What We Do
The Privacy Office provides the following services related to privacy and access to information:
Freedom of Information Requests: Responding to requests for general records, personal information, and correction of personal information
Privacy Incident Management: Coordinating the response to any privacy incident or potential breach of personal information
Privacy Inquiry Response: Responding to privacy inquiries related to the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information
Advice and Guidance: Providing advice, tips, and best practices to ensure institutional compliance with privacy laws
Education and Training: Providing training and education to University staff, faculty, and librarians on the protection of privacy and freedom of information
What is Personal Information?
Personal information is defined in FIPPA as recorded information about an identifiable individual.
- Demographic information
- Email address and home address
- Medical, education, and employment history
- Identifying numbers (e.g., SIN, student number)
- Financial information
- Completed assignments, examinations and grades
- Comments and evaluations provided by an instructor
- Personal opinions expressed by or about an individual
But personal information is not information about an individual acting in their business or professional capacity such as their name, position, and routine work details and tasks at the University. (e.g. faculty or staff name, email and position are not personal information).
For more information, visit our Resources.
What is a Record?
A ‘record’ is any information, document, email, digital file, website, publication, report, etc. created or collected in the course of work at the University of Toronto.
Most records held by the University are subject to FIPPA and the majority of these will be disclosed if requested, including:
- Records containing your own personal information
- Most University administrative records
- Records about the subject matter or amount of funding of University research
FIPPA sets out exclusions and exemptions for certain types of records that may not be disclosed, including:
- Records that are either not in the custody or under the control of the University
- Personal records kept by the University, such as emails and other files stored on student and alumni email and/or Microsoft 365 accounts
- Most University labour relations or employment-related records, including records about the hiring, performance evaluation, conduct, and termination of faculty and staff
- Records about a specific University research project, other than funding information
- Personal information of individuals (other than the information of the individual making the request)
- Confidential evaluations of prospective students’ applications for admission to a University program
- University teaching materials, such as exams and course syllabi