Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 3, Access to Records. Updated 5 May 2023. 147 (a.7) has already been the subject of a report pursuant to section 55 by the commissioner; (b) is not made in good faith; or (c) concerns a trivial matter. Subsection 50(1) Review or refusal to review 50(1) Where the commissioner is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to review any matter set out in an application pursuant to section 49, the commissioner shall review the matter. Subsection 50(1) of FOIP provides that where the Commissioner is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to conduct a review on any matter set out in section 49 of FOIP, the Commissioner will conduct a review. IPC Findings In Review Report 023-2017 & 078-2017, the Commissioner considered the issue of nonresponsive information. SaskPower had removed portions of two documents based on its interpretation of the applicant’s access to information request. Upon review, SaskPower asserted that the applicant did not have an “unfettered right to a review” by the Commissioner and the Commissioner must first be satisfied that there were reasonable grounds to review. SaskPower further argued that there were no reasonable grounds to review whether the entirety of the documents were responsive to the access request. The Commissioner reminded SaskPower that subsection 7(2)(d) of FOIP required government institutions to set out the reason for refusal and identify the specific provision of FOIP on which refusal is based. Further, there was no explicit authority in FOIP to redact records as “non responsive”. Finally, that the Commissioner currently accepts the application of “nonresponsive” to information in records, however, the practice may be reconsidered if its application by government institutions is counter to the purposes of FOIP. The Commissioner found that there were reasonable grounds to review the issue of “non-responsive”. The Commissioner recommended that when SaskPower removes information from documents that it include an explanation in its responses to applicants.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTgwMjYzOA==