Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 4, Exemptions from the Right of Access. Updated 8 April 2024. 292 Subsection 22(c) Solicitor-client privilege 22 A head may refuse to give access to a record that: … (c) contains correspondence between an agent of the Attorney General for Saskatchewan or legal counsel for a government institution and any other person in relation to a matter involving the provision of advice or other services by the agent or legal counsel. Subsection 22(c) of FOIP is a discretionary class-based exemption. It permits refusal of access in situations where a record contains correspondence between the government institution’s legal counsel (or an agent of the Attorney General) and any other person in relation to a matter that involves the provision of advice or services by legal counsel (or an agent of the Attorney General). This provision is broader in scope than subsection 22(a) of FOIP. Subsection 22(c) of FOIP is intended to allow parties to correspond freely in relation to matters about which they need to speak in order to allow the lawyer’s advice or services to be provided.1012 The following two-part test can be applied: 1. Is the record a correspondence between the government institution’s legal counsel (or an agent of the Attorney General) and any other person? Correspondence means letters sent or received.1013 It is an interchange of written communication.1014 A memorandum or note from one employee of a government institution to another summarizing a conversation between that employee and the government institution’s lawyer may meet the criteria for this provision.1015 1012 AB IPC Interim Decision Order F2018-D-01/Order F2018-38 at [153]. 1013 Pearsall, Judy, Concise Oxford Dictionary, 10th Ed., (Oxford University Press) at p. 320. 1014 Previous definition from SK OIPC Review Report 125-2015 at [35]. 1015 Information contained in a “post-it” note was found to be “information in correspondence between …a public body and any other person in relation to a matter involving the provision of advice…by the lawyer” in AB IPC Order 96-019 at [113].
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