Guide to FOIP-Chapter 6

Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 6, Protection of Privacy. Updated 27 February 2023. 262 29(2) Subject to any other Act or regulation, personal information in the possession or under the control of a government institution may be disclosed: … (u) as prescribed in the regulations. 16 For the purposes of clause 29(2)(u) of the Act, personal information may be disclosed: … (f) for the purpose of commencing or conducting a proceeding or possible proceeding before a court or tribunal; Government institutions should still abide by the data minimization and need-to-know principles when disclosing personal information. Only disclose the least amount of personal information necessary to achieve the purpose. Further, only disclose to those that have a need-to-know the personal information to carry out the purpose. See Need-to-Know and Data Minimization earlier in this Chapter. IPC Findings In Investigation Report 072-2014, the Commissioner investigated a complaint involving Saskatchewan Telecommunications (SaskTel). The complaint alleged that SaskTel used the complainant’s personal information to set up a pre-authorized payment account for his daughter. This resulted in several unauthorized uses and disclosures of the complainant’s personal information. SaskTel asserted that it had authority to disclose the complainant’s personal information pursuant to subsection 29(2)(u) of FOIP and subsection 16(c) of The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Regulations. The complainant’s daughter had been paying the complainant’s telephone bill via pre-authorized payments for close to two years and in order to have done that SaskTel would have had to disclose the complainant’s financial information to the bank. SaskTel asserted that the disclosure was a benefit to both the complainant and his daughter as it was disclosed as part of identifying and fixing the problem. However, the Commissioner found the disclosure was not necessary for the removal of the pre-authorized payments and found subsection 29(2)(u) of FOIP and subsection 16(c) of The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Regulations did not provide authority. In Investigation Report 278-2017, the Commissioner investigated a complaint involving Saskatchewan Power Corporation (SaskPower). The complaint alleged SaskPower disclosed a briefing note to the Minister Responsible for SaskPower containing details about an access to information request and included the first and last name of the complainant (who was also

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTgwMjYzOA==