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POPA and ATIA Compliance

How Alberta’s new Access to Information Act and Protection of Privacy Act are changing municipal data management.

What Has ChangeD

Alberta’s introduction of the Protection of Privacy Act (POPA), alongside the Access to Information Act (ATIA), represents a fundamental shift in how municipalities must manage personal information. 

Privacy is no longer a records management issue; it is now an organization-wide governance responsibility.  

With a compliance deadline of June 2026, municipalities must move quickly to: 

  • Identify where personal information exists. 
  • Bring it under control.  
  • Prevent new risks from being created.  
  • Demonstrate compliance through systems and governance. 

From the Alberta.ca Website:

Privacy impact assessments

POPA establishes that public bodies are required to prepare privacy impact assessments under prescribed circumstances.

Conducting prepare privacy impact assessments is an exercise to assist public bodies in identifying and addressing privacy risks associated with the implementation of any new administrative practice, program, project or service, when substantial changes are being made to an existing administrative practice, program, project or service. 

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Many municipalities still manage records using:
  • Antiquated systems
  • Unsecured, unreliable storage solutions
  • Spreadsheet records
  • Filing cabinets containing decades of historical data
  • Decentralized storage across the orgnaization
This creates several challenges:
  • Lack of visibility into everywhere personal information (PII) exists
  • Uncontrolled intake methods such as email, PDFs, and paper forms
  • Fragmented storage across shared drives, inboxes, and legacy systems
  • Limited ability to enforce retention and defensible disposition
  • Exposure to long-term risk from unmanaged legacy data
  • Increasing pressure to respond to access and privacy requests

KEY TAKEAWAYS FOR MUNICIPAL LEADERS

Addressing these challenges requires more than policies. It required a fundamentally different operating model.

  1. Compliance is operational, not theoretical
  2. Technology enables compliance, and policy formalizes it 
  3. Risk must be addressed at the point of data creation 
  4. Legacy data must be actively managed, not ignored 

What are a Multi-Year Governance Strategy Designed for POPA/ATIA Legislation

Operational Compliance Achieved

Achieving a level of operational maturity that complies: 

Benefits:

✅  Full Visibility: Clear understanding of where personal information resides

✅ Controlled Collection: Standardized and secure intake of all data

✅ Governed Storage: Centralized records with enforced retention policies

✅ Confident Response: Ability to respond to access and privacy requests efficiently and accurately

Risk Reduction

Finding and mitigating sources of risk including:

✅ Reduced exposure to privacy breaches

✅ Minimized long-term liability from legacy data

✅ Strengthened compliance with legislative requirements

 

Avoidance of Significant Costs

In addition to significant fines, there are several other costly factors to consider:

✅ Regulatory penalties ranging from $100,000 to $1,000,000 per offence

✅ Privacy breach remediation costs 

✅ Reputational damage and loss of public trust

SOLUTION 

A Multi-Year Governance Strategy 

Enterprise Records Management —System of Record

Laserfiche as a centralized, compliant records management system: 

  • Controlled access to sensitive information
  • Full auditability of records
  • Legislated retention and defensible disposition
  • Elimination of fragmented storage across email, shared drives, and paper

Controlled Data Collection —Forms and Workflows

Mitigate risk and update systems by replacing:

  • PDF forms
  • Paper-based processes
  • Email-based submissions


Implement digital forms and workflows delivered through the FARMER platform 

  • Resident-facing services such as permits, dog licensing, and service requests

  • Internal processes including HR, insurance, benefits, and approvals

Results: 

  • Eliminated uncontrolled intake of PII 
  • Ensured secure and structured data capture 
  • Automated routing and approvals 
  • Direct filing into the records management system 

Enterprise PII Discovery and Risk Reduction

Deploy enterprise scanning and classification tools to:

  • Identify PII across emails, attachments, and network drives

  • Detect duplicate and unmanaged records

  • Assess risk across legacy data environments

Based on findings, implement:

  • Secure high-risk data into controlled systems
  • Defensibly disposed of redundant, obsolete, and trivial (ROT) data
  • Reduced long-term liability from historical records

Delivered by GovernmentFrameworks.com

GovernmentFrameworks.com helps municipalities modernize governance through technology.

Our mission is to:

Improve governance through modern technology and services designed specifically for municipal governments.

GovernmentFrameworks delivers solutions across:

  • Forms and digital services
  • Workflow automation
  • Records management
  • Public service modernization
  • Executive reporting and analytics

GovernmentFrameworks is an approved supplier through Canoe Procurement Canada, allowing municipalities to procure solutions quickly and compliantly.

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