Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to LA FOIP, Chapter 4, Exemptions from the Right of Access. Updated 18 Oct 2023. 35 Subsection 13(1)(e) of LA FOIP is a mandatory class-based exemption. It permits refusal of access to information in a record where the information was obtained in confidence, implicitly or explicitly from an international organization of states or its institutions, unless there is consent to release or the information was made public. The following three-part test can be applied: 1. Was the information obtained from an international organization of states or its institutions? Information means facts or knowledge provided or learned as a result of research or study.117 Obtained means to acquire in any way; to get possession of; to procure; or to get a hold of by effort.118 An international organization of states refers to any organization with members representing and acting under the authority of the governments of two or more states. Examples include the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund.119 A local authority could obtain information either intentionally or unintentionally. It can also include information that was received indirectly provided its original source was the government of a foreign nation or state outside Canada or its institutions. However, to obtain information suggests that the local authority did not create it. Regardless, the provision is not so much driven by the source of the record to which access is sought as it is by the confidential nature and source of the information it contains. As such, authorship (or who created the record) is irrelevant.120 Section 13 of LA FOIP uses the term “information contained in a record” rather than “a record” like other exemptions. Therefore, the exemption can include information within a record that was authored by the local authority provided the information at issue was obtained from an international organization of states or its institutions. 2. Was the information obtained implicitly or explicitly in confidence? 117 Pearsall, Judy, Concise Oxford Dictionary, 10th Edition at p. 727, (Oxford University Press), Cited in SK OIPC Review Report F-2006-002 at [45]. 118 Originated from Campbell Black, Henry, 1990. Black’s Law Dictionary, 6th Edition. St. Paul, Minn.: West Group. Adopted by AB IPC in Order 2000-021 at [26]. Adopted in SK OIPC Review Report F-2006001 at [58] and [59]. Also, found in SK OIPC Review Report F-2006-002 at [39]. 119 Service Alberta, FOIP Guidelines and Practices: 2009 Edition, Chapter 4 at p. 162. 120 Saskatchewan (Ministry of Health) v West, 2022 SKCA 18 at [46] and [47].
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