Reinforcing The Primacy Of Privilege

"...privilege has thus become much more than an evidentiary privilege; it is a substantive
right with constitutional implications, if not constitutional proportions." ¹

INTRODUCTION

At the end of 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada released two companion decisions affirming the fundamental importance of solicitor-client privilege and litigation privilege to the proper functioning of the Canadian legal system. In Alberta (Information and Privacy Commissioner) v. University of Calgary² (Alberta IPC), the Court considered the implications of the elevation of solicitor-client privilege beyond a rule of evidence to a rule of substance and a fundamental policy of the law, while in Lizotte v. Aviva Insurance Company of Canada³ (Lizotte), the Court recognized litigation privilege as a distinct and fundamental principle of the administration of justice.⁴ These decisions both considered what legislative language would be sufficient to abrogate, set aside, or infringe