Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to LA FOIP, Chapter 4, Exemptions from the Right of Access. Updated 18 Oct 2023. 82 (a) provides a general outline of the structure or programs of a law enforcement agency; or (b) reports, by means of statistical analysis or otherwise, on the degree of success achieved in a law enforcement program. Subsection 14(1)(k.2) of LA FOIP is a discretionary class-based exemption. It permits refusal of access in situations where release of a record could reveal any information relating to or used in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. Information related to or used in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion requires protection. The leading authority on the issue of prosecutorial discretion in Canada is Krieger v. Law Society of Alberta (2002). In that case, the Supreme Court of Canada defined the role of the Attorney General and Crown counsel and described their constitutional dimensions in terms of prosecutorial discretion. The Court said: It is a constitutional principle in this country that the Attorneys General of this country must act independently of partisan concerns when exercising their delegated sovereign authority to initiate, continue or terminate prosecutions… The quasi-judicial function of the Attorney General cannot be subjected to interference from parties who are not as competent to consider the various factors involved in making a decision to prosecute. To subject such decisions to political interference, or to judicial supervision, could erode the integrity of our system of prosecution…318 The following three-part test can be applied:319 1. Was the prosecutorial discretion exercised in matters within the prosecutor’s authority concerning the prosecution of offences? Exercise of prosecutorial discretion is not defined in LA FOIP. However, where a legislative instrument [such as LA FOIP] uses a legal term of art, it is generally presumed that the term is used in its correct legal sense.320 Prosecutorial discretion was defined in Krieger v. Law Society of Alberta (2002) as follows: Without being exhaustive, we believe the core elements of prosecutorial discretion encompass the following: (a) the discretion whether to bring the prosecution of a charge laid by police; (b) the discretion to enter a stay of proceedings in either a private or public 318 Krieger v. Law Society of Alberta, [2002] 3 SCR 372, 2002 SCC 65 (CanLII) at [3] and [32]. 319 SK OIPC Review Report 004-2020 at [43]. 320 Sullivan, R. Sullivan and Driedger on the Construction of Statutes 4th Edition (Markham: Butterworths, 2002) at p. 47.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTgwMjYzOA==