Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 4, Exemptions from the Right of Access. Updated 24 July 2025. 272 2. Could an assiduous inquirer, aware of background information, use the information requested to deduce or otherwise acquire privileged communications? (School District No. 49 (Central Coast) v. British Columbia (Information and Privacy Commissioner), 2012 BCSC 427) After considering the submission from the Applicant, the Commissioner was not persuaded that release of information, namely the fees detailed in the invoices, was neutral information and that the presumption of privilege was rebutted. The Commissioner found that subsection 21(a) of LA FOIP applies to the invoices in their entirety. The Commissioner took a similar approach in Review Reports 280-2016 & 281-2016 and 003-2017. Waiver of Privilege Confidentiality is the sine qua non of privilege.939 Without confidentiality there can be no privilege and when confidentiality ends, so too should the privilege.940 Where a client authorizes the solicitor to reveal a solicitor-client communication, either it was never made with the intention of confidentiality, or the client has waived the right to confidentiality. In either case, there is no intention of confidentiality and no privilege attaches. For example, it has been held that documents prepared with the intention that they would be communicated to a third party, or where on their face they are addressed to a third party, are not privileged.941 Waiver of privilege means the voluntary relinquishing of a right, exemption or immunity.942 Solicitor-client privilege belongs to the client and persists unless it is waived by the client. To constitute a valid waiver, two essential prerequisites are generally necessary: i) The client knows of the existence of the privilege; and ii) The client demonstrates a clear intention to forego the privilege.943 939 Blank v. Canada (Minister of Justice), [2006] 2 SCR 319, 2006 SCC 39 (CanLII) at [32]. 940 Dodek, Adam, Solicitor-Client Privilege, 2014 (LexisNexis Canada Inc.: Markham, Ontario) at p. 189. 941 Stevens v. Canada (Prime Minister) (T.D.), 1997 CanLII 4805 (FC), [1997] 2 F.C. 759, p. 8. 942 Garner, Bryan A., 2019. Black’s Law Dictionary, 11th Edition. St. Paul, Minn.: West Group at p. 1895. 943 Western Canada Investment Company, Limited v. McDairmid, (1922), 15 Sask. L.R. 142 (QL) (Sask CA) at [146]. Drawn from Solicitor-Client Privilege in Canadian Law (Toronto: Butterworths, 1993) at p. 187. Relied on in SK OIPC Review Report F-2005-002 at [40].
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