In anticipation of the 2013 academic year, the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, with the generous support of the Law Foundation of British Columbia, is excited to announce the upcoming release of Access in the Academy: Bringing ATI and FOI to Academic Research, available for download starting July 25th. Compiled by Mike Larsen, […]

In this issue: BC Election: It’s time to double down on info rights BC Election Act causes confusion, chills free speech — again Major data security issues bedevil the Federal Government A National ID Card by Stealth? Fighting for a fair deal: FIPA continues to oppose Trans-Pacific Partnership FIPA is hiring! Join the team Access […]

The B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association has joined together with civil liberties, pro-democracy, privacy, and open internet advocacy groups across the country to demand answers and immediate action from the government after it was revealed that a secretive government agency has been spying on the telephone and Internet activities of individuals, including law-abiding […]

Another of Canada’s Information Commissioners has found that the problem of oral government has taken hold at the highest levels of provincial power. Ann Cavoukian, Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, issued a report yesterday exposing “[a] culture of avoiding the creation of written documentation” in the “offices of the former Minister of Energy and the […]

After four weeks of heated campaigning, the 2013 provincial election is finally over. The voters of B.C. have chosen a new Liberal majority government under Christy Clark to lead the province for the next four years. The coming weeks will see a new cabinet appointed, staff shuffled and (at least the possibility of) new faces […]

To this point in the provincial election campaign, the leaders of the four major parties have been quite reticent to reveal where they stand on some of the burning issues in the field of information rights. That’s why we sent all four parties a questionnaire pushing them for clear positions on how they would stop […]

The provincial election campaign is well underway and all the major parties have released their platforms. But unfortunately for those of us concerned about information and privacy rights, the pickings are awfully slim. Information issues were smoking hot right up to the drop of the writ. But ever since, they’ve received hardly a mention. Looks […]

A few short days from now, the writ will drop on the 2013 provincial election, kicking off twenty-eight days of heated campaigning. And while there’s no shortage of issues for voters to consider, recent controversies around government secrecy and attempts to undermine Freedom of Information make it clear that information policy should be a top […]

Victories, challenges, exciting changes, and a lot of hard work as another year passes at FIPA. Read the whole story in our Annual Report for 2012 (pdf).

BC FIPA sent the leaders of BC’s political parties a series of questions on freedom of information and privacy issues. Here are the responses we received: BC Liberal Party response (pdf). BC Green Party response (pdf). BC NDP response (pdf).

Judging by a number of documents released by her office on Monday, Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham is not satisfied with the “maybe by 2016, if we feel like it” response from Deputy Minister of Citizen Services Kim Henderson to her recent recommendation that the provincial government implement a legislated duty to document. In […]

In this issue: Election Act gag law forces charter challenge Victoria police come around to privacy — sort of Annual General Meeting Bad Id(ea) as Provincial Government charges ahead with a new ID card, serious privacy concerns remain Oral culture at top levels of government grows under ‘Open Government Premier’ Feds kill online spying bill, […]