BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
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Time for Action on BC FOI Reform
The BC Legislature is coming back on Monday July 25 for a special sitting to pass legislation to allow the City of Vancouver to bring in a vacancy tax.
However, there is also a pressing need for changes to the FOI law in this province.
Last week saw former Ministry of Transportation political staffer George Gretes plead guilty to obstructing the Information and Privacy Commissioner in her investigation of the ‘Triple Delete’ scandal. It is important to note that he was not charged with having deleted information, because that is not actually an offence under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
This highlights the need for both a legislated duty to document and for stiffer penalties for violations of the Act. These actions were recommended last year by Commissioner Elizabeth Denham and her predecessor, David Loukidelis. The Special Legislative Committee reviewing the Act recommended similar changes in May of this year.
We had Ipsos Canada ask people in this province what they thought about these issues, and this is what they found:
- 96% of British Columbians believe it is important that government officials be legally required to keep accurate, complete records of what they do on the job.
- 84% think government officials who interfere with access to information rights should face penalties.
- 85% of respondents believe these reforms should be put into law before the next provincial election in 2017.
(Full poll questions and responses can be found here: https://fipa.bc.ca/poll/)
Vaughn Palmer’s column earlier this week catalogued the FOI failings of the BC government, but stated the government had the issue under “active study” the duty to document. Of course Commissioner Denham first recommended this action more than three years ago, so presumably they should be able to put together legislation to implement this amendment by now.
If the government doesn’t manage to get to deal with these vital issues during the July sitting, they should have a fall sitting to do it. There is no excuse for delaying action to restore public confidence in access to information.
The BC Legislature is coming back on Monday July 25 for a special sitting to pass legislation to allow the City of Vancouver to bring in a vacancy tax.
However, there is also a pressing need for changes to the FOI law in this province.
Last week saw former Ministry of Transportation political staffer George Gretes plead guilty to obstructing the Information and Privacy Commissioner in her investigation of the ‘Triple Delete’ scandal. It is important to note that he was not charged with having deleted information, because that is not actually an offence under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
This highlights the need for both a legislated duty to document and for stiffer penalties for violations of the Act. These actions were recommended last year by Commissioner Elizabeth Denham and her predecessor, David Loukidelis. The Special Legislative Committee reviewing the Act recommended similar changes in May of this year.
We had Ipsos Canada ask people in this province what they thought about these issues, and this is what they found:
- 96% of British Columbians believe it is important that government officials be legally required to keep accurate, complete records of what they do on the job.
- 84% think government officials who interfere with access to information rights should face penalties.
- 85% of respondents believe these reforms should be put into law before the next provincial election in 2017.
(Full poll questions and responses can be found here: https://fipa.bc.ca/poll/)
Vaughn Palmer’s column earlier this week catalogued the FOI failings of the BC government, but stated the government had the issue under “active study” the duty to document. Of course Commissioner Denham first recommended this action more than three years ago, so presumably they should be able to put together legislation to implement this amendment by now.
If the government doesn’t manage to get to deal with these vital issues during the July sitting, they should have a fall sitting to do it. There is no excuse for delaying action to restore public confidence in access to information.