Privacy czar chides B.C. government over shoddy access to information practices
VICTORIA — The democratic rights of British Columbians are in jeopardy thanks to the provincial government’s failure in recent years to respond to freedom of information requests on time, B.C.’s privacy commissioner says.
In a report released Wednesday, acting commissioner Drew McArthur said as many as one in four requests are not being answered within the time frame laid out in provincial legislation.
“I find it difficult to imagine a circumstance where government would tolerate its citizens breaking the law 25 per cent of the time,” McArthur said in the report, calling the findings extraordinary and disappointing.
Nothing less than 100 per cent compliance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act should be considered acceptable, he added.