The fee as a barrier
Drafted 3 September 2026 · an amendment to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, Ontario · not yet filed
The Legislature wrote the word barrier into this Act four times and applied it to every time limit. To the fee that stands in the same section, and locks the same right, it applied the word not once. The amendment is not invented. It is copied from their own text.
The asymmetry, inside one section
50 (1.1) A person who appeals under subsection (1) shall pay the fee prescribed by the regulations for that purpose.
Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. F.31, s. 50 (1.1)
No exception, no discretion, no condition. The next subsection of the same section reads:
50 (2.0.1) If the time limit specified in subsection (2) presents a barrier, as defined in the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005, to the person, the Commissioner may extend the time limit for a period of time that is reasonably required in the circumstances to accommodate the person for the purpose of making the appeal.
Same Act, s. 50 (2.0.1), as enacted 2016, c. 5, Sched. 10, s. 3 (2)
What the amendment does
It adds one subsection, using the definition the Legislature has already adopted: where the fee presents a barrier, as defined in the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005, the Commissioner may waive it. No new concept is created and no new test is written. The construction is lifted from the subsection immediately above.
Why it matters beyond the fee
The appeal fee is the last gate on the only route that reviews a refusal of access. A person refused their own records, and unable to produce the fee, has no forum at all. The right stays on the page and stops at the counter.
Both quotations are the text in force, captured from the Ontario e-Laws consolidation on the day this page was written.