'It doesn't do the public any good' says Nunavut privacy commissioner on secret food inspections

Nunavut's Information and Privacy Commissioner says the territorial government should be making food inspections readily available to the public, just like the rest of the country.

CBC News obtained more than 600 inspections through an Access to Information request, which revealed a third of those inspections had at least one violation. The request was filed after failed attempts over the course of a year to obtain the documents through regular media requests.

• Finger-licking, coughing chefs: A look into Nunavut's food inspections

"Things like that should always be available to the public. We're talking about a health and safety issue," Elaine Keenan Bengts said.

"There should not be a need for an access to information request. A business doesn't have privacy rights; individuals do. It seems to be logical that that sort of information is the kind of information that should be made available in an open government."

All reports handwritten

Part of the problem is the Government of Nunavut doesn't digitize reports from its environmental health officers — the formal title for inspectors.

When CBC News received its request for territory-wide inspections from 2014 and 2015, most of the 769 pages were handwritten documents.

"I can understand, in a fashion, why these records are not digitized. Because when inspectors go out, they write down their notes," Keenan Bengts said.

"I am surprised that those are not transposed in some way into electronic format. Because everything these days is electronic, and paper is, passé, shall we say."

Nunavut is the only jurisdiction in Canada that doesn't make its restaurant inspections readily available to the public. Yukon was the last to post its inspections online, rolling out its program this past January.

"Open government is the thing of the future," Keenan Bengts said.

"If you're just going to do the inspections, to do the inspections, and the public isn't privy to the results of those inspections, it doesn't do the public any good."

The Government of Nunavut's health department has still not been able to accommodate an interview, after a week of requests.