Ahmadzadegan v. Canada (Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness), 2006 FC 523

• Judge: Blanchard, J.
• Court: Federal Court (Canada)
• Case Date: March 07, 2006
• Jurisdiction: Canada (Federal)
• Citations: 2006 FC 523;(2006), 291 F.T.R. 143 (FC)

Ahmadzadegan v. Can. (2006), 291 F.T.R. 143 (FC)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2006] F.T.R. TBEd. MY.015

Shahrokh Ahmadzadegan (applicant) v. Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness (respondent)

(T-1959-04; 2006 FC 523)

Indexed As: Ahmadzadegan v. Canada (Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness)

Federal Court

Blanchard, J.

April 26, 2006.

Summary:

The applicant applied for judicial review of a decision by the RCMP denying the applicant's request for access to his personal information. The applicant sought to have information he alleged to be false expunged from files held by the RCMP.

The Federal Court allowed the application in part.

Crown - Topic 7209.1

Examination of public documents - Freedom of information - Bars - Information obtained in lawful investigations (incl. crimes and national security) - The applicant was serving a 25 year prison sentence for drug trafficking offences - The applicant alleged that because of "unfounded and unsubstantiated" allegations made by the RCMP in a letter to Correctional Service Canada (CSC), he was denied a transfer from a maximum security to a medium security institution as well as full parole - The RCMP denied the applicant's request for access to his personal information on the ground that it was exempted under s. 22(1)(a) of the Privacy Act - The applicant applied for judicial review - The Federal Court allowed the application in part - The withheld information met the criteria under s. 22(1)(a) - All the personal information was less than 20 years old, and it was obtained or prepared by the RCMP, which was listed as an investigative body in the Privacy Regulations - Further, the impugned information was information that was obtained through the conduct of a lawful investigation related to the detection, prevention or suppression of crime, or the enforcement of a law of Canada - The RCMP's finding in this regard was correct with respect to all of the records, except the letter, withheld from the applicant - As the letter was already in the applicant's possession, it was unreasonable for the RCMP to deny the applicant access to it - See paragraphs 24 to 43.

Cases Noticed:

Al-Mhamad v. Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission et al., [2003] N.R. Uned. 2; 2003 FCA 45, refd to. [para. 12].

Kelly v. Canada (Solicitor General) (1992), 53 F.T.R. 147 (T.D.), affd. (1993), 154 N.R. 319 (F.C.A.), refd to. [para. 20].

Pushpanathan v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [1998] 1 S.C.R. 982, addendum [1998] 1 S.C.R. 1222; 226 N.R. 201, refd to. [para. 21].

Thurlow v. Canada (Solicitor General) et al. (2003), 242 F.T.R. 214; 2003 FC 1414, refd to. [para. 22].

Statutes Noticed:

Privacy Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. P-21, sect. 22(1)(a) [para. 19].

Counsel:

Shahrokh Ahmadzadegan, on his own behalf;

Helen Park and Peter Bell, for the respondent.

Solicitors of Record:

John H. Sims, Q.C., Deputy Attorney General of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, for the respondent.

This application was heard on March 7, 2006, at Vancouver, British Columbia, by Blanchard, J., of the Federal Court, who delivered the following judgment on April 26, 2006.