Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Nunavut)

The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (ATIPPA) is an act of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut that is both an access-to-information statute and an information-privacy statute.

It enables the right-of-access to records held by public agencies in the province and governs the handling of personal information by public bodies.

Under the legislation, the government has 25 days to respond to a request under the legislation, or 50 if there is an extension.^[1]

The legislation was amended to create processes to replace the commissioner and to appoint a "special" commissioner in the case of a conflict of interest.^[2]

The legislation does not apply to municipalities, such as the City of Iqaluit.^[3] In 2016, efforts in to include municipalities under the legislation stalled.^[4] In 2021, Iqaluit City Council had set a target of being included under the legislation of 2023, but this was not met.^[3] According to the chief administrative officer, the municipality was waiting for the government of Nunavut to providing training.^[3]

The commissioner has called for the ability to issue orders, which is currently lacking.^[5]

The Information and Privacy Commissioner has criticised the Government of Nunavut for "legal errors", record-keeping systems being outdated and under-reporting of privacy breaches.^[6] According to the commissioner who served from 2001, there was a decline in how responsive the governemnt was to information and privacy requests.^[7]

Currently the Information and Privacy Commissioner lacks a team to process access to information requests, but the Commissioner has suggested implementing such a team.^[1]

• Text of the Act