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A-R-I-S
is the acronym standing for
Active Records Indexing System
Join the 2003 FOI Campaign
A-R-I-S
One of the most closely guarded secrets in Mississauga City Hall. The City's computerized file management system. The key to all the City's files and its politicians & staff's dirty secrets. What's more - This method can be used at almost any government office to access its file! With it you can access City records like at a library and something the Mayor, Hazel McCallion has promised will not happen!
Efforts to get the City's FOI Co-ordinator, Joan LeFeuvre, to help in my efforts to try and use the City's own computer file management system to access whole files at a time for the most cost & time effective way to discover all the facts about an issue, the Cawthra Bush, were a frustrating waste of time.
In our case, the non-FOI or informal access to records about the Cawthra Bush, using A-R-I-S was the fastest and cheapest method, as it was the same method that City staff use! But when the Mayor found out all about all the records we were getting copies of, that method was also ended. I even have a letter saying Hazel was to be informed of what we were getting from City files. BIG SISTER IS WATCHING!
So when you read all the IPC Orders about A-R-I-S and how they just don't understand why I kept trying to use this method, the fact is they refused to hear. The two samples (below), were sent to the IPC way back before Order M-719 was written and in other Appeals / Inquiries there after but the IPC would not see what was being waved in front of its face.
The Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA), reviewed the City claims, that were clearly aimed at denying access to A-R-I-S, in their submission to Appeal - Inquiry M-9500118 and said "We submit that this claim, on the part of the City, lacks credibility." I say, the IPC then had the problem of a City trying to fool them with falsehoods and rather than take the Mayor Hazel McCallion to task, the IPC started to help the City eliminate my FOI requests in hopes I would just give up (end of problem), but I did not! So today the IPC is siting on a volcano of evidence of its wrong doing.
The misinformation that was was given out by the City, not just to me but to the Information and Privacy Commission/Ont. (IPC)! The City tried to claim:
"The City indicates that it has spent approximately 3 hours producing this one page document."
&
"The document prepared by the City for this appeal deals with the ARIS index for EC. 12 and is one page with 24 entries. The entries contain coded information which identifies file storage information."
How can anyone, especially the IPC believe that so-called trained & professional City staff would take 3 HOURS to create a ONE PAGE document with only 24 ENTRIES on it! Does this mean the the City's computer and staff are so PRIMITIVE that it was like Fred Flintstone chiselling the data into a stone tablet? Is this how our tax dollars are spent?
For the source of those quotes - click here.
Does the Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC), have a hidden agenda regarding the releasing of government computer records? Is that the reason why I was stone walled by bureaucrats and their frivolous & vexatious reasons. Would access to City computer files be what the government and the IPC want to make sure does not happen and be the reason why I got abused by the City and IPC, so badly?
Check this out.
Seeing is believe, they say so below is the proof.
Item # 1 - a print out what staff use in their day to day operations. A print-out of all their files & locations, done about 4 times a year and sits on the desk of the file manager, of that section. I asked how long it took to make a copy of the items below, that the City sent to me (it was not by the City of Mississauga's FOI Co-ordinator, Joan LeFeuvre), and she said about 2 minutes!!!!!!!!!!
Not in 3 hours. 2 minutes!!!
In both cases it clearly shows how the file system works, one file name, like E.C.12 would have many parts or sub files that have their titles and cross reference as to what they contain. Very much like a library and you can understand why government does not want this to become public. Another reason is a person can see how files link to other files and could discover things that are not in the files a person would normally think to look.
The other thing I do that the City finds so up-setting is I ask for access to the whole file. I do not waste time playing their guessing game of you name the individual records you want and we look for them - I say present the whole file and I will sort through it flagging the pages to be copied. I have done this at other government office with great success and they have even brought entire files from other parts of Ontario to their Toronto office so I could view them.
One fact needs to remembered, only the City of Mississauga got up-set with my FOI requests and that only happened after Hazel McCallion got unlawfully personally involved. The first thing Mississauga's Mayor, did when she politically & improperly interfered our Freedom of Information requests, was to shut them down and promise that, "we will not be providing you with the information, that you are requesting." A promise Joan LeFeuvre gives every intention of keeping.
Item # 2 - displays the most important feature of a database. That you can ask for a list or report of all files that mach a certain name, code or cross reference. Item # 2 - was created just to list Cawthra Bush files and was done at lighting computer speed, NOT in 3 hours!
Item # 1
Item # 2
