Guide to FOIP-Chapter 2

Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 2, Administration of FOIP. Updated 7 March 2023. 23 • In the Commissioner’s report - any matter the Commissioner considers necessary to establish grounds for the findings and recommendations [s. 46(3)(b) of FOIP]. Relying on subsection 46(3)(b) of FOIP, the Commissioner will exercise discretion and may quote portions of a party’s representations (submission) when issuing a report. This may include quotes from a government institution, applicant or third party’s submission. Representation means the documents, other evidence and/statements or affidavits provided by a party setting out its position with respect to the information at issue and often referred to as a submission.33 When making a disclosure, the Commissioner shall take every reasonable precaution to avoid disclosure and shall not disclose: • Information or material which could justify a refusal by a head to give access to a record or part of a record. • Any information as to whether a record exists where the head has applied subsection 7(4) of FOIP. The Commissioner and the Commissioner’s staff do not release records to applicants that have been withheld by a government institution. Decisions to release are made by the head under FOIP. The Commissioner may recommend release of certain records or information, however, that release must be done by the government institution. During the course of a review, all parties will be asked if they agree to sharing their representations (submissions) with the other parties. If any party wishes to have its submission remain in-camera, it should indicate that to the IPC and it will remain so. In camera, in this context, means only the Information and Privacy Commissioner (and necessary staff of the Commissioner) will see the submission and it will not be shared with the other parties to the review. If the parties’ consent, then submissions will be shared. Otherwise, they will not be. 33 SK OIPC Rules of Procedure at p. 3.

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