Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to LA FOIP, Chapter3, Access to Records. Updated 5 May 2023. 12 IPC Findings In Review Report 278-2019, the Commissioner reviewed a denial of access involving the Resort Village of Candle Lake (RVCL). An applicant sought access to documentation related to a cheque including the invoice for the amount, copy of the cheque, the council resolution and retainer agreement. In the process of handling the request, the applicant made some modifications to the request and added some additional things via emails and letters. The RVCL responded requesting the applicant remit the additions on the prescribed Form A as it would help in clarifying the request in detail. The applicant requested the Commissioner review the RVCL’s decision. The Commissioner found that to qualify as a request under LA FOIP, it is not required that the request be submitted on a prescribed form, provided it has all the required elements found on the prescribed form. RVCL recognized the applicant’s email requesting records as a request under LA FOIP when it advised the applicant it would be processed in that manner. Further, if RVCL did not intend to process the emailed request as a request under LA FOIP, it should not have requested and accepted the applicant’s $20 application fee. Search for Records Subsection 5.1(1) of LA FOIP requires a local authority to respond to an applicant’s access to information request openly, accurately and completely. This means that local authorities should make reasonable effort to not only identify and seek out records responsive to an applicant’s access to information request, but to explain the steps in the process. The threshold that must be met is one of “reasonableness”. In other words, it is not a standard of perfection, but rather what a fair and rational person would expect to be done or consider acceptable.126F 17 A reasonable search is one in which an employee, experienced in the subject matter, expends a reasonable effort to locate records which are reasonably related to the request. A reasonable effort is the level of effort you would expect of any fair, sensible person searching areas where records are likely to be stored. What is reasonable depends on the request and related circumstances.127F 18 17 SK OIPC Review Report F-2012-002 at [27]. 18 SK OIPC Review Report F-2008-001 at [38] and F-2012-002 at [26].
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTgwMjYzOA==