Access to information can only work if information is managed. In FIPA’s view we all lose when public bodies can’t manage their information to make data-driven decisions and provide access to information.   FIPA’s Access Assessment is going through a top to bottom rewrite and restructure in preparation for the upcoming release of a full report […]

Originally Published 2024.01.22 and Updated 2024.01.25 As part of our “FOI a Day” research, we continue to file and examine how public bodies meet their record keeping and disclosure obligations. We have been filing a number of freedom of information requests about freedom of information that continue to deliver important insights.   A recent group […]

New for 2023 FIPA sent its first national survey of Commissioners’ approaches to access regime evaluation.

In the spring 2023 sitting of the legislature, Premier Eby and Minister of Housing Ravi Khalon spoke in detail about the release of the forensic investigation into B.C. Housing. This report was conducted in response to one of the major scandals to emerge under this government. Specifically, the Minister and the Premier described the issue […]

FIPA will always maintain and recognize that timeliness is a core performance measure in freedom of information. Access delayed is access denied.  We also feel the need to avoid the insanity of repeating the same actions and expecting different results. Timeliness is not the only factor.  Our fundamental question: How do we evaluate the performance […]

For the past 30 years. FIPA’s advocacy has focused on the timeliness of the freedom of information process. We have been informed by the belief that access delayed is access denied. Unfortunately, little has changed or improved. Governments fail to meet deadlines, civil society and users complain, the next verse is the same as the […]

When we started this research, we recognized the possibility of a defensive reaction from the provincial government and some public bodies. Although none of the information we requested was public, some of our requests could be considered routine by the receiving public body. After filing ten separate requests to one ministry, we were asked to […]

Multiple BC Governments committed to addressing the problem of deliberate record destruction that was revealed by the infamous triple delete scandal. They claim to have solved the issue and improved access to information by putting in place the Information Management Act and updating FOIPPA to include penalties for improper deletion of records.   Specifically, under FOIPPA, […]

Trust is gained through transparency. Understanding how a freedom of information request is processed helps us better understand how to frame our requests. Without information available online, we made a request for it. We chose a formal request to ensure we received a response backed by legislated guarantees and redress.  We sought to learn: At […]

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 […]