The BC Legislature is coming back on Monday July 25 for a special sitting to pass legislation to allow the City of Vancouver to bring in a vacancy tax. However, there is also a pressing need for changes to the FOI law in this province. Last week saw former Ministry of Transportation political staffer George […]

In 2015, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada chose “Reputation and Privacy” as one of its priority areas for the next five years. The OPC wanted to examine the risks “stemming from the vast amount of personal information posted online”, with the goals of enriching the public debate, ensuring they can advise Parliament […]

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, […]

The VPD may or may not be engaging in mass cell phone surveillance  Do you know if the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) is using surveillance tools to spy on peoples’ cell phone activity? Chances are you don’t, and neither do we. That’s because the VPD has refused to confirm or deny the existence of records […]

Back in October, the BC Information and Privacy Commissioner released a scathing report on the destruction of email records related to missing women on the Highway of Tears. This was the result of an investigation initiated after a former executive assistant to BC’s Minister of Transportation wrote the Commissioner a letter stating that he was ordered by […]

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 […]

FIPA urges the BC government to quickly implement key recommendations VANCOUVER, May 11, 2016 – The BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) is pleased to see that the Special Committee’s Review of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) has issued strong recommendations in a number of key areas, calling for […]

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 […]

Join FIPA staff, board, members, and others in the information and privacy community at FIPA’s 2016 Annual General Meeting. This year’s AGM will take place at 7:00 PM on Thursday, June 2nd, at the YWCA Hotel (details below), and will feature a talk by Shannon Daub about the Election Act‘s chilling effect on social movements.   Shannon is Communications Director of the Canadian Centre […]

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 […]

George Gretes charged after failing to tell truth to Information and Privacy Commissioner under oath VANCOUVER, March 11, 2016 – The BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) is glad to see that George Gretes—a former Ministerial Assistant in the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure who wilfully deleted emails responsive to a Freedom […]