Guide to FOIP-Chapter 2

Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 2, Administration of FOIP. Updated 7 March 2023. 48 Offences & Penalties Section 66: Proceedings Prohibited Proceedings prohibited 66(1) No proceeding lies or shall be instituted against the Government of Saskatchewan, a government institution, a head or other officer or employee of a government institution for: (a) the giving or withholding in good faith of access to any record pursuant to this Act; (b) any consequences that flow from the giving or withholding of access mentioned in clause (a); or (c) the failure to give any notice required pursuant to this Act, if reasonable care is taken to give the required notice. (2) For the purposes of clause (1)(c), reasonable care is deemed to have been taken if notice required to be sent to an applicant is sent to the address of the applicant given on the prescribed application form. (3) No proceeding lies or shall be instituted against the commissioner or any employee or agent of the commissioner, where the commissioner, employee or agent is acting pursuant to the authority of this Act or the regulations made pursuant to this Act, for any loss or damage suffered by a person by reason of anything in good faith done, caused, permitted or authorized to be done, attempted to be done or omitted to be done, by any of them, pursuant to or in the exercise of or supposed exercise of any power conferred by this Act or the regulations or in the carrying out or supposed carrying out of any order made pursuant to this Act or any duty imposed by this Act or the regulations. There will undoubtedly be instances in which government institutions release information that is protected from disclosure by a mandatory exemption under FOIP. This is likely to be the result of a misinterpretation or misapplication of the statute or simply inadvertence. A person who is injured by such action may well look to the government for recovery of the amount of any damages suffered.85 It is also possible that injury could occur from a decision to withhold a record. However, subsections 66(1)(a) and (b) of FOIP protect the government and its officials from civil liability in these circumstances, if the decision to disclose or withhold was made in good faith. 85 McNairn and Woodbury, Government Information: Access and Privacy, (2009), Carswell: Toronto at p. 6-34.

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