Complaint: Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) refused to release the names and addresses of corporations that had received but not cashed cheques PWGSC had issued over eight years, claiming that this was third-party information that should be protected under section 20.

Investigation: PWGSC maintained that releasing the names and addresses, in combination with the information already disclosed to the requester (such as the amount of the cheques), would facilitate the commission of fraud against the Crown. PWGSC provide real examples of fraud cases but did not show how fraudsters could bypass financial institutions’ security measures. The OIC also learned that at least one provincial government was already releasing the same type of information, including the names of payees and the amounts of the cheques.

Outcome: In response to the Commissioner’s formal recommendation, PWGSC released the names and addresses.

Information Commissioner’s position:

• To exempt information under section 20, institutions must demonstrate how disclosing it would result in probable harm to a particular interest—in this case, fraud.
• When institutions cannot demonstrate that this specific harm is likely to occur, they must disclose the information.