Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 3, Access to Records. Updated 5 May 2023. 26 Records Not Responsive When a government institution receives an access to information request, it must determine what information is responsive to the access request. Responsive means relevant. The term describes anything that is reasonably related to the request. It follows that any information or records that do not reasonably relate to an applicant’s request will be considered “not responsive”. Subsection 5.1(1) of FOIP requires government institutions to respond to applicants openly, accurately and completely. If a government institution removes information from a responsive document because it has been deemed not responsive, it should advise the applicant in its section 7 response and explain why.41 Government institutions are not obligated to create records that do not exist. In Review Report 313-2016, the Commissioner said that a government institution’s duty to assist does not include an obligation to create records which do not exist at the time the access to information request was made. However, if a government institution has records containing the raw information that is sought by an applicant that can be produced, then those records would be responsive to the applicant’s access request.42 Where information being sought can be produced from a government institution’s existing computer software by means of technical expertise normally used by it, it will constitute a record under subsection 2(1)(i) of FOIP.43 Avoid breaking up the flow of information (i.e., do not remove information as not responsive within sentences or paragraphs). Providing an applicant with a complete copy of a record subject only to limited and specific exemptions, even if this means providing what the government institution views as not responsive information is entirely consistent with the purposes of FOIP.44 When determining what information is responsive, consider the following: • The request itself sets out the boundaries of relevancy and circumscribes the records or information that will ultimately be identified as being responsive. 41 SK OIPC Review Reports 061-2017 at [82] and 023-2017 & 078-2017 at [39] and [40]. 42 SK OIPC Review Reports 313-2016 at [18] and 038-2018 at [21]. 43 Toronto Police Services Board v. Ontario (Information and Privacy Commissioner), 2009, ONCA 20 (CanLII) at [59]. 44 SK OIPC Review Report 023-2017 and 078-2017 at [37].
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