Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 3, Access to Records. Updated 5 May 2023. 39 To clarify is to remove complexity, ambiguity or obscurity from; to make clear or plain; remove ignorance, misconception or error from.69 To narrow is to become narrower, decrease in width or breadth; diminish, lessen, contract.70 Government institutions are not authorized under FOIP to require an applicant to “narrow” an access to information request. If a request is clear but is voluminous and requires a lot of work to search and gather records, the government institution should issue a fee estimate pursuant to section 9 of FOIP. Once issued, the government institution should make efforts to work with the applicant to reduce the fee by narrowing the access to information request. However, if an applicant chooses not to narrow and prefers to pay the fee, the government institution should process the request. Narrowing should not be confused with clarifying an access to information request. Section 6 of FOIP does not contemplate “narrowing” but rather “clarifying”. Subsections 6(1)(b) and 6(3) of FOIP address situations where a government institution cannot determine what the applicant is seeking. Subsection 6(1)(b) of FOIP requires an applicant to provide “sufficient particularity” as to time, place and event to enable an individual familiar with the subject-matter to identify the record. Sufficient particularity means stating precisely what is being sought. Applicants should provide sufficient detail to enable an experienced employee of the government institution, with reasonable effort, to identify the records sought.71 The requirement of FOIP on both applicants and government institutions in combination with the purposes of the Act demonstrate an intention on the part of the Legislature that an individual’s access to information request will be processed by the government institution in a fair, reasonable, open and flexible manner. Requiring an applicant to narrow an access to information request because it is too much work or too expensive to process, is not authorized under FOIP. In terms of “clarification” of an access to information request, many applicants are unfamiliar with an organization and its administrative practices. They may not be aware of the process 69 The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, Sixth edition, Oxford University Press 1973, Volume 1 at p. 422. 70 The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, Sixth edition, Oxford University Press 1973, Volume 2 at p. 1891. 71 See SK OIPC Disregard Decision 040-2022, 041-2022, 042-2022 at [49] and [50]. See also subsection 5(1)(a) of British Columbia’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, subsection 24(1)(b) of Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and subsection 6(1)(b) of Nova Scotia’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
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