Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to LA FOIP, Chapter 4, Exemptions from the Right of Access. Updated 18 Oct 2023. 158 The contractual or other negotiations can be concluded,576 ongoing or future negotiations.577 Subsection 17(1) of LA FOIP includes the requirement that access can be refused where it “could reasonably be expected to disclose” the protected information listed in the exemptions. The meaning of the phrase “could reasonably be expected to” in terms of harm-based exemptions was considered by the Supreme Court of Canada in Ontario (Community Safety and Correctional Service) v. Ontario (Information and Privacy Commissioner), (2014). Although section 17(1)(e) of LA FOIP is not a harms-based provision, the threshold provided by the Court for “could reasonably be expected to” is instructive: This Court in Merck Frosst adopted the “reasonable expectation of probable harm” formulation and it should be used wherever the “could reasonably be expected to” language is used in access to information statutes. As the Court in Merck Frosst emphasized, the statute tries to mark out a middle ground between that which is probable and that which is merely possible. An institution must provide evidence “well beyond” or “considerably above” a mere possibility of harm in order to reach that middle ground: paras. 197 and 199. This inquiry of course is contextual and how much evidence and the quality of evidence needed to meet this standard will ultimately depend on the nature of the issue and “inherent probabilities or improbabilities or the seriousness of the allegations or consequences”… A local authority cannot rely on subsection 17(1)(e) of LA FOIP for a record that fits within the enumerated exclusions listed at subsection 17(2) of LA FOIP. Before applying subsection 17(1) of LA FOIP, local authorities should ensure that subsection 17(2) of LA FOIP does not apply to any of the records. 576 Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Access to Information Manual, Chapter 11.18.5. Available at https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/access-information-privacy/accessinformation/access-information-manual.html#cha11_18. Accessed July 10, 2019. Also consistent with Service Alberta, FOIP Guidelines and Practices: 2009 Edition, Chapter 4, p. 181. 577 SK OIPC Review Report LA-2010-001 at [51].
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTgwMjYzOA==