Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 4, Exemptions from the Right of Access. Updated 24 July 2025. 56 under The Northern Municipalities Act qualifies as a ”lawful investigation” for purposes of subsection 15(1)(c) of FOIP. In Review Report 330-2023, 334-2023 the Commissioner noted that the terms “lawful investigation” are not interchangeable with “law enforcement matter”. “Law enforcement” includes investigations conducted for the purpose of enforcing an enactment which leads to or could lead to a penalty or sanction being imposed under the enactment that authorizes the investigation. In that case, the Commissioner found that because investigations by the Office of the Saskatchewan Coroners Service (SCS) do not lead to penalty or sanctions under The Coroners Act, 1999, such that it could be considered a “law enforcement matter” on its own. Had the Coroner’s investigation been handed onto another party, such as a police service, then it would form part of the police service’s investigation and may qualify for exemption pursuant to subsection 15(1)(k). See paragraphs [70] to [72]. Subsection 15(1)(d) Law enforcement and investigations 15(1) A head may refuse to give access to a record, the release of which could: … (d) be injurious to the Government of Saskatchewan or a government institution in the conduct of existing or anticipated legal proceedings; … (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a record that: (a) provides a general outline of the structure or programs of a law enforcement agency; or (b) reports, by means of statistical analysis or otherwise, on the degree of success achieved in a law enforcement program. Subsection 15(1)(d) of FOIP is a discretionary harm-based exemption. It permits refusal of access in situations where release of a record could be injurious to the Government of Saskatchewan or a government institution in the conduct of existing or anticipated legal proceedings. The following two-part test can be applied:
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTgwMjYzOA==