Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to LA FOIP, Chapter 6, Protection of Privacy. Updated 27 February 2023. 329 Personal Email Use for Business Email is an easy and accessible form of communication and a tool that we all use in our professional and personal lives. However, for government-related activities, personal email accounts should not be used. There are both access and privacy issues that arise when government-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 authorities are not preserved. Using personal email for government-related activities means the records reside elsewhere. A local authority should be taking 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.772 Overall, such practices undermine the transparency and accountability of local authorities 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. If an employee (councillor, mayor, etc.) uses a personal device and/or personal account (such as personal email account) to conduct government-related activities, the Commissioner has taken the position that such records are still subject to LA FOIP.773 The privacy implications when employees use personal email accounts to conduct local authority business must also be considered. 772 SK OIPC Investigation Report 101-2017 at [34]. 773 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.
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