HALIFAX — Nova Scotia’s freedom of information law is becoming “an exercise in frustration,” the privacy commissioner said after the government partially rejected her recommendations on a report on a man’s jailhouse death. Commissioner Catherine Tully told the Justice Department it should provide The Canadian Press with most of an internal report into how 23-year-old Clayton Cromwell died from a methadone overdose at the Burnside jail in April 2014, other than names of prisoners and guards. The efforts to see the internal Aug. 9 report extend back to December 2014. She says the case illustrates how the freedom of information act isn’t working well because the province isn’t providing evidence to back its arguments, then is rejecting her findings after she recommends release due to the lack of evidence. Justice Minister Mark Furey says the partial refusal is about “striking a balance” between the public’s access to information and protecting what he refers to as the “safe functionality” of the institution.

Source: National Post September 26, 2018 12:45 UTC