The B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association is monitoring the government’s response to the series of “sophisticated cybersecurity incidents” identified over the course of the last week across the Government of British Columbia.  “Questions such as ‘how did this happen?’ and ‘what is being done to improve information security and prevent future incidents?’ must […]

FIPA is grateful and privileged to have post-secondary students drawing and contributing from a variety of experiences. Jerika Caduhada is one of FIPAs University of Victoria Law students who has been working on activities in FIPAs mandate areas. This February, as part of her studies she had the opportunity to participate in The Julius Alexander […]

Despite a legal intervention from FIPA and others, it is a dark day for accountability in Canada. The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has made its ruling in Attorney General for Ontario v. Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, et al. File No. 40078.   Writing for the majority, Justice Karakatsanis ruled the mandate letters […]

Black people in Toronto are disproportionately stopped and searched by police despite the Ontario government’s efforts to regulate so-called “street checks,” the Ontario Human Rights Commission reported Thursday as it concluded a multi-year inquiry into anti-Black racism and discrimination within the Toronto force. While official street checks appear to have been effectively eliminated, with only […]

As the Office of the Special Interlocutor called for open submissions FIPAs Gage Smith drew from his research on Leading Language to draft a submission.
From this expanded research, there are simple steps that Provincial Governments can act upon to address issues that have been identified.

New for 2023 FIPA sent its first national survey of Commissioners’ approaches to access regime evaluation.

FIPA continues its coalition work signing on with other civil society groups to demand proper consideration for AI regulation. 45 leading civil society organizations, experts and academics released an open letter to Industry, Science, and Economic Development (ISED) Minister François-Philippe Champagne outlining key concerns with the current draft of the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA), currently wrapped into […]

FIPA is a member of the Right2YourFace Coalition. Facial recognition technology (FRT) is a type of biometric recognition technology that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify individuals through their facial features. FRT functions by extracting biometric information based on key facial features and makes comparisons between live and stored biometric templates. Facial recognition software produces […]

ETHI is short for the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics. This Committee has been holding meetings on the Access to Information and Privacy System. President Mike Larsen presented FIPAs perspective on these important topics. Tuesday, April 18, 2023 Ken Rubin, David Matas and Mike Larsen made statements and, with Michael Wenig answered […]

2024.02.02 – The ruling is in read our review here. 2023.04.18 – Originally published In the case of Attorney General for Ontario v. Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, et al. File No. 40078 FIPA was pleased to work with Sean Hern K.C. to intervene and fight to keep the public interest paramount. You might […]

As part of our efforts to better define the problems facing access and freedom of information in Canada we do conduct periodic scans abroad. The United States has a very advanced and high volume infrastructure acting to provide access to information with freedom of information. While varying by state there are bodies that research and […]

THE CONVERSATION This article was originally published on The Conversation, an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. Disclosure information is available on the original site. Authors: Meiling Fong, PhD Student, Individualized Program, Concordia University and Zeynep Arsel, Concordia University Chair in Consumption, Markets, and Society, Concordia University From smart […]