Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to LA FOIP, Chapter 4, Exemptions from the Right of Access. Updated 24 July 2025. 232 Solicitor-client privilege The purpose of solicitor-client privilege is to assure clients of confidentiality and enable them to speak honestly and candidly with their legal representatives.779 The privilege has long been recognized as “fundamental to the proper functioning of our legal system”780 and a cornerstone of access to justice. It has evolved from a rule of evidence to a substantive rule that is more nuanced than simply any communications between lawyer and client. In Solosky v. The Queen, (1980), Justice Dickson regarded the rule of solicitor-client privilege as a “fundamental civil and legal right” that guaranteed clients a right to privacy in their communications with their lawyers. Furthermore, that solicitor-client privilege must be claimed document by document, and that each document must meet the three-part test. The following three-part test can be applied:781 1. Is the record a communication between solicitor and client? In Descoteaux et al. v. Mierzwinski, (1982), Justice Lamer outlined a very liberal approach to the scope of the privilege by extending it to include all communications made “within the framework of the solicitor-client relationship.” The protection is very strong, as long as the person claiming the privilege is within the framework. A communication is the process of bringing an idea to another’s perception; the message or ideas so expressed or exchanged; the interchange of messages or ideas by speech, writing, gestures or conduct.782 The local authority should make it clear who the solicitor is and who the client is. Solicitor means a lawyer who is duly admitted as a member and whose right to practice is not suspended.783 Lawyer means a member of the Law Society and includes a law student registered in the Society’s pre-call training program.784 779 Smith v Jones, [1999] 1 SCR 455 at [46]. 780 Canada (Privacy Commissioner) v. Blood Tribe Department of Health, [2008] 2 SCR 574, 2008 SCC 44 (CanLII) at [9]. 781 Established by Justice Dickson in Solosky v The Queen,[1980] 1 SCR 821, 1979 CanLII 9 (SCC) at [28]. This test has consistently been applied and the case has not been overturned or overtaken by subsequent jurisprudence. 782 Garner, Bryan A., 2019. Black’s Law Dictionary, 11th Edition. St. Paul, Minn.: West Group at p. 348. 783 The Legal Profession Act, 1990, SS 1990-91, c L-10.1 at s. 87. 784 Law Society of Saskatchewan, Code of Professional Conduct at p. 13, Definitions.
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