The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has released a public notice asking for input on the development and operation of a National Do Not Call List (DNCL) and on telemarketing rules. Anyone interested in commenting without participating in the full public process, may do so in writing via mail, fax, or on a web-form […]

“Transparency does not guarantee accountability, but it makes it more possible,” Justice John Gomery wrote in his final report, released on February 1. FIPA applauds his call to make government more transparent and we urge Parliament to enact his recommendations swiftly in the upcoming legislative session. The last major progress in transparency was made in […]

On January 23, for the first time in 20 years, a Canadian federal election may deliver real reform in government transparency and accountability. The ruling Liberals, as a result of the sponsorship scandal, were forced to introduce some half-hearted transparency measures in 2005, but there is a strong national consensus that much more needs to […]

FIPA has commissioned BC’s first-ever formal survey of people who have made requests for information under the province’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The survey is designed to determine whether it has become easier or more difficult to obtain information under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPP Act) […]

Weekly privacy news briefs from around the world – October to December 2005: Privacy News Highlights – 13 Oct 2005 Privacy News Highlights – 20 Oct 2005 Privacy News Highlights – 27 Oct 2005 Privacy News Highlights – 10 Nov 2005 Privacy News Highlights – 23 Nov 2005 Privacy News Highlights – 1 Dec 2005 […]

BC’s Freedom of Information Act is in dire need of updating and strengthening. A formal review of the act completed in 2004 should have yielded improvements, but the government has taken a puzzling detour. A Special Committee of the Legislature conducted a comprehensive review of the FOI act in 2004 and submitted a report with […]

The federal government got a lot more than it asked for when it commissioned former Supreme Court justice Gerard La Forest to study whether or not the offices of the federal Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner should be merged. Although these offices are merged in some provinces, it was not entirely clear what was pushing […]

Opposition leader Stephen Harper has announced that, if elected, the Conservatives will introduce major measures to increase federal transparency and accountability. The federal Liberals promised major initiatives to increase transparency, but FIPA and other watchdogs have taken them to task for introducing ineffective whistleblower legislation and failing to carry through with reform of the Access […]

BC’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, David Loukidelis, has been appointed for a second six-year term. Members of a Special Committee of the Legislature unanimously recommended that the House reappoint Loukidelis. “During his tenure as Commissioner, David Loukidelis has earned a well-deserved reputation as an effective advocate for the access to information and privacy rights of […]

Gordon McAdams, a BC government ecologist, was fired on his last day before retirement for filing confidential government documents with the Supreme Court of British Columbia. McAdams was dismissed for attaching confidential government records to an affidavit he filed in support of a court action to stop the province from building a road through endangered […]

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Canadian Newspaper Association asks Information Commissioner to Investigate Secret Rules that Block Transparency The federal government is applying bureaucratic systems that filter access to information requests made by media and subject them to scrutiny that causes unfair delays, in violation of Canada’s Access to Information Act, Canadian Newspaper Association President and CEO Anne Kothawala said […]