Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 4, Exemptions from the Right of Access. Updated 8 April 2024. 256 above mere speculation. On the continuum, speculation is at one end and certainty is at the other. The threshold for “could” therefore, is that which is possible. Speculative means engaged in, expressing or based on conjecture rather than knowledge. Conjecture is an opinion or conclusion based on incomplete information.867 Speculation generally has no objective basis. If the harm is fanciful or exceedingly remote, it is in the realm of speculation or conjecture. Possible means capable of existing, happening, or being achieved; that which is not certain or probable.868 Probable means likely to happen or be the case.869 If it is fanciful or exceedingly remote, the exemption should not be invoked.870 For this provision to apply there must be objective grounds for believing that disclosing the information could result in the harm alleged. Generally, this means the government institution must assess the risk and determine whether there are reasonable grounds for concluding there is a danger to the health or safety of any person. The assessment must be specific to the circumstances under consideration. Inconvenience, upset or the unpleasantness of dealing with difficult or unreasonable people is not sufficient to trigger the exemption. The threshold cannot be achieved based on unfounded, unsubstantiated allegations.871 The government institution should be able to detail what the harm is and to whom the harm threatens if the information were released. To threaten means to be likely to injure; be a source of harm or danger to.872 It means to create the possibility or risk of harm or jeopardize an individual’s safety or mental or physical well-being.873 867 Pearsall, Judy, Concise Oxford Dictionary, 10th Ed., (Oxford University Press) at pp. 1379 and 301. 868 Pearsall, Judy, Concise Oxford Dictionary, 10th Ed., (Oxford University Press) at p. 1117. 869 Pearsall, Judy, Concise Oxford Dictionary, 10th Ed., (Oxford University Press) at p. 1139. 870 SK OIPC Review Reports LA-2007-001 at [117], LA-2013-001 at [35], F-2014-001 at [149]. 871 SK OIPC Review Reports H-2007-001 at [29] and LA-2012-002 at [45] and [102]. 872 The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, Oxford University Press 1973, Volume 2 at p. 3248. 873 British Columbia Government Services, FOIPPA Policy Definitions at https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/services-for-government/policiesprocedures/foippa-manual/policy-definitions. Accessed April 23, 2020.
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