The Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA) states that an individual has a right to access certain information kept by a municipality, and that a municipality must protect the personal and proprietary information in its custody. MFIPPA contains mandatory and discretionary exemptions that a municipality may use to limit the disclosure of certain records, to ensure that privacy is protected. These exemptions only apply in specific instances, and will determine how much information is provided in response to a request made under MFIPPA.

Most of the time, a formal request for information under the Act is not required to access information from the Township of Mapleton. Many records are available online or by contacting the department responsible for the records. If you would like to access any records held by the Township of Mapleton, please contact the Clerk at 519-638-3313 ext. 045.

Freedom of Information Request

If a Freedom of Information (FOI) request is required, please follow these steps:

• Fill out a Freedom of Information Request Form
• Return the completed form to the Township of Mapleton office

Please Note: A $5 application fee stipulated by the Act must accompany the form in order to initiate the FOI request. The application fee may be paid either by cash, cheque, money order or by Interac. Cheques and money orders should be payable to the "Township of Mapleton."

MFIPPA Fees

In addition to the $5 application fee, the municipality is permitted under MFIPPA legislation to charge the following fees:

• $7.50 per 15 minutes of time spent searching for, retrieving and preparing a record for disclosure. This includes the time to sever any part of the record in accordance with the exemptions under the Act.
• Other fees may be charged depending on the nature of the request. The FOI coordinator will apprise you in advance of what these fees are in accordance with the Act.

If Township staff believe the request will cost more than $25, we will contact you for approval prior to proceeding with the request.

If Township staff believe the request will cost more than $100, we will contact you to request a 50 per cent deposit of the estimated cost before proceeding with the request. No records will be released until all outstanding fees are paid.

Response Timeframe

The Township has 30 calendar days (including weekends and statutory holidays), from the date we receive your request and application fee, to respond to your FOI request. There are circumstances where we may require an extension. If such an extension is required, we will notify you in writing. In the case where a 50 per cent deposit is required, our work on your request will cease once we notify you of the need for the deposit, and resume once we receive your deposit.