B.C. ministry has 'significant problems' handling FOI requests: commissioner
Last Updated: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 | 6:33 AM PT
CBC News
The B.C. Ministry of Environment took too long to process Freedom of Information requests and charged "unreasonable" fees, the information and privacy commissioner found.
The University of Victoria Environmental Law Clinic, representing eight environmental organizations, complained to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, alleging that three ministries engaged in a system-wide pattern of long delays and excessive fees when handling FOI requests.
In a ruling released Tuesday, commissioner David Loukidelis concluded that there appeared to be a "significant problem" with the processing of requests by the Ministry of Environment.
Loukidelis' investigation found the ministry was taking an average of 74 business days to respond to requests for information from this group of activists and then it was charging "excessive and unreasonable fees."
The Freedom of Information and Protection Act in B.C. requires public bodies to respond to access requests within 30 business days.
"At that point we just sat down with the ministry and with the complainants and worked out some solutions that would improve the situation," Loukidelis told CBC News Tuesday.
The ministry has agreed to take a number of steps to speed the processing of requests and to better explain fees, he said.
Darrell Evans, of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, said it's a precedent-setting ruling.
"Evidently this is the way to achieve progress with the government … to lodge a complaint and don't put up with delays and huge fees," Evans said Tuesday.
The investigation determined that complaints against the Ministry of Forests and Range and the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands were not substantiated.
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