BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
Your Data Your Rights
Complaint and Review Mechanisms Overview
An individual is legally entitled to file a complaint or review request regarding their information request or privacy issues. Topics for complaints or review requests include the following but are not limited to:
- Time period to receive a response has elapsed
- Unfair time extension
- Excessive fees
- Unagreeable exemptions/exclusions in the provided records
- Unagreeable incomplete response
- Denied access to records
- Any other matter that you believe is unfair and should be reviewed
Complaints and review requests will be submitted to a specific office depending on what legislation you submitted your initial request under. For example, a complaint regarding an access to information request under the Access to Information Act will be submitted to the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada.
Currently, this website’s scope is subject to BC and Federal jurisdictions, with plans to add information for the other provinces and territories in the future. The following list is where your legal right to submit a complaint or request a review stem from, as well as the corresponding office:
- BC Private Sector: section 47 of BC PIPA and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia
- BC Public Sector: section 52 of BC FIPPA and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia
- Federal government (personal information): section 29 of the Privacy Act and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
- Federal government (general information): section 30 of the ATIA and the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
These pages were last updated and reviewed in August of 2022.
The information on these pages only contains general information and guidance; none of the information constitutes legal advice. If you have a specific issue that you believe is a legal problem, the best practice is to consult a lawyer.
The information is non-partisan, dynamic and ever changing. It is the result of FIPA’s research and public education programs.
If you note something that needs to be added, corrected, or removed, please contact us by email: fipa AT fipa.bc.ca.
