There is a difference between knowing the subject matter or the names of all of those interviewed and having a right under the Act to obtain access to full notes of what they actually said during the course of an investigation. Even if the applicant had been shown the interview records at some point in time, that does not establish a right of access under the Act, given the existence of section 22 . The Ministry emphasizes that the privacy rights being protected under this section are the opinions associated with specific daycare workers. This section creates a circumstance that the Ministry must consider in deciding whether disclosure would be an unreasonable invasion of privacy. Any attempt to state that the information was given in confidence would suggest a possible cover up by Child Care Licensing and the Ministry of Health.
Confidential interviews are an integral part of the investigation procedure.
They further told the staff members that the records of the interviews would be confidential unless a licensing hearing took place. Co-operation was received from the staff due to the confidential nature of the investigation and the assurance that the records would be confidential. The Community Care Facility Act does not compel any worker at a licensed facility to cooperate with an investigation, which highlights the importance of upholding promises of confidentiality in these circumstances. In this particular case, the persons interviewed also subsequently refused to allow the disclosure of the notes of their interviews. Although the Ministry has established in this case that promises of confidentiality were provided to the daycare workers, there was no evidence before me of an existing written policy on confidentiality for such investigative interviews.