Access to information and protection of personal information

The Environment Quality Act (E.Q.A.) defines the scope of the right to quality of the environment that every person is guaranteed. Of the policies this legislation enshrines, the right to information is fundamental. Section 118.4 of this legislation specifically states that every person has the right to obtain from the Ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et des Parcs (MDDEP) copy of any available information concerning the presence of a contaminant in the environment.

This right to information, limited until recently to documents held by the MDDEP, was expanded under a new provision in the Act respecting Access to documents held by public bodies and the Protection of personal information, which came into force on June 14, 2006. Section 41.1 of the Act does away with the enforcement of several restrictions contained in this legislation designed to protect the confidentiality of certain documents provided by a third party to a public body. This type of restriction can no longer be enforced against an individual who requests information concerning the presence of a contaminant in the environment, regardless of which public body holds this information.

M^me Caroline Drouin
Édifice Marie-Guyart, 30^e étage, boîte 86
675, boulevard René-Lévesque Est
Québec (Québec) G1R 5V7
Telephone: 418 521-3810, poste 4122
Fax: 418 646-5883

Any questions should be addressed to the following access to information staff members:

Mr. Michel Dubé, 418 521-3858, ext. 7226
Mrs. Isabelle St-Hilaire, 418 521-3858, ext. 4176

Section 118.4 of the EQA: Every person has the right to obtain from the Ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et des Parcs copy of any available information concerning the quantity, quality or concentration of contaminants emitted, issued, discharged or deposited by a source of contamination or concerning the presence of a contaminant in the environment.
This section applies subject to the restrictions to the right of access provided in section 28 of the Act respecting Access to documents held by public bodies and the Protection of personal information (chapter A-2.1).

Section 41.1 of the Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies and the protection of personal information: The restrictions set out in this division, except those described in sections 28, 28.1, 29, 30, 33, 34 and 41, do not apply to information that reveals or confirms the existence of an immediate hazard to the life, health or safety of a person or a serious or irreparable violation of the right to environmental quality, unless its disclosure would likely seriously interfere with measures taken to deal with such a hazard or violation.
Those restrictions, except the restriction set out in section 28 and, in the case of a document filed by or for the Auditor General, the restriction set out in section 41, do not apply to information concerning the quantity, quality or concentration of contaminants emitted, released, discharged or deposited by a source of contamination, or concerning the presence of a contaminant in the environment.
In the case of information supplied by a third person and referred to in the first paragraph, the person in charge must give that third person notice of a decision granting access to the information. The decision is executory despite section 49.