.. ..

INDUSTRIAL SECURITY LIMITED

P.O. BOX 459, SAINT JOHN, N.S. E2L 3Z8 PHONE: (506) 648 3060 FAX: (506) 648 3069

June 15,2007

Right to Information and Protection of Personal Information Review'Task Force Sartain MacDonald Building Suite 103 P.O. Box 6000 Fredericton, NB E3B 5H I

Attention:

Mr. Donald J. Savoie Miss Judy Wagner Mr. Erik Denis

Dear Sirs / Madam: We want to thank you for the opportunity to comment on the recently released discussion paper entitled "Access to Information and Privacy Review".

Industrial Security Limited is a privately-ownedsecurity company based in Saint John, New Brunswick. We employ over 80 individuals in the Province of New Brunswick. Our company's mandate is to provide professional, top-notch security services to our affiliated companies including J.D. Irving, Limited, Irving Paper Limited,and IrvingPulp & Paper.Limited.Giventhe significant landseitherownedor managedby our affiliated companies in New Brunswick, a substantial part of Industrial Security's responsibilitiesrelate to protecting these lands from damage, trespass,and pollutionby third parties. This particular submission will deal specifically with Section 9 of the Question Section of the discussion paper entitled "Protection of Personal InformationExemptions". As noted in the discussion paper, Regulation200114 provides an exemption where government can disclose names, addresses, and postal codes of the holders of driver's licenses issued under the Motor Vehicle Act, as well as the numbers of those licenses, to The War Amputations of Canada. In our opinion, there should be another exemptioncreated for agencies licensed under the Private Investigators al1dSecurity Ser\JicesAct of New Brunswick. The basis for our requesting this exemption is set out below.
On April I, 2001, the Protection of Personal Infol'/1/a/iol1Ac/ (the "Act") was proclaimed and came into force. As a result, the Department of Public Safety and Servi.ce New Brunswick fundamentally changed their policy with respect to providing information concerning owners of motor vehicles to security firms such as ours. As of July, 2002, our company was required to complete a form entitled "Request for Access to Personal Information" and, unless exempted under the Act, a "Consent Form" (see copies attached).

'.

In accordance with Section 3.4 of Schedule B of the Act, consent is not required when a public body discloses personal informationin the followingcircumstances:
"(a) to protect the health, safety, or security ofthe public or of an individual. (b) for purposes of an investigation related to the enforcement of an enactment, (g) for some other substantial reason in the public interest whether or not it is similar in nature to paragraphs (a) to (f)." The fO011 entitled "Request for Access to Personal information" has language in it similar to the wording in paragraph (b) above and states that "the personal information that is requested below is for the purposes of an

investigation related to the enforcement of an enactment". This form does not provide for any other type of request other than for the purposes of an investigation related to the enforcement of an enactment. Arguably, the only persons responsible for the "enforcement of an enactment" are police officers or other quasi-enforcement personnel

such as forest rangers. As a result, it would not appear

that

private security firms fit within this exemption.

However, the language in Paragraph (a) of Section 3.4 would appear to be broad enough to cover some of Industrial Security's particular requirements for this type of information. Unfortunately this language in the Act is not entirely clear, and as a result Service New Brunswick has refused to give our company personal infol111ationconcerning owners of vehicles without a"sl'gnedconsent, even though this information is requested to identify trespassers or others committing crimes or statutory offenses (i.e. illegal dumping). Obviously obtaining a signed consent in these types of situations is not a viable option.

"

In order to rectify this situation, we would suggest that an additional exemption be added to Regulation 2001-14 to read as follows:
"4.1 The disclosure to an agency licensed under the Private Investigators and Security Services Act, of the names, addresses, and postal codes of registered owners of motor vehicles licensed under the lv/o(o/' Vehicle Act is exempt from the Act."

