Role of the Ombudsman

The Information and Privacy Adjudicator | For further information

The ombudsman is an independent review officer with broad authority to investigate, audit and report under FIPPA. If you are not satisfied with a public body's response to your FIPPA request, you can make a complaint to the Manitoba Ombudsman’s Office.

You may complain if:

• you have not received a response to your application within 45 days.
• you do not believe the extension of the response time beyond 45 days is appropriate.
• you have been denied access to all or part of the records you applied for.
• your request to correct your personal information has been refused.
• you believe your own personal information has been collected, used or disclosed in violation of FIPPA.
• as a third party, you want to contest a decision a public body has made to give access to records against your wishes.
• you are the relative of a person who has died and have been refused access to their personal information by a public body.

You must make a complaint within 60 days after being notified of the access decision. The complaint must be made in writing and must be in a form that is acceptable to the ombudsman.

The ombudsman will investigate your complaint and will take steps to try to resolve it informally, so the parties involved are satisfied, and in a way that is consistent with FIPPA's purposes and requirements. If the complaint cannot be resolved informally and is supportable, the ombudsman will make recommendations to the public body.

The Ombudsman will provide you a written notification of their findings and any recommendations made to the public body when the investigation is completed.

For more information on how to make a complaint, please visit the Manitoba Ombudsman’s website at Make a FIPPA complaint - Manitoba Ombudsman.

The Information and Privacy Adjudicator

Amendments to The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and The Personal Health Information Act (PHIA) proclaimed on Jan. 1, 2011, established the information and privacy adjudicator as an officer of the Legislative Assembly.

If a public body has not acted on the recommendations of the ombudsman in an access or privacy complaint, the ombudsman may refer the matter to the information and privacy adjudicator for review. At the request of the ombudsman, the adjudicator must review decisions the head of a public body has made about access to information or protection of privacy.

The adjudicator has the power to make an order against a public body that has not acted on the ombudsman's recommendations. For example, the adjudicator could order a public body to release information that has been withheld from someone requesting access. They could also order a public body to change the way it collects, uses or discloses personal information.

For more information

For more information about the powers of the Manitoba Ombudsman under FIPPA and the procedure for making a complaint, visit the website of the Office of the Ombudsman.