Nanaimo Council discussion around limiting FOI requests ‘horrifying’ to hear: expert
NANAIMO — An information advocate says recent discussions by Nanaimo Council about deterring residents from filing freedom of information requests are a frightening new development.
Mike Larsen, president of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association and criminology co-chair at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, said any position against FOIs isn’t the right stance.
“That’s a horrifying thing to hear, the idea that government bodies and councillors are having meetings about how to disincentive the FOI process. The solution to problems with transparency isn’t opacity,” he said.
At Monday’s meeting, while discussing how City staff are overwhelmed by freedom of information requests, coun. Jerry Hong suggested raising rates to collect the data and also charging for any request which cost less than $50 of staff time, which legislative services staff currently don’t do.