B.C. government fails to implement Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act recommendations

Is the government doing an end-run around a legislature committee? As reported in the October 27-November 3 issue of the Georgia Straight, the province has hired a consultant to collect submissions on reforming the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Yet the government has failed to implement the May 2004 recommendations of a special legislature committee that reviewed the act. In a November 4, 2005, letter, Darrell Evans, the executive director of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, told Labour and Citizens' Services Minister Mike de Jong that he is "extremely disappointed" by the government's lack of response to the committee's report.

"In view of the current review process, we can only conclude that the government, for reasons unknown to us, has decided to discount this excellent piece of work, accomplished with such sincerity, diligence and care by its own MLAs," Evans wrote.

He added that the new review process puts "hundreds of ill-advised proposals" back on the table. (These include charging a fee to make an FOI request and excluding records concerning public-private partnerships from the act's jurisdiction.) De Jong did not respond to Evans by the Straight's deadline.