With the start of Canada’s Federal Election campaign, the Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) has released their 2021 FIPA Election Guide. Taking place during the Covid-19 pandemic, this election will be different from previous ones. “The Pandemic highlighted many long-standing issues in accessing information from public bodies at all levels and in protecting peoples privacy.”  according to […]

Transparency Spotlight is a searchable table of over 6,500 news stories informed through Access to Information requests. Released this summer FIPA is treating this as a great opportunity to further develop the resource. For that we need your help. FIPA is seeking contributors who can bring their insights and expertise to maintain, develop and expand […]

This document analyzes BC’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) relative to Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act, Quebec’s Act Respecting the Protection of Personal Information in the Private Sector, and Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. It highlights key differences, provision by provision, in BC’s PIPA relative to other jurisdictions. As it is a side by side analysis of Canada’s private-sector privacy […]

FIPA-sponsored poll shows BC wants key reforms to privacy laws   VANCOUVER, June 4, 2020 – Polling results released today indicate that British Columbians want increased public education and enhanced protections to their privacy rights, among other key reforms to privacy laws.   The BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) commissioned an Ipsos poll, a leading independent market research company, on public opinion […]

Stanley Tromp has updated his 2008 book, Fallen Behind: Canada’s Access to Information Act in the World Context. From Stanley Tromp: The first edition of this book in 2008 detailed how Canada’s Access to Information Act had fallen behind the rest of the world’s FOI laws. Since then, the problem has only grown far worse […]

How Canada’s major federal political parties compare on issues related to privacy and access to information The table below uses publicly available information contained within the platforms of Canada’s four major political parties: the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, the New Democratic Party, and the Green Party. FIPA is a non-partisan organization and this chart […]

Vancouver, September 26, 2019 – As part of Right to Know Week 2019, Independent journalist Stanley Tromp has published the BC Freedom of Information (FOI) News Story Index. The new resource, which received support from the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, is a database that documents significant news items produced using BC’s FOI […]

It is election season, and the leaders of Canada’s political parties are making promises, presenting platforms, and answering questions about plans and policies. The next Government of Canada will have to take positions on transparency reform, privacy in a digital age, democracy and Big Data, and the regulation of increasingly-intrusive surveillance practices. We want to […]

Best Practices in Whistleblower Legislation, prepared by Carroll Anne Boydell, instructor of criminology at Kwantlen Polytechnic University on behalf of the British Columbia Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, compares BC’s new whistleblower legislation, the Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA), to international best practices standards. Best practice principles exist for laws, regulations, and procedures aimed […]

FIPA recently commissioned some public opinion polling on BC’s freedom of information system. We worked with Ipsos, a leading independent market research company, to develop and pose four questions related to some of our key recommendations to the Special Committee reviewing BC’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). A total of 803 […]

This Just In: Liberals, NDP and Greens respond to FIPA’s election questionnaire. Just in time for next week’s vote, we are pleased to reveal the responses we received from all three major parties to our election questionnaire. This is the detailed statement of positions on information, privacy, and other issues that have not had much […]

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 […]