When we started this research, we recognized the possibility of a defensive reaction from the provincial government and some public bodies. Although none of the information we requested was public, some of our requests could be considered routine by the receiving public body. After filing ten separate requests to one ministry, we were asked to make more informal requests for information. To cooperate in good faith, we did so.
We sent five questions regarding core operations in the public interest to an email address provided by the Ministry. We received no confirmation of receipt, one communication one month after the request was filed seeking clarification, and at day 75 are still without a response.
The unfortunate result is that we cannot advise you to make an informal request for information you would otherwise file an FOI for. Specifically, because it is not backed by legislated guarantees and redress under FOIPPA.
These results may change if you know or have a connection to the department you are contacting for information. Our disappointment here is access to information from a public body shouldn’t’ be about who you know.
We sought to learn:
What happens to informal requests vs a formal system.
Our FOI request language:
The 19th page of the 2021/2022 annual report on the administration of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act contains a table where, at the intersection of the fields “Political Party” and “2021/2022”, there are two asterisks (“**”). This request seeks the supporting records for such asterisks, which may include copies of earlier drafts of the report.
2021.01.04.- 2023.01.01
Page 8 of the Chief Records Officer’s most recent annual report states “The Government Records Service (GRS) introduced a case management (ticketing) system in mid-2020 to track the volumes and types of requests for records management advice. In 2021/22, GRS managed more than 5,200 requests for records management assistance, ranging from advice on general records management and transfer of records requests to complex information management projects and initiatives.” Please provide copies of the data schema in the case management system for Government Records Service records management advice requests, as described above.
The 2021/2022 annual report on the administration of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act presented privacy breaches by tiers of severity. Please provide an electronic dataset detailing privacy breaches by ministry or public body, in machine-readable format.
Copies of final documents that describe any methodologies used, key performance indicators, or monitoring dashboards, by the Chief Records Officer to assess compliance with “Chief Records Officer Guidelines on Documenting Government Decisions.”
Section 71 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act describes the minister’s power to make categories of records available without request. The BC government policy manual states, under the heading “Procedure,” that “Provincial government ministries will identify categories of records which can be routinely released without the necessity of a formal request under the Act.” Please provide any information notes, briefing notes, and procedural documents that document and detail the process used to identify record categories that can be made available without request.
Insights gained:
2023.02.17 This informal request for those five items was filed. There was no acknowledgement of receipt.
2023.03.16 We received our first response asking for clarification on the date ranges.
2023.05.03 We have received no further replies and have not received any information.
FIPA Request Number: 2023-020 to 2023-024
This is post is a result of our access assessment research. We are getting meta with FOI, by using access requests to inform our research about access rights.
Have an idea for an access request that meets our criteria?
