Guide to LA FOIP-Chapter 6

Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to LA FOIP, Chapter 6, Protection of Privacy. Updated 27 February 2023. 60 In Review Report 207-2016 to 211-2016, the Commissioner found that the telephone numbers of professional appraisers acting in their capacity as professionals was “business card information” and not personal information. In Review Report 082-2017, the Commissioner found that the contact information for an individual acting in their professional capacity (a former employee’s post office box number, town, province and postal code, telephone number, fax number and email address) was “business card information” and was not personal information. Subsection 23(1)(f) Interpretation 23(1) Subject to subsections (1.1) and (2), “personal information” means personal information about an identifiable individual that is recorded in any form, and includes: … (f) the personal opinions or views of the individual except where they are about another individual; The personal views or opinions of an individual are that individual’s personal information unless the views or opinions are about someone else. Opinions are views or judgements not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.148 Views are particular ways of regarding something; an attitude or opinion.149 There is often confusion between subsections 23(1)(f), 23(1)(h) and 23(2)(b) of LA FOIP. All three provisions deal with views and opinions of individuals. The following examples will help clarify the three provisions: 23(1)(f) - the views or opinions expressed by an individual are the individual’s personal information. For example, an individual writes, “I am a bad student” or “I think exercise is overrated”. It is the individual’s personal views or opinions about something and is therefore, the individual’s personal information. If the views or opinions are about someone else – subsection 23(1)(h) of LA FOIP applies. 148 Pearsall, Judy, Concise Oxford Dictionary, 10th Ed., (Oxford University Press) at p. 999. See also SK OIPC Review Reports F-2006-004 at [43], LA-2013-003 at [26] and 139-2017 at [91]. 149 Pearsall, Judy, Concise Oxford Dictionary, 10th Ed., (Oxford University Press) at p. 1598.

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