Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to LA FOIP, Chapter 4, Exemptions from the Right of Access. Updated 18 Oct 2023. 251 1. Is the record a correspondence between the local authority’s legal counsel and any other person? Correspondence means letters sent or received.876 It is an interchange of written communication.877 A memorandum or note from one employee of a local authority to another summarizing a conversation between that employee and the local authority’s lawyer may meet the criteria for this provision.878 Agent means someone who is authorized to act for or in place of another.879 Any other person was an intentional and inclusive phrase to capture just that – any other person. The local authority must make it sufficiently clear, as to what the nature of that other person’s role in the correspondence was.880 2. Does the correspondence relate to a matter that involves the provision of advice or other services by legal counsel? In relation to has been found to have a similar meaning as “in respect of”. It was considered in Nowegijick v. The Queen: The words “in respect of” are, in my opinion, words of the widest possible scope. They import such meanings as “in relation to”, “with reference to” or “in connection with”. The phrase “in respect of” is probably the widest of any expression intended to convey some connection between two related subject-matters.881 Legal advice includes a legal opinion about a legal issue, and a recommended course of action, based on legal considerations, regarding a matter with legal implications.882 876 Pearsall, Judy, Concise Oxford Dictionary, 10th Edition at p. 320 (Oxford University Press). 877 Previous definition from SK OIPC Review Report 125-2015 at [35]. 878 Information contained in a “post-it” note was found to be “information in correspondence between …a public body and any other person in relation to a matter involving the provision of advice…by the lawyer” in AB IPC Order 96-019 at [113]. 879 Garner, Bryan A., 2019. Black’s Law Dictionary, 11th Edition. St. Paul, Minn.: West Group at p. 78. 880 AB IPC Interim Decision Order F2018-D-01/Order F2018-38 at [151]. 881 Nowegijick v. The Queen, [1983] 1 SCR 29, 1983 CanLII 18 (SCC) at [39]. 882 Definition originated from ON Order P-210 at p. 18. Adopted in SK OIPC Review Report F-2012-003 at [97]. Definition also adopted by AB IPC in Order 96-017.
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