Shredding at legislature prompts Alberta privacy commissioner to weigh in
By Keith Gerein, Edmonton Journal
EDMONTON - As delete buttons and shredding machines get a workout at the Alberta legislature this week, the office of the province’s privacy commissioner admits there is no formal enforcement process to ensure valuable records aren’t being turned into confetti.
While staff working in ministers’ offices are expected to follow rules governing the destruction of documents, the privacy commissioner does not have the authority to monitor what gets shredded after an election, spokesman Scott Sibbald said.
Bags of shredded papers dropped Wednesday outside the offices of the minister of environment. The commissioner’s office issued a news release late Thursday, in part to answer questions raised by the public and media about shredding in the wake of the Tories’ defeat in Tuesday’s election.
Photograph by: Shaughn Butts , Edmonton Journal
“We have no power to cease operations or oversee the destruction of records,” he said. “But if there is evidence of (wrongdoing), or an employee or someone else has an understanding those rules are not being followed, a complaint can be submitted to our office and our office will look into the evidence.”
The commissioner’s office issued a news release late Thursday, in part to answer questions raised by the public and media about shredding in the wake of the Tories’ defeat in Tuesday’s election.
Following the NDP’s historic win, photos have been posted on social media of giant bags of shredded paper sitting outside legislature offices. That has led to concerns — or conspiracy theories — the PC government, which has been in power for 44 years, might be frantically discarding evidence of secrets, scandals or other valuable information that has been kept from the public eye.
While shredding tends to ramp up following an election or cabinet shuffle, Sibbald said it’s important to note the destruction of records occurs regularly in government.
Under provincial law, ministries are supposed to have a records management program that sets the rules for the retention, destruction or archiving of public records, he said, though he noted the privacy commissioner lacks the authority to approve or change these programs, or ensure they are being enforced.
Service Alberta has administered this requirement for all the ministries through a document last updated in 2011 that sets out how records should be managed. Included in the document is a section titled “What to Do When a Minister Changes Portfolios or Leaves Political Office.”
A spokeswoman for Service Alberta, Donna Babchishin, said a directive was issued shortly after the election by the premier’s chief of staff, Mike Percy, reminding staff to follow the rules set out in the document.
The government process notes that “transitory” records in a minister’s office can and should be regularly discarded. This includes documents of minor importance, or drafts and working papers that likely won’t have any long-term value. Babchishin said ministries also often destroy duplicate copies of records.
Other types of records that are most relevant to a minister’s role as an MLA or private citizen — including records relating to constituency or party matters, business or professional interests and caucus affairs — remain the property of the minister. Many ministers take these documents when they leave office or have them destroyed, though if a minister leaves no instructions, the documents can be locked away in the legislature vault.
As for records most relevant to a minister’s cabinet portfolio, they are considered property of the Crown and are supposed to be treated differently. The Service Alberta document suggests such records require “special handling” and are to be transferred to the provincial archives.
However, there are some exceptions, including certain administrative records of the office staff and ministerial action requests. As well, any records created before April 1, 1995, can be kept by a minister.
“Essentially, anything that has archival value or used for decision making should be kept,” Sibbald said.
He said the privacy commissioner does have authority for the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which governs the handling of records in certain situations.
For example, the act requires that personal information used to make a decision that directly affects an individual must be retained for at least one year, to ensure that individual has an opportunity to obtain access.
As well, the law says it is illegal to destroy records to evade an access to information request. However, it is unclear whether this applies to records that are not yet part of an access request, but could likely become the subject of one.
Exempt from this law are records held by the office of the Speaker of the legislature and records held in the offices of MLAs.
No one from the NDP or Wildrose could be reached for comment Thursday on concerns about shredding.