An important first step was identifying who Information Access Operations, the central FOI processing unit of the BC provincial government, provides service to, and the scope of that service. That information isn’t online, so we were left to make a request of some type. We chose a formal request to ensure we received a response backed by legislated guarantees and redress.
We sought to learn:
Who does Information Access Operations coordinate access requests for?
Our FOI request language:
A complete list of all the public bodies served by Information Access Operations. Date range: 2022.11.1-2022.11.
Insights gained:
This simple request is indicative of why a release of information can be greeted with suspicion. It may outwardly appear straightforward, but further investigation can reveal problems.
As we filed more FOI’s, we found the released record was incomplete. In making requests of some Schedule 2 public bodies we encountered IAO providing service to those public bodies. Their initial release did not include the Schedule 2 Public Bodies that they served.
There even appears to be a back and forth and some uncertainty on who provides service to the public bodies in Schedule 2 with IAO and the public bodies as revealed by:
The Curious Case of the BC Arts Council
2023.02.07 BC Arts Council was not included in the initial release.
2023.04.11 Request made to BC Arts Council and referred to IAO as service provider.
2023.04.26 Correction received indicating BC Arts Council is not served by IAO. A different Schedule 2 public body is.
This presents a significant dilemma. If public bodies and IAO cannot accurately inform the public about who they serve or who processes requests for information, and confirm that for themselves, it is easy to see how frustration grows, trust can be eroded, and doubts are raised about a public body complying with the Act.
Subsequent Action:
We brought the matter to IAO attention; they conducted a subsequent scan of Schedule 2 leading to clarification.
This is post is a result of our access assessment research. We are getting meta with FOI, by using access requests to inform our research about access rights.
Have an idea for an access request that meets our criteria?
