The Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA) provides individuals with a right of access to general records held by municipalities and records containing an individual’s own personal information. MFIPPA also requires municipalities to protect personal information contained in their record holdings. These requirements are outlined in a set of rules governing the collection, use, disclosure and retention of personal information maintained by municipal governments.   

Norfolk County provides a variety of information services to the public. Norfolk County’s Directory of Records is provided to aid your search and determine if Norfolk County has custody and control of the records you are seeking, where the records may be located and if the records may be accessed by the public. The Directory of Records doubles as Norfolk County’s records classification system and is updated on an annual basis:

Norfolk County Access to Information Services includes:

If you are seeking a Norfolk County record please first contact Norfolk County’s Clerk by mail, phone or e-mail through the below address:

Genevieve Scharback
County Clerk
Norfolk County Council Services Department
50 Colborne Street South
Simcoe, ON N3Y 4H3

Phone: 519-426-5870 or 226-NORFOLK x 1228
Fax: 519-426-8673
E-Mail: [email protected]

Routine Access to Municipal Records (Property Files)

Records in the custody and control of Norfolk County may be accessible to the public without submitting a formal access request.

Requests for your own property file is considered routine access without associated costs unless the request is for a large property file with many records or the request would require many search hours to complete. Any previous property owner information would also be removed before release.

Your request will be reviewed and determined the type of request that should be submitted. It is important to note that the rules governing access and privacy under MFIPPA apply to both formal and informal requests for information.

You may alternatively request records from your property file through directly contacting the Building Department by e-mailing [email protected].

Access to Historical Records (Former Township)

If you are seeking a historical record from one of the former townships within Norfolk County prior to 2001 or a historical record from a related agency within Norfolk County, your request may be directed to Norfolk County Archives for review through the following contact information:

Norfolk County Archives at Eva Brook Donly Museum
109 Norfolk Street South
Simcoe, Ontario N3Y 2W3
Phone: 519-426-1583
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: https://www.nca-ebdm.ca/

Personal Health Information requests (Animal Bites, Ambulance Calls, Long Term Care Home Resident Files)

Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit, Norview Lodge and Norfolk County’s Paramedic Services are the municipalities affiliated health information custodians to which a personal health information may be requested under the Personal Health Information Protection Act. For personal health information requests to the health unit please contact the Deputy Clerk.

Personal Health Information requests for Norview Lodge such as requesting your own resident file may be submitted to:

Bill Nolan, Administrator
Norview Lodge
44 Rob Blake Way
Simcoe, Ontario N3Y 0E3
Phone: 519-426-0902 ext. 4224

Ambulance Call Report requests are directly mailed to Norfolk County Paramedic Services:

Divisional Support Clerk
Norfolk County Paramedic Services
95 Culver Street
Simcoe, Ontario N3Y 2V5
Fax: 519-426-1316

A fee of $65.00 is made payable to Norfolk County for the provision of an Ambulance Call Report. The fee is returned if received with the request and the requested Ambulance Call Report does not exist.

Rabies Investigation Forms, more commonly referred to as animal/dog bite information requests, are a request for personal health information. There is a $77.75 processing fee for this request made payable to Norfolk County and submitted to the Deputy Clerk.

Personal health information requests for Master Audio Recordings and Call Detail Reports of 911 calls are made to Ministry of Health’s Access and Privacy Office – e-mail: [email protected].

Environmental Information Requests

Requests for environmental information related to a specific Norfolk County address is best completed through submitting an Environmental Information Request directly to Environmental and Infrastructure Services Division with the accompaniment of an $173.00 application fee made payable to Norfolk County.

The reason for this request not being facilitated through a freedom of information request is that the information has to be created and involves researching the surrounding area of the property in order to provide a full response. A freedom of information request only provides records that already exist related to the specific address.

Environmental Information Requests can be mailed to:

Norfolk County Environmental Services and Infrastructure Division
185 Robinson St., Suite 100
Simcoe, ON N3Y 5L6
Phone: 519-426-5870 or 226-NORFOLK Ext. 0
Fax: 519-426-8573

Fire Incident Reports and Fire Property Search

Fire Incident Reports and Fire Property Search requests are available through Norfolk County Fire Serivces. Requests may be submitted through regular mail or via email. Please allow up to 3 weeks for processing.

Mail to:

Norfolk County Fire Department
Delhi Administration Building
183 Main St, of Delhi
Delhi, ON N4B 2M3
(519) 582-2100

Email: [email protected]

Fire Incident Reports and Fire Property Search are subject to an application fee as outlined in the County’s annual User Fee By-Law.

2023 Fees:

Fire Reports: $82.00

Property Fire Search: $63.00

Formal Requests under the MFIPPA

Formal requests are also addressed to the County Clerk. All MFIPPA formal requests must be made in writing and be accompanied by a $5.00 mandatory application fee made payable to Norfolk County. Cheque and money order payments are accepted by mail, cash and debit only payments are accepted in-person at the customer service One Window located at 185 Robinson Street, Simcoe ON. A link to Norfolk County’s FOI Request form is below:

· FOI Request Form

Formal requests for police records from Norfolk County are requested to the Ministry of Solicitor General Freedom of Information Office.

Request for Ontario Works Files

A request for an Ontario Works file kept with Haldimand-Norfolk Social Services is processed as a formal request for personal information.  The $5.00 application fee made payable to Norfolk County applies and is submitted to the Deputy Clerk.  If a lawyer is requesting the Ontario Works file on an individual’s behalf, authorization is required from the individual and is to be addressed to Haldimand-Norfolk Social Services. This authorization must state that the individual authorizes release of their personal information in the file to their lawyer. Both the authorization and the application must be provided before the formal request is able to be processed.

Fees

Additional fees as outlined in MFIPPA regulations and below may be applied to submitted formal requests:

Search time: $7.50 per 15 minutes
Record preparation: $7.50 per 15 minutes

If formal request is for paper formatted records:
Photocopy costs: $0.20 per page

If formal request is for digitally formatted records:
USB: $10.00 each
Computer Cost: $15.00 per 15 minutes

For further details on when additional fees may be applied to formal requests, please contact the Deputy Clerk.