Commissioner Denham to examine FIPA FOI posting complaint as part of Open Government review

Responding to a recent complaint filed by FIPA regarding the BC Government’s failure to post approximately two thirds of completed FOI requests–against its own policy–BC Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham will be looking into the problem as part of her current evaluation of the province’s Open Government Initiative.

In a letter to FIPA dated August 27th, Assistant Commissioner Michael McEvoy writes, “As a strong supporter of Open Government, the Commissioner is committed to helping ensure government’s initiatives in this respect meet the needs and expectations of the citizens of British Columbia.”

Commissioner Denham announced the broad review of the government’s Open government Initiative in her September 2011 Report Card on the Timeliness of Government’s Access to Information Responses. As part of this review, McEvoy stated that the “Open Information program and government’s policies and practices relating to the posting of access requests” will come under scrutiny.

McEvoy assures us that FIPA’s research will be considered in the course of this review, and says the report should be made public later this year..

We’re hopeful that the OIPC will take seriously the gap between the government’s stated policy of posting all completed FOI requests (except in ‘limited circumstances’) and the reality of the situation today: an unwillingness or an inability to post fully 67% (or 43% according to the Government!) of such requests.

A copy of Assistant Commissioner McEvoy’s letter can be found in our library.