This exemption is very limited in scope as it only applies to security and other firms licensed under the Private Investigators and Security Se/'vicesAct.
This exemption is required due to the numerous situations where we have been faced with motor vehicles trespassing, seriously damaging roads (i.e. bogging), and illegally dumping garbage. In these situations, without being able to identify the owners of the vehicles, the landowner is not able to proceed with a civil action against the violators. In addition, reporting this information to the requisite police authorities has been met with little interest or action. First of all, the standard is higher for criminal offenses (beyond a reasonable doubt) than for civil offenses (balance of probabilities), and secondly the police forces view these crimes as relatively minor in nature and not meriting signi"ficant effort to investigate or pursue through the court system.

As a result of the above, we are requesting that your Report contain a recommendation specifically addressing this issue and supporting the amendment of Resolution2001-14 to include an exemption for licensed agencies under the Private Investigatorsa/1dSecurity ServicesAct of New Brunswick.

~~~Y~sSi~
To I Destinataire:

Brunswick

New

r Ii

NQuveau
publique

Public Safety/Securite

Request for Access to Personal Information ~mande de renseignements personnels

Service Delivery Support Service New Brunswick 140 Alison Blvd Fredericton. New Brunswick E3B 5G4 (506) 453-3935 (Name & address
of police (orce/agency making request)

Soutlen a la prestation des services Service Nouveau-Brunwick 140 boul. Alison Fredericton, Nouveau-Brunswick E3B 5G4

FaxlTelec02ieur : From I Expediteur :

(Nom et adresse du service de police ou de I'organisme pn'!senlant la demande)

Your file # IV/Ref. : Our fJle # I HIRet. : I,

I
.I

Jet
(en caracleresd'imon'merie). de I'organisme suivant :
, atteste que les renseignements personnels demandes ci-dessous serviront aux fins d'une enquete effectuee reJativement a I'application de dispositions legislatives. Les renseignements demandes serviront uniquement aux fins de cette enquete.

(f21~!l~print) of (name of organization),confirm that the personal information that is requested below is for the purpose of an investigation related to the enforcement of an enactment. The information requested will only be used in relation to an investigation, or for the purposes identified in the Protection of Personal Information Act.

Specify the enactment to be enforced:

Preciser les dispositions

legislatives

vi sees :

How does the information investigation?

requested relate to the

De queUe fayon les renseignements rapportent-ils a I'enquete ?

rE!quis se.

Information requested:

Renseignements

requis :

Comments:

Gommentaires

Signature: NOTE: Under the-Protection of Personal Information are some circumstances where a consent. form will be required.
, ,

Signature: NOTA: Sous fa Lol sur la protectIon des renselgnements personnels, it existe des UIe de con sentement doit

Act there

"

_I

circonstances ou la form ,.--etre completee.

...

...

~~~~!S~i~___Consent Form
I,

Brunswick

New

'!'J.7

Nouveau

Public Safety I Securite publique

Formule df:!consentement
Je soussigne,
"

(name and address of individual), hereby authorize the Registrar of Motor Vehicles to release my personal information to (name of individual/organization), in accordance with the terms and conditions of the New Brunswick Protection of Personal Information Act.

{nom et adresse de la personne), autorise par la presente Ie registraire des vehicules a moteur a divuJguerles renseignements personnels me concernant a

(nom de
la personne au de I'organisation), conformement aux conditions definies dans la Loi sur la protection des renseignements personnels du Nouveau-Brunswick. En vertu de cette loi, les renseignements divulgues ne peuvent etre utilises qu'aux fins indiquees. Je comprends pleinement la nature de la demande, et Ie but de la divulgation de mes renseignements personnels est Ie sujvant :

Under the New Brunswick Protection of Persona/Information Act, the information being released can only be used for the purpose identified. I fully understand the nature of the request, and the purpose for the release of my personal information is as follows:

Signature

Date

Signature

Date

"'Signature

Date

"'Signature Date Temoin

"Si les documents contiennent

Witness

Date

Date
des

"'In cases where documents contain the personal information of more than one individual, the consent of all parties must be secured prior to the release of information.

renseignements personnels touchant plus d'une personne, il faut obtenir Ie consentement de toutes les parties avant Ie divulgation de I'information,