“There is a direct relationship between good records and information management and the ability of a public body to meet its responsibilities under either the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act or the Health Information Act.”
NWT Information and Privacy Commissioner’s Report , 2016-2017, p. 44
Recently, on Oct. 3, 2017, to be precise, Elaine Keenan Bengts, the Northwest Territories’ Information and Privacy Commissioner, tabled her latest annual report in the Northwest Territories legislative assembly [link1]. Her report – and the subsequent news coverage about it [link2] – highlight the important role that good records management plays in the efficient and effective engagement of Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy. However, the report also makes clear that records management still faces an uphill battle as it tries to strike a balance between making sure people can access and control data about themselves, and keeping that information out of the hands of people who don’t need or shouldn’t have access to it. One of the biggest obstacles in the Northwest Territories (and probably in many, if not most, other jurisdictions) is in the technologies used to manage and transmit the records and in people’s willingness to use them.