recreation activities, etc.;
Emergency contact information.
We do not sell or rent your personal information. Sometimes we must share your personal information with others in order to serve your needs. The following are some situations in which we share personal information:
With companies contracted to process your requests (ex. Garbage disposal companies to action your complaints, etc.)
For law enforcement purposes;
For the purpose of acting in an emergency to facilitate contact with your next of kin if you become injured or ill.
In order to protect your personal information, the City of Port Colborne:
collects only the personal information needed to provided services;
keeps your personal information only for as long as we need it to provide services;
safeguards your personal information to the best of our ability;
responds to any request you may make to access or correct the personal information we hold about you;
obtain appropriate consent from you for the collection, use, or disclosure of your personal information.
Some other security methods/procedures include:
the use of passwords for the protection of electronic information;
firewalls for network security;
standards relating to the storage of personal information;
policies regarding the removal of records from the workplace, security of records in locked cabinets, briefcases, locking records in secure areas, etc.
access and privacy policies and procedures to help restrict unauthorized access or release of your personal information;
disposal of personal information in a confidential manner such as shredding; and
SSL Technology
Our website uses encryption technology, such as Secure Sockets Layer ("SSL"), to protect your personal information during data transport. SSL encrypts personal and payment information such as your name, address, credit card number and any other personal information that is required to perform your transaction. Note, that the City of Port Colborne does not store your credit card information and that it is only used for the duration of the transaction.
Use of "Cookie" Technology
Cookie technology captures summary - not individual - information on visitor use on the website. It is a computer code that tracks "traffic" so we can determine how effective the website is in meeting informational or service needs. A cookie contains no personal identifying information and the City of Port Colborne acquires no knowledge of an internet visitor's browsing habits. Apart from providing a performance measure, the data collected by the cookie is otherwise meaningless.
