Ministry Policy Site

Protection of Personal Information when Reporting on Small Populations

Issued and effective July 1, 2004

Current policy

This policy prevents the possibility of associating statistical data with any identifiable individual. To protect the privacy of individuals, very small population numbers must be suppressed (masked) when reporting aggregated data.

Under the legislation, a public body may disclose personal information for research or statistical purposes. Protection of privacy, however, must be ensured when data is reported.

Part 3, Division 2 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act sets out the use and disclosure of personal information by public bodies and disclosure for research or statistical purposes.

Definition - "Personal Information:" recorded information about an identifiable individual, including:

(a) the individual's name, address or telephone number,
(b) the individual's race, national or ethnic origin, colour, or religious or political beliefs or associations,
(c) the individual's age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status or family status,
(d) an identifying number, symbol or other particular assigned to the individual,
(e) the individual's fingerprints, blood type or inheritable characteristics,
(f) information about the individual's health care history, including a physical or mental disability,
(g) information about the individual's educational, financial, criminal or employment history,
(h) anyone else's opinions about the individual, and
(i) the individual's personal views or opinions, except if they are about someone else.

Definition - "Masking:" the suppression or removal of numbers from public view.

When reporting personal information, numbers or percentages must be suppressed if they are elements of a population that is less than five.

For example, if there were only 4 students in a grade, no further breakdowns of personal information would be provided i.e., it wouldn't be reported that 2 female and 2 male students were in that grade. On the other hand, if there were 10 students in a grade, it could be reported that 8 female students and 2 male students were in that grade.

This policy applies to all school, district and ministry staff involved with reporting personal information and any other organization reporting information provided by the Ministry of Education.

N/A

Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act

If you have any questions relating to this policy, please contact Nancy Walt or Karlic Ho, in the Information Department.