Parliament should take a cautious approach to legislative proposals to create an expanded surveillance regime that would have serious repercussions for privacy rights, say Canada’s privacy guardians. Privacy commissioners and ombudspersons from across the country issued a joint resolution urging Parliamentarians to ensure there is a clear and demonstrable need to expand the investigative powers […]

BC FIPA has submitted its response to the Consultation on Copyright Reform instigated in relation to the proposed legislation in Bill C-61. BC FIPA has concerns regarding the use of Crown Copyright, provisions that would make Internet Service Providers into de facto investigative agencies for the government, and concerns with the secret nature of the […]

It’s been another busy year for FIPA! Read all about it in our Annual Report for 2008 (pdf).

In this issue: FIPA asks Commissioner to Investigate illegal destruction of BC Cabinet e-mail E-Health privacy campaign urges people to demand rights or opt out Campaign for Open Government hammers BC Liberals’ FOI performance New FIPA study says BC’s FOI performance is even worse than last reported by the Information Commissioner Enhanced Driver Licences and […]

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 […]

The federal government introduced legislation today which would vastly increase police surveillance of Canadians’ Internet communications. Since 2001, privacy watchdog groups, including FIPA, have squared off against successive Liberal and Conservative governments on similar “lawful access” legislation. We are quickly gearing up to oppose it again. The latest legislative package, the “Investigative Powers for the […]

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. […]