Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 3, Access to Records. Updated 5 May 2023. 28 information requests. In both reviews, the Commissioner found that Economy and SaskPower did not indicate in its section 7 response to the applicants that it was severing or withholding information deemed non-responsive. The Commissioner recommended that Economy and SaskPower revise policy and procedures so that its section 7 letters indicate when records are being withheld as non-responsive or information is being severed from a record as nonresponsive and give reasons why. Creating Records Government institutions are not obligated to create records which do not exist. A government institution’s “duty to assist” (section 5.1 of FOIP) does not include an obligation to create records which do not exist at the time the access to information request is 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.46 FOIP does not require a government institution to create records in response to an access to information request. However, if the information requested is contained within a database the information must be provided consistent with subsection 10(2) of FOIP. For more on subsection 10(2) of FOIP see Section 10: Manner of Access, later in this Chapter. IPC Findings In Review Report 313-2016, the Commissioner reviewed a denial of access involving the Ministry of Economy (Economy). An applicant sought access to how many Saskatchewan Immigration Nominee Program (SINP) applications were represented by various parties (e.g., lawyer, family member, employer etc.) between October 11, 2013 and October 31, 2016. Economy responded to the applicant indicating records did not exist. The applicant requested the Commissioner review Economy’s decision. In its submission to the Commissioner, Economy asserted that the SINP does not create records with the type of information the applicant was seeking and that it was not possible to create a record that broke down the individual applicants by the criteria sought without double counting. Economy provided additional explanation as to why the records did not exist in the format sought by the applicant. The Commissioner found that Economy had demonstrated that it did not have the records responsive to the applicant’s request. During the review, the Commissioner also considered the issue of whether Economy was obligated to create a 46 SK OIPC Review Reports 313-2016 at [18], 038-2018 at [21] and 057-2019 at [9] to [15].
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