On January 31, 2025, the Fort Frances Times submitted an official freedom of information request under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act for materials related to the legal matter Borderland Pride v. Corporation of the Township of Emo.
By law, a request should be completed within 30 days under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA), unless an exception is given.
Since then, Emo CAO and Clerk-Treasurer Crystal Gray returned a letter and requested an extension on the 30-day deadline to respondw, noting “consultations with persons outside the organization are necessary to comply with the request and cannot reasonably be completed within the time limit,” and “the request is complex and for a large number of records, or necessitates a search through a large number of records and meeting the time limit would unreasonably interfere with the operation of the institution.”
“I am responsible for this extension decision,” reads the letter from Gray.
“You may appeal for a review of it within 30 days of receiving this letter by writing to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.”
Under Section 20 of the MFIPPA the head, or person responsible for fulfilling a request, has the right to extend the time limit for responding to the request. Gray included both permissible reasonings for an extension in her response to the Times.
The new response date provided by Gray is August 1, 2025.
