Guide to FOIP-Chapter 4

Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 4, Exemptions from the Right of Access. Updated 8 April 2024. 23 IPC Findings In Review Report 016-2016, the Commissioner considered whether records created by the Ministry of Health qualified as information obtained from the government of another province or territory of Canada. The records were summaries of specific telephone conversations with counterparts in three other provinces. The Commissioner found that the summaries, although created by the Ministry of Health, constituted information obtained from governments of other provinces of Canada. Therefore, the first part of the test was met. In Review Report 051-2017, the Commissioner found that the North American Strategy for Competitiveness (NASCO) did not qualify for the first part of the test. While the members of NASCO may have included representatives of governments, NASCO itself was not an entity that acted on behalf of any government of another province, territory of Canada or its agencies, Crown corporations or other institutions. As such, the Commissioner found subsection 13(1)(b) of FOIP did not apply. 2. Was the information obtained implicitly or explicitly in confidence? In confidence usually describes a situation of mutual trust in which private matters are relayed or reported. Information obtained in confidence means that the provider of the information has stipulated how the information can be disseminated.56 In order for confidence to be found, there must be an implicit or explicit agreement or understanding of confidentiality on the part of both the government institution and the party that provided the information.57 The expectation of confidentiality must be reasonable and must have an objective basis.58 Whether the information is confidential will depend upon its content, its purposes, and the circumstances in which it was compiled or communicated. (Corporate Express Canada, Inc. v. The President and Vice Chancellor of Memorial University of Newfoundland, Gary Kachanoski, (2014)) Once it has been established that the executive branch of government obtained a record from another government in confidence, the continued confidentiality of that record must be presumed, unless the other government has consented to disclosure or has made the 56 Service Alberta, FOIP Guidelines and Practices: 2009 Edition, Chapter 4 at p. 104; SK OIPC Review Reports F-2006-002 at [51], H-2008-002 at [73]; ON IPC Order MO-1896 at p. 8. 57 SK OIPC Review Reports F-2006-002 at [52], LA-2013-002 at [57]; ON IPC Order MO-1896 at p. 8. 58 SK OIPC Review Reports F-2012-001/LA-2012-001 at [32], LA-2013-002 at [49]; ON IPC Orders PO2273 at p. 7 and PO-2283 at p. 10.

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