BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
Your Data Your Rights
Planning A General Request Strategy
When filing a freedom of information (“FOI”) or access to information and privacy (“ATIP”) request for either personal or general information, it is best practice to provide enough detail in your request so that employees can locate the information you are seeking with a reasonable amount of effort. We encourage all requesters to be clear and specific, and to limit your request to the records or information that you need.
The wording of a request is important to the likelihood a public or private body successfully fulfills your request. The more specific a request is, the more likely you will receive a response. However, in some cases it may be necessary to submit a broad request.
Example of a broad request: “All records associated with senior Parks and Recreation staff for 2009.”
- This request is broad and will take organizations longer to locate the information, which may result in a delayed response or fees being imposed on your request.
Example of a specific request: “All email records associated with the Director, Parks and Recreation, for the period of January 15th to 20th, 2009.”
- This request is specific and provides a defined scope for the information. Specific requests may help organizations locate information, which may result in a quicker response time and are less likely to have fees imposed.
Additional considerations when filing a request
On top of specificity, the following considerations may improve your request:
- provide a timeframe of when you think records were created
- provide a note of where you think the records you seek might be found
- provide context and state in your letter what information you do not want included in the release. For example, if you are requesting records relating to a new construction project, you may ask them to exclude the background planning information.
You are not required to state why you want the information, but if your request is unclear or complex you may receive a phone call or email asking for clarification. Providing additional information is not required, but might help narrow your request to only include the records that provide the most value to you. Furthermore, if you want some more easily retrievable records to be released before other records are made available, you can ask for a staged release.
BC Government Request Considerations
In general, government information can usually be separated into three categories.
- What the government knows (statistical reports, data about trends, polling results, issue reports, and briefing notes can often fall into this category)
- What the government is doing (correspondence, evaluations of programs, budgets and other financial documents, communications documents, work plans, and certain training materials can often fall into this category)
- Why the government acts (analysis and recommendations documents, correspondence between cabinet members, information subject to solicitor-client privilege, advice to a decision-maker)
Often the first two categories are comparatively easy to access through FOI requests with some limited exceptions, especially for the “what the government is doing” category. Information from the third category, “why the government acts”, is often the most difficult to obtain through FOI requests as there are many exemptions built into the relevant legislation governing FOI requests.
For more information on the FOI request process, please refer to BC FIPA’s FOI 101 Resource Package.
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.
