Two new Committee reports on National Security – How will Goodale react? Two important Commons committee reports relating to Bill C-51 and national security were released this week. They come after a major consultation on national security by the federal government in late 2016. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale has said he plans to introduce […]

FIPA talks Connected Cars and Privacy at Senate Transport Committee The Senate Transport and Communications Committee has begun its hearings into autonomous and connected vehicles, with its report due to federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau by the end of 2017. The minister asked the Senate committee to look into the issues surrounding this major technological […]

Drew McArthur named as acting BC Information and Privacy Commissioner for the second time After a five-day vacancy without an Information and Privacy Commissioner earlier this year, Drew McArthur was reappointed as Acting Commissioner via an order in council effective March 17. McArthur’s term expired on Monday, March 13, but the special Legislative Committee searching […]

This Just In: Liberals, NDP and Greens respond to FIPA’s election questionnaire. Just in time for next week’s vote, we are pleased to reveal the responses we received from all three major parties to our election questionnaire. This is the detailed statement of positions on information, privacy, and other issues that have not had much […]

With the provincial election campaign underway, we believe it is important to know where the leaders of BC’s three leading political parties stand on important Freedom of Information and privacy issues. Like we have done during previous elections, FIPA sent a series of questions on Freedom of Information and privacy issues to the BC Liberals, […]

MEDIA RELEASE BC government bill does not create a duty to document government decisions  Legislation introduced today is completely discretionary says FIPA VANCOUVER, March 8, 2017 – The bill introduced this afternoon by Finance Minister Mike de Jong is a sad excuse for action on creating a duty to document government decisions. Despite demands from […]

Download the full February 2017 Bulletin, or use the links below to read individual articles online. In this issue: The Final Verdict to our Election Act Challenge: An Unusual Victory Many thanks to our pro bono lawyers BC Throne Speech has none of needed reforms for FOI and privacy FIPA weighs in on Privacy Act, PIPEDA reforms […]

New year, new changes to the Board and Staff 2017 is well under way, and is shaping up to be another great year for FIPA. After our Special General Meeting that was held on November 16, 2016, we have a couple of changes to our board and staff. In January, our Program Director, Joyce Yan, joined […]

What do the province’s leaders think of Freedom of Information and privacy issues in BC? With the BC Election only a few months away, we are preparing to send the party leaders a series of questions on Freedom of Information and privacy issues in British Columbia – just as we did in 2013. We sent […]

FIPA weighs in on Privacy Act, PIPEDA reforms FIPA has been active regarding federal privacy law, appearing twice before the Commons ATI, Ethics and Privacy (ETHI) committee over the past few months. The Committee was looking into proposal for reform of the 1980s vintage Privacy Act, and asked FIPA to appear to provide input into […]

BC Throne Speech has none of needed reforms for FOI and privacy The Speech from the Throne kicked off the last legislative session before the May 9 provincial election, but the ruling BC Liberals took a pass on even mentioning FOI and privacy. The week before, Premier Christy Clark raised the issue of mandatory breach […]

Many thanks to our pro bono lawyers We would like to express our deepest gratitude to our pro bono lawyers, Sean Hern of Farris Vaughn and Alison Latimer of Underhill, Boies Parkers, Gage & Latimer, who have represented FIPA in our Election Act challenge over the past four years. Without their dedication and hard work, […]