In a new investigation report prompted by a complaint from the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham confirms widespread and growing instances of senior government officials failing to keep records of important decisions. FIPA’s complaint outlined a dramatic increase in the number of general FOI requests returned with […]

The BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) and the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) are calling for the BC government to put the brakes on the roll out of the BC Services Card. The BC Services Card is a key part of the BC government’s broader “e-government” strategy – a comprehensive identity management […]

The B.C. Government’s stubborn refusal to fix our province’s unconstitutional Election Act has forced a Charter challenge by the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA). The definition of election advertising contained in s.228 of the Act is extremely broad, and captures any communication with the public that “…promotes or opposes, directly or indirectly, […]

BC FIPA filed a notice of civil claim in BC Supreme Court on January 28, 2013 challenging the legality of the provisions in the BC Election Act dealing with 3rd party advertisers. BC FIPA submits that the restrictions on 3rd party election advertising and the registration requirements for 3rd party election advertisers in the BC […]

The B.C. Ministry of Child and Family Development has issued an interim report by a consultant hired to review the problem-plagued Integrated Case Management System, and the results are damning. The report outlines a laundry list of weaknesses in the system, which is meant to streamline government service provision by linking and sharing citizen data […]

The UVic Environmental Law Centre, in collaboration with West Coast Environmental Law, Ecojustice and numerous BC lawyers, has just published a potential environmental law reform agenda for the next provincial government. Maintaining SuperNatural BC for our Children: Selected Law Reform Proposals can be downloaded for free from http://www.elc.uvic.ca FIPA’s Executive Director Vincent Gogolek, in collaboration […]

On Monday, the B.C. Government launched a province-wide communications blitz to announce the February 15th launch date of its long-delayed B.C. Services Card. The new card, which will be rolled out to British Columbians over the next five years, is set to replace the aging CareCard system, currently used to track and deliver health care […]

At FIPA, we’re in the process of winding down a very busy and eventful 2012. The past twelve months have been marked by major victories, as well as new challenges on the transparency and information rights front. We’re very pleased to have finally succeeded in our efforts to obtain an unredacted copy of the B.C. […]

In this issue: Big Wins, New Challenges: 2012 in Transparency A new year means new ways to support FIPA Privacy advocates raise red flags over C-12 surveillance measures New parliamentary study tackles big data, social media, and privacy Information Commissioner looks to overhaul Access to Information Act BC Commish tries to limit license plate surveillance […]

BC FIPA has sent its submission to the Committee on Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics on the impacts of social media and ‘Big Data’ on privacy and the rights of citizens and the policy considerations that should be explored by the Committee in the context of amendments to the Personal Information Protection and Protection […]

Since September, Canada’s Information Commissioner Suzanne Legaut has been running a broad public consultation, seeking out suggestions for how to modernize our woefully out-of-date Access to Information Act (ATIA). Any individual or organization can participate in this critically important process. But your chance to speak up ends soon. Submissions to the consultation process close on […]

In a report released last week, B.C.’s Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham took a stiff shot at the use of Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology by the Victoria Police Department. Valuable as Denham’s efforts are, however, it will likely take more than her work alone to bring this ever-expanding surveillance system back in […]