David’s absence will be noted in the Victoria Arts Community. Please consider a donation in his memory to the Pacific Opera Victoria where he still served as chairperson. His formal obituary may be found at the Times Colonist. Condolences may be offered to the family through McCall Gardens . David Harris Flaherty was born in Campbellton, […]

FIPA recently replied to an OIPC request that sought details on our experiences with application fees for general FOI requests.   In our response, we restated our ongoing concerns with the application fees and provided stories that illustrate these concerns. For example, we expressed concern that the fees were passed into law during the Special Committee’s […]

New Report, New Recommendations New opportunity for the Minister to do the right thing. The Special Committee to Review the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) released its report with recommendations titled FIPPA for the Future. The detailed report makes 34 recommendations to improve and modernize access to information and privacy rules […]

Given its recent release, legal researchers at FIPA have completed an analysis of the Report on the administration of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act 2019/20 & 2020/21 tabled in the BC legislature May 18, 2021.   In general, the current Report presented less analysis, information, and figures than its predecessor. There is […]

The Special Committee to Review the Freedom of Information Protection of Privacy Act has concluded its open consultations and began its deliberations. It is expected to release its final report by June 15th 2022. We are grateful for the work of the Committee to review the Freedom of Information Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and […]

Learn how to navigate big data sets and open data held by public bodies to inform your research and how they can power your next project. About this event Join award-winning journalist David McKie for a lunch and learn event with FIPA President Mike Larsen to discuss the intersection of big data with freedom of […]

The all-party Special Committee to Review the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the “Committee”) is holding open, public consultations. Our initial summary of core issues can be found here.  The Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) hopes those of you that are making submissions before the Committee will consider these issues. […]

The Provincial Code of Silence Award has been handed out and FIPA’s nominees have received national recognition. You can read the full press release here. Congratulations to @lisabeare, @jjhorgan and @BCGovNews for the big “win”. Only with the concerted effort of so many @BCNDPCaucus could they turn their back on public accountability. Thanks to the […]

Take your environmental research to the next level. Learn how to get the information you need from public bodies through FOI. About this event Join facilitators Mike Larsen, Criminology Department, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, and Sean Holman, Professor of Environmental and Climate Journalism, University of Victoria, for FIPA’s latest Freedom of Information 101 seminar on Wednesday, […]

FIPPA Section 68 is clear: the Minister is to table an Annual Report on FIPPA before the Legislative Assembly as soon as possible. This Government has failed to do so since 2019. It is simply not believable that the Ministers’ earliest opportunity to table a 2019/2020 Annual Report on FIPPA is the spring of 2022, particularly because they just introduced amendments to the legislation and […]

Bill 22 makes the status quo worse for accountability, transparency, and privacy.  On November 25th, the BC Government introduced late stage amendments to  Bill 22 Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) 2021 which will need to be reviewed. On the same day they invoked closure to ram Bill 22 through the legislature and into law without further debate or consideration.  Bill 22 is extraordinary for all the wrong reasons.   The inspiration is extraordinary because […]

FIPA submitted multiple Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to the BC government this fall regarding the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and the public engagements held in the summer of 2021. Government requested extensions for all of them. That pushed release for some until after the end of session. We pushed […]