In a 7-0 decision today (Thursday, April 24, 2014) the Supreme Court of Canada has found that Ontarians may know the number of convicted sex offenders living in their neighborhoods by the first three characters of the postal code. These characters identify what is known to Canada Post as the Forward Sortation Area (FSA). In Leaside, for example, the FSA is M4G. The Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling that gave citizens the right to know how many sex offenders live within this general geographic area in Ontario. The court said releasing this information doesn’t violate the province’s privacy laws. The ruling doesn’t give citizens the right to know names, addresses, or other personal information of sex offenders. The Ontario Government had opposed release of the information as approved today by the high court.
