Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 4, Exemptions from the Right of Access. Updated 24 July 2025. 289 Prima facie means at first sight; on first appearance but subject to further evidence or information. A ‘prima facie case’ is where a party produces enough evidence to allow the fact-trier to infer the fact at issue and rule in the party’s favor .997 A prima facie case can be made to the Commissioner without providing a copy of the records but only for records that may be subject to solicitor-client and litigation privilege. All other records must be provided in the course of a review. If making a prima facie case, the Commissioner will need the following from the government institution if claiming litigation privilege for subsection 22(a) of FOIP: • An affidavit of documents which includes an Index of Records (Schedule) that includes: o Sufficient detail to identify the document and allow the Commissioner to determine whether a prima facie case for the claim of litigation privilege has been made. It should include: A description of the litigation. The dates of the litigation. A description of the party to whom the correspondence is written to, or received from, or at least a description of the role of the party (such as medical expert, potential witness, client). A description of an enclosure where relevant. Some particulars as to the purpose of the document.998 For more on what the Commissioner requires, see Part 9: Solicitor-Client or Litigation Privilege in the Rules of Procedure. If the government institution provides less than what is needed for a prima facie case to be met, the Commissioner may request additional details. If the government institution fails to provide the additional details, the Commissioner may do one or both of the following, pursuant to subsection 54(2) of FOIP: • Summon and enforce the appearance of any person, including employees of a government institution, before the Commissioner and compel them to give oral 997 Garner, Bryan A., 2019. Black’s Law Dictionary, 11th Edition. St. Paul, Minn.: West Group at p. 1441. 998 Gichuru v. British Columbia (Information and Privacy Commissioner), 2014 BCCA 259 (CanLII) at [43].
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