Following a ruling by Ontario’s Supreme Court against its confidentiality clause in adjudication for air passenger complaints, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) is making some changes. The Attorney General of Canada did not appeal the decision, which means that parties involved in complaints are now free to discuss the outcomes of their cases. The CTA issued a notice stating that information submitted as part of an air travel complaint may become part of the public record if the complaint reaches the adjudication stage of the complaint resolution process.
According to the CTA, the Court's decision affects tens of thousands of complaint files and hundreds of thousands of related records.
The CTA stated that it is “committed to fully implementing the Court's decision in a fair and responsible manner” and that it will be “responsive to public requests for information” while ensuring affected parties have an opportunity to review their information and request confidentiality protections for highly sensitive information before records are made public.
The agency spelled out that complaints that have already been adjudicated and complaints that were submitted before the ruling and are currently backlogged were submitted under the law with the confidentiality clause still in place, so likely would have been under the understanding that their information would be confidential. Bearing that in mind, the CTA will contact affected passengers so they know if their information is no longer confidential, and will give them the opportunity to request that sensitive information not be made public. The information that people may be concerned about includes financial information, such as credit card numbers and banking information; passport information and other personal identifiers, such as date of birth and social insurance number. The CTA wants to assure anyone affected that it is “taking a cautious approach” to ensure that people have the ability to seek measures to protect this information.
The backlog of complaints the CTA is dealing with has been the subject of concern, and the CTA notes that reviewing records, assessing confidentiality requests and preparing materials for public release represents a significant undertaking that will require time to complete responsibly. The CTA states its priority is to resolve air passenger complaints efficiently. As complaints are processed, the CTA will review requests to keep information confidential. As such, complaint information that is public will be clearly identified, which will facilitate the processing of access requests to those records and decisions.
For next steps, the CTA will begin to publish its decisions on its website every month, starting in early 2027. Before publishing a decision, the CTA will remove any confidential information. The agency has also established a process for providing access to records from complaints that have already been decided. Due to the large volume of records involved, the CTA will release them progressively as historical files are reviewed and any associated confidentiality requests are processed.
Passengers should know that information does not become public simply because it is submitted to the CTA. A complaint record only becomes public if and when it reaches the adjudication phase. Complaints resolved before adjudication, including through mediation, will remain confidential.
For more information about the complaint process or to lodge a complaint, please visit the CTA website.
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