Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 4, Exemptions from the Right of Access. Updated 8 April 2024. 88 Subsection 15(1)(l) Law enforcement and investigations 15(1) A head may refuse to give access to a record, the release of which could: … (l) reveal technical information relating to weapons or potential weapons; or … (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)(l) of FOIP is a discretionary class-based exemption. It permits refusal of access in situations where release of a record could reveal technical information relating to weapons or potential weapons. An example could include information on how to make a bomb. The following test can be applied: Could release reveal technical information relating to weapons or potential weapons? 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.331 For this provision to apply there must be objective grounds for believing that disclosing the information could reveal technical information relating to weapons or potential weapons. Reveal means to make known; cause or allow to be seen.332 Technical information is information belonging to an organized field of knowledge which would fall under the general categories of applied sciences or mechanical arts. Examples of these fields would include architecture, engineering or electronics…it will usually involve information prepared by a professional in the field and describe the construction, operation 331 SK OIPC Review Reports LA-2007-001 at [117], LA-2013-001 at [35], F-2014-001 at [149]. 332 Pearsall, Judy, Concise Oxford Dictionary, 10th Ed., (Oxford University Press) at p. 1224.
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