This weekend will mark an important milestone for information rights in Canada. Thirty years ago tomorrow, the federal Access to Information Act received Royal Assent, becoming the law of the land. But according to a press release issued today by the federal Information Commissioner, her office’s investigations “have demonstrated a number of deficiencies in the […]

After almost eight years of costly delays, the BC Government has finally released the final details of its ten-year, $300 million Workplace Services contract with IBM. FIPA received word last night that the Government would not appeal a recent ruling by the Supreme Court of British Columbia confirming their obligation to release the remaining redacted […]

FIPA has won yet again in our eight-year fight for the release of the BC Government’s Workplace Services contract with IBM. The BC Supreme Court today rejected all the BC government’s arguments opposing the release of the remaining details of the $300 million contract, which expires in 2014. The government was arguing that section 15 […]

BC Supreme court justice Bracken has set down his ruling on a judicial review application sought by the Minister of Citizens Services in the ongoing dispute regarding disclosure of the IBM contract with the Ministry for “Workplace Support”: British Columbia (Minister of Citizens’ Services) v. British Columbia (Information and Privacy Commissioner) 2012 BCSC 875 The […]

FIPA, along with the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Victoria (ELC), today announces the release of our latest submission to the Information and Privacy Commissioner. Outlining six cases where the public was not told about potentially hazardous situations, the submission requests an investigation into the disregard of Section 25 of the Freedom of […]

The University of Victoria Environmental Law Clinic ,on behalf of BC FIPA, has a submission to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner to request an investigation into the disregard of section 25 of the BC Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) by public bodies. BC FIPA is concerned that there […]

Updated and corrected March 23, 2012 BCLC Appeals Three of Six FOI Orders to BC Supreme Court The BC Lottery Corporation REALLY doesn’t like to release information to Freedom of information requesters. Of all the 2,500+ public bodies covered by BC’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy act, it is proving to be the […]

FIPA Denounces Eight Year Battle as Waste of Time and Money The BC government is in BC Supreme Court in Victoria today carrying on its fruitless legal battle to keep FIPA from getting an uncensored copy of its $300 million Workplace Services Agreement with IBM. The battle for disclosure of the full contract is now […]

Canada’s federal and provincial Information Commissioners are urging the federal government to make reform of the Access to Information Act and improved compliance part of the Open Government action plan. The recommendations are included in a joint “Letter on Open Government” sent to President of the Treasury Board Tony Clement on January 20, 2012. The […]

BC FIPA’s response to a petition by Ministry of Citizens’ Services to the BC Supreme Court in relation to a judicial review regarding FIPA’s FOI request for the Workplace Support Agreement between the Province of BC and IBM Canada. Download the response (pdf). BC FIPA opposes all orders sought by the petitioner.  The Ministry is […]

The BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association is calling for penalties to be imposed on the BC government for cases where its deliberate cover-ups of embarrassing information amount to an abuse of the freedom of information process. Yesterday the Vancouver Sun reported that the BC government spent 19 months claiming that a pamphlet promoting […]

The Province has been Hiding Full Contract From Taxpayers for Eight Years; Going Back to Court in March to Keep Contract Under Wraps The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today revealed that the provincial government has spent $124,522.48 so far in its eight-year-long fight against releasing the IBM workplace service contract to the BC Freedom of […]