Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 3, Access to Records. Updated 5 May 2023. 171 Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (LA FOIP). The mother and father had joint legal decision-making for the children via an agreement pursuant to subsection 3(3) of The Children’s Law Act, 2020. The Commissioner found that both parents had equal responsibility for and were entitled to communicate with the children’s school. Therefore, both parents had equal rights to exercise the powers and rights of the children under subsection 49(d) of LA FOIP. Furthermore, that subsection 49(d) of LA FOIP should not be interpreted to permit one equally ranked substitute decision-maker to override the decision of the other equally ranked substitute decision-maker. This is particularly the case where the substitute decision-makers share rights as joint custodians. Without an agreement, court order or other evidence that one decision-maker’s views should prevail in a conflict, a head should not rely on the consent of one joint decision-maker where the other joint decision-maker objects. The Commissioner also clarified that there was no requirement for a local authority to canvass the views of every substitute decision-maker who is equally ranked to satisfy itself that it has the requisite authority. However, where a local authority is aware that one of the decision-makers does not agree with a request from the other equally ranked decision-maker, the local authority should not rely on the direction of one of the decision-makers only. For this reason, the Commissioner found that St. Paul’s did not properly apply subsection 49(d) of LA FOIP. Subsection 59(e) Exercise of rights by other persons 59 Any right or power conferred on an individual by this Act may be exercised: … (e) by any person with written authorization from the individual to act on the individual’s behalf. Subsection 59(e) of FOIP provides that any person can act on another’s behalf in terms of exercising the rights and powers under FOIP provided they have written authorization to do so. A written authorization is a document in writing signed by an individual who authorizes another individual to do certain acts in the name of and on behalf of the individual signing the document.294 294 Service Alberta, FOIP Guidelines and Practices: 2009 Edition, Chapter 2 at p. 39.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTgwMjYzOA==