Dear Brian,

I asked a person who is aware of the legalities of obtaining information.  I
hope that some of the information provided will aid in the discussion.

Cathy




"--- Section 37 of the FUNERAL DIRECTORS AND
ESTABLISHMENTS ACT governs the availability of information to the public
held in funeral establishment files.  It states that such availability shall
be prescribed by the REGULATIONS (made under the Act).

Regulation 470 under the ACT governs the "business practices" of funeral
directors and establishments.  Section 45 (a) of those regulations requires
funeral directors to respect the confidentiality of information pertaining
to a client EXCEPT where consent is obtained from the client to release the
information.  The only exception to this prohibition is in situations where
the confidential information is otherwise required to be disclosed "by law".

I doubt that the latter "loop hole" (allowing disclosure) would apply in
situations where a party was merely trying to assemble the data for
"historical" purposes.  Your inquirer might want to look at legislation
pertaining to collection for archival purposes to see if a period of time
(say 100 years) may have an effect on the above laws.

Other issues:  From my quick review of this legislation, which may be viewed
on line at www.gov.on.ca/MBS/english/publications/statregs/contents.html ,
it is doubtful that the records desired would be
considered "public" in nature.  It seems to me that, even the financial and
contractual records - though required to be kept by law - would fall within
the category of "private" corporate records - albeit, subject to regulatory
control.

For what it's worth, I think it would be a "travesty" if such records could
be accessed directly from the funeral home's files - for any reason.  While
it's arguable that, once published, this information is no longer insulated
from disclosure by the funeral home under the Act and regulations, there are
other ways to get the information (i.e. the newspaper obituaries
themselves), making the intrusion into their files unecessary.  Hence, it it
unlikely that any legal authority would grant access for this purpose."




Catherine Molloy, Curator
Markham Museum & Historic Village
9350 Highway 48, Markham, Ontario
L3P 3J3
Tel:  (905) 294-8779
Fax: (905) 294-4590
[log in to unmask]


> ----------
> From:         Brian Masschaele[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Reply To:     Brian Masschaele
> Sent:         Thursday, March 02, 2000 1:59 PM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      funeral home records
>
> Dear Colleagues:
>
> One of our members is in the process of trying to acquire records of the
> local funeral home.  They have asked me if there are any statutes
> preventing them from providing full access to the records.  They contain
> largely information that was provided to the local newspaper for
> obituaries.  To my knowledge, freedom of information and privacy law does
> not apply as these are not public records.  Before I instruct them to look
> through other pieces of legislation first, does anybody have a quick
> answer?  Has anybody acquired these records in the past?  I have advised
> them that even if there are no formal regulations prohibiting access,
> other ethical considerations should be incorporated into an access policy
> given the often sensitive nature of the information.  Any feedback on
> this?  The case here is that the funeral home wants to destory the records
> (some from the early 20th century) but may be persuaded to donate them if
> they have assurances that they are not controvening legislation or
> professional ethics.  I thought I would take my search provincial first
> given that the legislation (if any) is likely provincial in nature.
> Thanks in advance for your help.  Brian.
>
> Brian Masschaele
> AAO Archives Advisor
> 395 Wellington Road, P.O. Box 25172
> London Ontario Canada N6C 6A9
> Phone:  519-690-2870  Fax:  519-690-2871  E-mail:  [log in to unmask]
> Web:  http://www.fis.utoronto.ca/people/affiliated/aao
>
>