A former employee of the University of Calgary (the “University”) sued for constructive dismissal and requested some documents pursuant to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, RSA 2000, c F-25 (“FOIPP”). The University claimed solicitor-client privilege over some of the records requested and the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta (the “Commissioner”), after exhausting other attempts to satisfy himself that the claim of privilege was properly made, issued a Notice to Produce the records in order to determine if the privilege was properly claimed.

The University brought an Application for Judicial Review of whether the Adjudicator had authority to issue the Notice to Produce under FOIPP. Justice Jones held that the Adjudicator had authority to issue the Notice to Produce under FOIPP. Justice Jones also noted that recourse to compel disclosure would not be available through the Courts. Justice Jones noted that Part 5 of the Rules only applied to disclosure of information in the context of a Court Action, not FOIPP requests independent of the Courts. Further, an Application under Rule 3.2 was only available if an enactment so authorized, but FOIPP did not authorize any Application except for review of the Commissioner’s Decision post-inquiry.