Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 4, Exemptions from the Right of Access. Updated 24 July 2025. 61 2. Are the investigative techniques and/or procedures currently in use or likely to be used? Likely means probable, a likely outcome; reasonably expected.218 The exemption is more likely to apply to new technologies in electronic monitoring or surveillance equipment used for a law enforcement purpose.219 The exemption extends to techniques and procedures that are likely to be used, in order to protect techniques and technology under development and new equipment or procedures that have not yet been used.220 3. Could disclosure reveal investigative techniques or procedures? Section 15 of FOIP uses the word could versus “could reasonably be expected to” as seen in other provisions of FOIP. The threshold for could is somewhat lower than a reasonable expectation. The requirement for could is simply that the release of the information could have the specified result. There would still have to be a basis for the assertion. If it is fanciful or exceedingly remote, the exemption should not be invoked.221 For this provision to apply there must be objective grounds for believing that disclosing the information could reveal investigative techniques or procedures. Reveal means to make known; cause or allow to be seen.222 When there is a review by the IPC, the government institution is invited to provide a submission (arguments). The government institution must establish how and why disclosure of the information in question could reveal investigative techniques or procedures. A government institution cannot rely on subsection 15(1)(e) of FOIP for 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 (see subsection 15(2)). 218 Garner, Bryan A., 2019. Black’s Law Dictionary, 11th Edition. St. Paul, Minn.: West Group at p. 1113. 219 Service Alberta, FOIP Guidelines and Practices: 2009 Edition, Chapter 4 at p. 150. 220 Service Alberta, FOIP Guidelines and Practices: 2009 Edition, Chapter 4 at p. 150. 221 SK OIPC Review Reports LA-2007-001 at [117], LA-2013-001 at [35], F-2014-001 at [149]. 222 Pearsall, Judy, Concise Oxford Dictionary, 10th Ed., (Oxford University Press) at p. 1224.
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