UPDATE Oct. 29 2009: Information and Privacy Commissioner Decision F09-13, cited below, has been taken to Judicial Review by Intransit BC, one of the P3 contractors on the Canada Line project. View the Petition here.   The operators of BC’s Canada Line rapid transit system have been ordered to reveal all the details of their […]

By Darrell Evans Executive Director, FIPA At some point — soon, one hopes — we will find out who is responsible for the illegal destruction of cabinet e-mail records relating to the sale of BC Rail. Whoever gave the order to destroy the records should face serious consequences. It doesn’t matter whether the destruction was […]

OTTAWA – Canada’s outgoing information watchdog is threatening to seize documents after complaints that the bureaucratic wing of the Prime Minister’s Office is stonewalling some access-to-information requests. The information commissioner served formal notice on the Privy Council Office this week, warning that commission staff would use their legal powers to seize the documents themselves if […]

FIPA has asked Information and Privacy Commissioner David Loukidelis to investigate the destruction by the BC government of years of Cabinet emails in contravention of the Document Disposal Act. According to FIPA, this incident and the recent revelation about suppression of welfare statistics during the last election are the latest and most outrageous examples of […]

BC FIPA has published its analysis of the BC Government’s performance in responsding to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests from 2006 to 2008. The report, titled “Failing FOI: How the BC Government flouts the Freedom of Information Act and stonewalls FOI requests”, reveals that the “administrative system that is supposed to support [FOI] is badly […]

A study released today by FIPA has found that the dire situation of delay and denial outlined by Information and Privacy Commissioner David Loukidelis in February is actually a lot worse. The new study is called FAILING FOI: How the BC Government flouts the Freedom of Information Act and stonewalls FOI requests. It updates the […]

Two identical FOI requests filed on the same day with the offices of Washington Governor Christine Gregoire and BC Premier Gordon Campbell got very different results. The Freedom of Information and Privacy Association filed the requests for information about intergovernmental meetings related to the new RFID-equipped drivers’ licences now being phased in across the province. […]

BC FIPA presented its submissions to the House of Commons Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI) regarding Information Commissioner Robert Marleau’s 12 reform proposals. FIPA’s view [is] that we now have in this country a consensus that Commissioner Reid’s draft bill, with the addition of full Order making power for the Information […]

MPs have been given a new blueprint to renovate the country’s antiquated access-to-information law. New Democrat MP Pat Martin has introduced a private member’s bill that includes reform measures Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised more than three years ago, but has yet to act on. The bill hit the floor on the eve of a […]

Congratulations! The B.C. government — the one that promised to be “the most open, accountable and democratic government in Canada” — has just granted your freedom of information request. You open the package of documents and find a notice that seems to say you can’t make the information public without the government’s permission. “Permission of […]

BC’s Information and Privacy Commissioner has issued a special report criticizing the provincial government for its failure to tackle the chronic problem of delay in responding to freedom of information requests. In his first annual report on FOI performance, “Timeliness of Government’s Access to Information Responses”, released on February 13, David Loukidelis describes what he […]

A ruling handed down on January 13 by the Ontario Court of Appeal is “a landmark decision that upholds the principles of openness and transparency as applied to electronic records,” said Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian. The Court allowed appeals by the Commissioner and a Toronto Star reporter from a Divisional Court ruling […]