Correction of a Record

An individual has the right under section 31 of LAFOIP to request correction of any information on his or her file.

If the correction is not made a notation must be made on the file that a correction was requested and refused.

The head has 30 days to notify the individual that the correction has been made or that the notation has been put on the file.

“Severing” Information from a Record

Care should be taken to assess each record in order to determine whether the information it contains can be released without the need for further consent. Personal information about other individuals or confidential information that should not be released must be “severed” from a record before the information is released.

Severing of paper records is usually accomplished by blacking out the relevant information and then providing a photocopy of the blacked-out record. Copies should be carefully checked to ensure that the severed information is not readable.

In the case of electronic records the data that can be released must be separated from the data which cannot be released in whatever form best suits the medium. The onus is on the board of education (board) to ensure that protected data is not included or released.

For more information on severing a record view the Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner presentation entitled “Severing Made Easy”.

Creating New Documents

LAFOIP does not require the board to create records. If a specific record requested does not exist, the local authority does not have to find the information and create a new record. The board does not have to respond to questions or inquiries by doing new research or producing new documents. If the board does not have the programming or software to be able to respond to the request it does not have to do so.

If, however, the information requested is stored in a database or other format that allows the board to create reports based on the data, the board will be required to produce a report from the database as a response to an information request.