Click here to download a pdf of the submission November 7, 2014 Ms. Jackie Tegart, Chair Special Committee on Local Elections Expense Limits BY E Mail: LocalElectionsCommittee@leg.bc.ca Re: Submission to public consultations on principles for local elections expense limits Dear Ms. Tegart, I am writing to you in response to the consultation your Special […]

August 28, 2014 Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner PO Box 9038 4th Floor — 947 Fort Street Victoria, BC V8W 9A4 BY E Mail: info@oipc.bc.ca Dear Commissioner: RE: Request for investigation into excessive collection of information by police forces in employment applications I am writing to ask you to conduct an investigation under s.42 […]

FIPA’s submission to Phases 1 and 2 of a consultation by the federal government on the government’s initiatives under the Open Government Partnership. We resubmitted our comments from previous consultations, and emphasized again the need to update the Access to Information Act. Download submission

FIPA’s submission to a consultation by the federal Ministry of Finance on the implementation of the American Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in Canada. We highlighted the damage this would do to privacy rights as Canadians living in the US, and Americans living in Canada could have their financial information identified for sending to […]

The BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) and the BC (BC FIPA) have written a letter to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of BC (OIPC) in support of adding the BC Association of Chiefs of Police (BCACP) and the BC Association of Municipal Chiefs of Police (BCAMCP) as public bodies to Schedule 2 of the […]

BC FIPA, today, submitted a letter to the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development in the context of its consultation on local government election reform. BC FIPA strongly opposes provisions on third party spending limits and believes the lack of a minimum spending threshold in the provisions makes them unconstitutional violations of freedom of […]

BC FIPA has responded to the Federal Government consultation on the Open Government Partnership commitments with a highly critical examination of the government’s approach. Lack of transparency is a serious issue in this country, and not just for this government. However, the Government of Canada labours under the most archaic Access to Information law, and […]

What is the BC Services Card? It’s an ID card that combines both the drivers license and the provincial health care card.   Is that all it does? Doesn’t sound too scary to me. Right now that is all it does. However, it is a key part of the ‘Government 2.0’ plan, which will link […]

BC FIPA’s intervener’s factum in SCC 34828 (case docket at SCC website).  BC FIPA takes the position that greater deference to the adjudicative tribunal should have been taken by the lower court and that “access to information legislation, such as in Ontario and British Columbia, fulfils a particularly critical role in nourishing our democracy. It creates […]

Victories, challenges, exciting changes, and a lot of hard work as another year passes at FIPA. Read the whole story in our Annual Report for 2012 (pdf).

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 […]

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 […]