Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 6, Protection of Privacy. Updated 27 February 2023. 288 Subsection 31(1) Individual’s access to personal information 31(1) Subject to Part III and subsection (2), an individual whose personal information is contained in a record in the possession or under the control of a government institution has a right to, and: (a) on an application made in accordance with Part II; and (b) on giving sufficient proof of his or her identity; shall be given access to the record. Subsection 31(1) of FOIP provides that upon application an individual is entitled to their own personal information contained within a record unless an exemption applies under Part III or subsection 31(2) of FOIP applies. Government institutions should interpret the exemptions to this right to personal information with a view to giving an individual as much access as possible. Records containing personal information may be very sensitive in nature, so care must be taken to ensure that proper safeguards are in place when these types of records are released. When providing an applicant with access to personal information, a government institution must be satisfied that the individual receiving the information is indeed the individual that the information is about or a duly appointed representative of that person.753 For more on duly appointed representatives, see Guide to FOIP, Chapter 3: “Access to Information”, Exercise of Rights by Authorized Representatives.754 For more information on verifying the identity of the applicant, the Ministry of Justice, Access and Privacy Branch issued the resource, Verifying the Identity of an Applicant. It provides helpful direction on steps to take to verify identity. 753 Government of Saskatchewan, Ministry of Justice, Access and Privacy Branch, Verifying the Identity of an Applicant, September 2017, at p. 2. 754 Also see section 59 (Exercise of rights by other persons) in FOIP.
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