A chorus calling for change.  

It is time to reform BC’s Personal Information Protection Act 

2025.03.14 Victoria, BC – The Freedom of Information and Privacy Association is calling on the provincial government to introduce modernized and rights-focused reforms to BC’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). 

FIPA agrees with the Information and Privacy Commissioner Michael Harvey that now is the time to modernize and strengthen PIPA, as was the subject of his keynote address at the 27th Annual Victoria International Privacy & Security Summit (VIPSS). In 2025, amid a transforming digital economy and uncertain geopolitical contexts, stable and meaningful privacy rights are non-negotiable. 

The time to reform PIPA is now. 

The PIPA is BC’s primary statute governing the protection of personal information collected, used, and disclosed by private and nonprofit-sector organizations. It has many worthwhile features, but it is outdated. PIPA pre-dates the emergence of the major contemporary social media and popular generative AI technologies, and information monopolies which have sweeping implications for privacy rights. It does not adequately reflect the reality of navigating privacy in a time when every aspect of life — from shopping to working, to accessing services, and staying in touch with loved ones — can be mediated by digital technologies with a voracious appetite for personal information and data often stored in or transiting foreign jurisdictions. It lacks the kind of enforcement mechanisms for privacy violations that would push companies to truly respect the privacy rights of British Columbians. 

BC’s PIPA like some other provinces’ privacy legislation is deemed substantially similar to Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). PIPEDA is even older than PIPA, and there have been several attempts at reform the legislation that have failed. The most recent efforts were in Bill C-27, the Consumer Privacy Protection Act reforms which died on the Order Paper with prorogation. 

Provinces like Quebec have successfully updated their provincial legislation to better protect their citizens in an effort to keep up with the times. At the VIPSS conference, Commissioner Harvey noted that other lawmakers, including BC, have taken a ‘wait and see’ approach to updating their increasingly outdated provincial legislation. Whether updates in the form of C-27 will be resurrected by a future federal government remains to be seen.  

British Columbia need not wait to find out. There have been four Legislative Special Committees to Review the Personal Information Protection Act making recommendations that have yet to be acted upon. BC has, in the past, been looked to for leadership and innovation in the information and privacy field, and this is a good opportunity for us to remember that legacy.  

FIPA supports a made-in-BC approach that updates the PIPA and prioritizes privacy rights in a modern context, particularly relevant amid threats to sovereignty and the surveillance-based business models of the multinational companies with whom British Columbians regularly interact. We call on the government, members of the Legislative Assembly, and on our partners and allies in the privacy field to make reforming the PIPA a priority for this legislative cycle.