Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to LA FOIP, Chapter3, Access to Records. Updated 5 May 2023. 18 Local Authority Records in Personal Email Accounts Email is an easy and accessible form of communication and a tool that we all use in our professional and personal lives. However, for local authority-related activities, personal email accounts should not be used. If a local authority employee (or elected official) uses a personal device and/or personal account (such as a personal email account) to conduct local authority-related activities, the Commissioner has taken the position that such records are still subject to LA FOIP.25 In such situations, the local authority should be searching those email accounts or personal devices for responsive records in addition to regular records holdings. There are both access and privacy issues that arise when local authority-related activities are conducted using personal email accounts. LA FOIP provides individuals with the right to access records in the possession or under the control of a local authority, subject to limited and specific exemptions. Storing local authority records in personal email accounts, threatens the right of access to records that LA FOIP provides as searches for records responsive to an access to information request are not generally done of local authority officials’ personal email accounts. There is also a risk that important records that reflect decision-making by local authority are not preserved. A local authority should take steps to ensure that it is consistently preserving records in the name of good governance as well as for the responsible preservation of documents that could be subject to future access to information requests.26 Overall, such practices undermine the transparency and accountability of government that is the foundation of access and privacy legislation. LA FOIP requires a local authority to respond to a written access to information request openly, accurately, and completely (s. 5.1(1) of LA FOIP). The use of personal email accounts by public servants makes this duty difficult to comply with because local authorities may not be aware of the existence of records on personal email accounts that are responsive to an access to information request. 25 SK OIPC resource, Best Practices for Managing the Use of Personal Email Accounts, Text Messaging and Other Instant Messaging Tools, May 2018 at p. 4. Available at Best Practices for Managing the Use of Personal Email Accounts, Text Messaging and Other Instant Messaging Tools (oipc.sk.ca). Accessed December 29, 2022. 26 SK OIPC Investigation Report 101-2017 at [34].
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