Back in October, the BC Information and Privacy Commissioner released a scathing report on the destruction of email records related to missing women on the Highway of Tears. This was the result of an investigation initiated after a former executive assistant to BC’s Minister of Transportation wrote the Commissioner a letter stating that he was ordered by […]

Download the full May 2016 Bulletin, or use the links below to read individual articles online. In this issue: Charges laid for the cover-up of the Triple-Delete scandal To surveil and protect (records from the public) FIPA talks ATI reform with Commons Committee The question of online reputation Find more issues of the Bulletin here.

Download the full February 2016 Bulletin, or use the links below to read individual articles online. In this issue: The results are in! Poll shows BC favours a strong FOI system Will Trudeau get rid of Ottawa’s information black hole? Our challenge to BC’s Election Act in the Supreme Court of Canada Much ado about unverified claims […]

The Supreme Court of Canada will be hearing an important appeal coming out of Alberta regarding freedom of information rights, and FIPA has applied to take part in the hearing as an intervenor. The case began when the University of Calgary responded to a Freedom of Information request by refusing to release various records on […]

FIPA has been fighting against free speech restrictions in BC’s Election Act for years, and that battle will culminate in our upcoming appeal in the Supreme Court of Canada. This is an important case for freedom of speech during BC elections – and for setting the standard the government must meet in order to impose […]

It may be hard to believe, but Canada’s Access to Information Act (ATIA) contains a black hole where requested information can disappear without a trace. And that black hole is being fed more and more government information. In her annual report for 2015, Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault reported a surge in the use of section […]

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 802 […]

Download the full October 2015 Bulletin, or use the links below to read individual articles online. In this issue: Access to Information and the Federal Election FIPA Appears Before the Information & Privacy Review Committee FIPA Out and About During Right To Know Week FIPA Weighs in on Privacy & Open Courts Find more issues of the […]

FIPA highlighted the importance of both the right to privacy and the open court principle in our submission to a consultation the Court Services Online (CSO) system, which was held by the Chief Judge of the BC Provincial Court of BC. The open court principle is fundamental in a democratic society, as it allows citizens to scrutinize the workings of […]

It was a busy Right To Know Week for the FIPA team. In addition to our day-to-day work pushing for a stronger access to information system, we spent this week going out into the world to spread the good word about FOI. First, we hosted FOI 101, an introductory workshop on filing freedom of information […]

FIPA was the first witness to appear before the Special Legislative Committee reviewing the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act in Vancouver, BC, and we had lots of material for the committee to consider. You can read our entire submission here, in the “Policy Submissions and Letters” section of our website. The Act […]

Together with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and Newspapers Canada, FIPA planned to ask the federal parties to describe what they would do to repair and improve transparency policies and practices. This effort quickly expanded to include 22 transparency organizations from across the country. Jointly with all of those groups, FIPA developed and signed a joint […]