FIPA, the BC Civil Liberties Association, and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation sent a letter to Premier Gordon Campbell today calling for the return of BC Ferries to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. A report by the province’s Comptroller General revealed a culture of secrecy and entitlement at the provincially-owned but privately-run […]

Toronto/ Vancouver – The federal Justice Minister has slammed the door on any reform of the crippled Access to Information Act for the foreseeable future, according to three national organizations concerned about openness and accountability in government. In a strongly worded letter to the Prime Minister, the Canadian Newspaper Association, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and […]

The Electronic Commerce Protection Act (Bill C-27) is the Canadian anti-spam bill that comes out of committee on Wednesday October 21st. The opposition Liberals have proposed amendments which appear to have been drafted by copyright and telecom lobbyists. They would allow for surreptitious installation of computer programs and – even more outrageously – would allow […]

BC’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act is about to receive a legislative review for the third time in its history. A Special Committee of the Legislature has been struck, and it is expected to have its first meeting soon. There will be no shortage of issues for the MLAs to deal with […]

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 […]