Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to LA FOIP, Chapter 4, Exemptions from the Right of Access. Updated 24 July 2025. 236 Business or policy advice provided by a lawyer will not attract the privilege. The Supreme Court of Canada in Campbell recognized this: It is, of course, not everything done by a government (or other) lawyer that attracts solicitor-client privilege. While some of what government lawyers do is indistinguishable from the work of private practitioners, they may and frequently do have multiple responsibilities including, for example, participation in various operating committees of their respective departments. Government lawyers who have spent years with a particular client department may be called upon to offer policy advice that has nothing to do with their legal training or expertise, but draws on departmental know-how. Advice given by lawyers on matters outside the solicitor-client relationship is not protected…Whether or not solicitor-client privilege attaches in any of these situations depends on the nature of the relationship, the subject matter of the advice and the circumstances in which it is sought and rendered.803 Not all communications between a lawyer and his or her client are privileged. For example, provision of purely business advice by in-house counsel or purely social interactions between counsel and their clients will not constitute privileged communications.804 Documents that are provided to a lawyer or “which simply come into the possession of a lawyer that are not related to the provision of legal advice are not privileged”.805 Documents do not become subject to solicitor-client privilege simply because they were provided to a lawyer.806 Not every record dropped off, funneled through, or otherwise given to a local authority’s solicitor has been given in confidence for the purpose of giving or seeking legal advice. Just because a solicitor may have been involved is not enough to find that privilege applies to records.807 For example, copying the solicitor in emails does not automatically make them subject to solicitor-client privilege. 3. Did the parties intend for the communication to be treated confidentially? There must be an expectation on the part of the local authority that the communication will be confidential. “Not every aspect of relations between a lawyer and a client is necessarily 803 R. v Campbell, [1999] 1 SCR 565. 804 Canada (Information Commissioner) v. Canada (Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness), 2012 FC 877 (CanLII) at [17]. 805 Redhead Equipment v Canada (Attorney General), 2016 SKCA 115 (CanLII) at [33], citing General Accident Assurance Company v. Chrusz, 1999 CanLII 7320 (ON CA). 806 West v Saskatchewan (Health), 2020 SKQB 244 (CanLII) at [77]. 807 AB IPC Order 2000-019 at [38] to [39].
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTgwMjYzOA==