Privacy violations highlight the need for law reform Earlier this week, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of B.C. (OIPC BC) and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) released a joint investigation report that found a B.C. company violated B.C.’s provincial and Canada’s federal privacy laws. While conducting business on high-profile campaigns […]

What do you do when you want to make sure documents can’t be requested under freedom of information law? Well if you’re the BC Government, you need only utter one magic word: transitory. Government policy states that a transitory record is one that relates to “temporary usefulness […] needed only for a limited period of […]

The University of Victoria Environmental Law Clinic ,on behalf of BC FIPA, has a submission to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner to request an investigation into the disregard of section 25 of the BC Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) by public bodies. BC FIPA is concerned that there […]

BC FIPA has sent a submission the the Vancouver Police Board regarding the Vancouver Police Department’s (VPD) policy of simultaneous disclosure of responses to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. BC FIPA notes that the BC Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner concluded that this practice violates the fundamental purpose of the Freedom of Information […]

BC FIPA sought a judicial review of the order by the Office of Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia dated January 27, 2009, (F09-02) regarding the scope of the exemption for “advice and recommendations” under s. 13(1) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). BC FIPA did not agree with […]

In this issue: Meet BC’s new Information and Privacy Commissioner FOIPP Act review report a mixed bag FIPA report blasts massive data-matching scheme Legal Actions: Are submissions to government consultations ‘policy advice’? BC government loses again in attempt to keep big contracts secret Dowload the bulletin (pdf).