Many thanks to our pro bono lawyers We would like to express our deepest gratitude to our pro bono lawyers, Sean Hern of Farris Vaughn and Alison Latimer of Underhill, Boies Parkers, Gage & Latimer, who have represented FIPA in our Election Act challenge over the past four years. Without their dedication and hard work, […]

The Final Verdict to our Election Act Challenge: An Unusual Victory  Our 4 year battle has finally come to an end. Late last month, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed our appeal but ultimately sided with FIPA by making it clear that election advertising, in its “grammatical and ordinary sense,” does not apply to those […]

On February 1st, Elections BC released their “Handmade Election Advertising” bulletin in response to the Supreme Court of Canada’s judgement last Thursday which clarified Election BC’s previous erroneous interpretation of BC’s Election Act’s third party spending provisions. The Bulletin is plainly and obviously inconsistent with the SCC Judgment in many respects. See our joint letter with the […]

MEDIA RELEASE January 26, 2017 Supreme Court of Canada forces Elections BC to use proper interpretation of Third party advertising law VANCOUVER, January 26, 2017 – In a decision released this morning, the Supreme Court of Canada has made it clear that election advertising laws do not apply to those who are merely expressing their own […]

MEDIA ADVISORY JANUARY 20, 2017 Supreme Court of Canada to hand down decision on striking down ban on unregistered speech in BC’s election law on Thursday, January 26, 2017 Ottawa, January 20, 2017 – On Thursday, January 26, 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada will hand down its decision on the BC Freedom of Information […]

The conviction of former Ministry of Transportation political staffer George Gretes for  obstructing the Information and Privacy Commissioner in her investigation of the “Triple Delete” scandal underscores the need for serious reform of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). He was not, however, charged with the act of deleting information as […]

FIPA was back in Ottawa earlier this month, once again talking about reform of the ancient Access to Information Act. This is something we have done going back to the last century, with very little to show for our efforts to-date. There is a difference this time, however, because the minister responsible for the Act, […]

On May 18, 2016, FIPA and the BC Civil Liberties Association filed a complaint with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of BC relating to their investigation  into “the disclosure of details of active freedom of information requests on the Open Information website.” We point to a number of issues with the BC government’s seemingly out-of-the-blue announcement that […]

On Wednesday, May 12, 2016, FIPA presented recommendations for reform of the Access to Information Act to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI) in Ottawa. Download the submission “Given the oft acknowledged and longstanding crisis in the access to information system in this country, it is surprising and disappointing […]

In response to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s call for input on online reputation and privacy, FIPA’s submission discusses some of the considerations we must make when we discuss the mitigation of online reputational risks, and the rights and interests we must seek to balance. Download submission.

On March 23, 2016, FIPA filed an intervention in response to BC Information and Privacy Commissioner’s inquiry into the Vancouver Police Department’s refusal to disclose records relating to their use of IMSI-catchers (“Stingrays”), in response to an FOI request from Pivot Legal Society. You can read the submission in full here. We argued that: “…the Applicant [Pivot] is entitled […]

FIPA is highlighting the importance of both the right to privacy and the open court principle in our submission to a consultation the Court Services Online (CSO) system, being held by the Chief Judge of the BC Provincial Court of BC. The open court principle is fundamental in a democratic society, as it allows citizens to scrutinize the workings […]