The B.C. Government’s stubborn refusal to fix our province’s unconstitutional Election Act has forced a Charter challenge by the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA). The definition of election advertising contained in s.228 of the Act is extremely broad, and captures any communication with the public that “…promotes or opposes, directly or indirectly, […]

BC FIPA filed a notice of civil claim in BC Supreme Court on January 28, 2013 challenging the legality of the provisions in the BC Election Act dealing with 3rd party advertisers. BC FIPA submits that the restrictions on 3rd party election advertising and the registration requirements for 3rd party election advertisers in the BC […]

The B.C. Ministry of Child and Family Development has issued an interim report by a consultant hired to review the problem-plagued Integrated Case Management System, and the results are damning. The report outlines a laundry list of weaknesses in the system, which is meant to streamline government service provision by linking and sharing citizen data […]

On Monday, the B.C. Government launched a province-wide communications blitz to announce the February 15th launch date of its long-delayed B.C. Services Card. The new card, which will be rolled out to British Columbians over the next five years, is set to replace the aging CareCard system, currently used to track and deliver health care […]

At FIPA, we’re in the process of winding down a very busy and eventful 2012. The past twelve months have been marked by major victories, as well as new challenges on the transparency and information rights front. We’re very pleased to have finally succeeded in our efforts to obtain an unredacted copy of the B.C. […]

In this issue: Big Wins, New Challenges: 2012 in Transparency A new year means new ways to support FIPA Privacy advocates raise red flags over C-12 surveillance measures New parliamentary study tackles big data, social media, and privacy Information Commissioner looks to overhaul Access to Information Act BC Commish tries to limit license plate surveillance […]

BC FIPA has sent its submission to the Committee on Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics on the impacts of social media and ‘Big Data’ on privacy and the rights of citizens and the policy considerations that should be explored by the Committee in the context of amendments to the Personal Information Protection and Protection […]

In a report released last week, B.C.’s Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham took a stiff shot at the use of Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology by the Victoria Police Department. Valuable as Denham’s efforts are, however, it will likely take more than her work alone to bring this ever-expanding surveillance system back in […]

FIPA is pleased to join an outstanding roster of civil society, advocacy, and media organizations at Media Democracy Days 2012, one of this year’s Info Summit community partners. Since 2001, MDD has brought artists, activist, academics, students, researchers, journalists, and citizens together in dialogue on issues of representation, information policy, and technology. This year’s gathering […]

In this issue: 2012 BC Informatiion Summit tackles “Government 2.0” Just Rewards: Darrell Evans awarded Grace-Pépin Access to Information Award OIPC to investigate government’s failure to post FOI requests after FIPA complaint BC election law still has constitutional problems despite BC Court of Appeal ruling Lock Down: wall of secrecy around Ministry of Health privacy […]

The ink was barely dry on the federal government’s new copyright reform bill when they signed on to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a controversial new trade agreement that could toss that piece of legislation under the bus, along with the minimal protections it provided to Canadians who use intellectual property. That’s just one reason why […]

FIPA is calling on Premier Christy Clark to call back the Legislature to amend election legislation the BC Court of Appeal has just declared unconstitutional. The government made a number of changes to the Election Act during the spring sitting, and then referred those changes to the Court of Appeal for an opinion on their […]