Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to LA FOIP, Chapter 4, Exemptions from the Right of Access. Updated 24 July 2025. 153 Technical information is information relating to a particular subject, craft, or technique. Examples are system design specifications and the plans for an engineering project.533 It 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 or maintenance of a structure, process, equipment, or thing. Finally, technical information must be given a meaning separate from scientific information.534 2. Was the information obtained through research conducted by an employee of the local authority? Obtained means to acquire in any way; to get possession of; to procure or to get a hold of by effort.535 Research is defined as a systematic investigation designed to develop or establish principles, facts or generalized knowledge, or any combination of them, and includes the development, testing and evaluation of research.536 Examples include scientific and technical research carried out at research institutes or universities; historical research connected with the designation or preservation of historical or archaeological resources; and epidemiological and other medical studies carried out in health care bodies. A local authority would have to be able to provide some proof that publication is expected to result from the research or that similar research in the past has resulted in publication.537 In order to apply this provision, the research must refer to specific, identifiable research projects conducted by a specific employee of the local authority. 533 Service Alberta, FOIP Guidelines and Practices: 2009 Edition, Chapter 4, p. 191. Definition first relied on for third party exemption in SK OIPC Review Report F-2006-002 at [85]. 534 Definition originated from ON IPC including Order PO-1806-F. Adopted in SK OIPC Review Report F-2005-003 at [26]. Definition endorsed in Consumers’ Co-operative Refineries Limited v Regina (City), 2016 SKQB 335 (CanLII) at [20]. 535 Originated from Black’s Law Dictionary, 6th Edition, Adopted by AB IPC in Order 2000-021 at [26]. Adopted in SK OIPC Review Report F-2006-001 at [58] and [59]. Also, found in SK OIPC Review Report F-2006-002 at [39]. 536 ON IPC Order PO-2693 at pp. 7 to 8. Definition originates from Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) at section 2. 537 Service Alberta, FOIP Guidelines and Practices: 2009 Edition, Chapter 4, p. 193.
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