FOIPPA requires that each public body have a ‘head’ who is accountable for the privacy requirements in FIPPA. The head has overall responsibility for directing the development, implementation, and maintenance of the public body’s privacy protection program, and may delegate this responsibility as appropriate. The head should ensure that there is someone responsible for FOIPPA compliance and awareness within the public body on a day-to-day basis. The Chairperson of the LNID Board will have overall responsibility and the LNID Administrative Officer or Secretary will bear responsibility for the day-to-day FOIPPA compliance as directed by the Board. All inquiries should be directed to lnidcttee@gmail.com.
Under the BC Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA) “all records in the custody or under the control of a public body are accessible to the public”. On our website, the Lower Nipit Improvement District makes readily available most of their records unless the information is required or authorized to be withheld under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Sections 12-22).
Readily available materials include the Agendas and Minutes of Board Meetings, AGMs, and Court of Revision, as well as Bylaws. If these are not found on the website, please email lnidcttee@gmail.com to request a copy. Please note that we are in the process of collecting, sorting, compiling and digitizing the past 60 years of our archives and some records may be unavailable due to the ongoing work. If that is the case, they will be provided at the earliest possible opportunity.
The following documents and reports are available without charge and may be found on the website. Requests for these records should be submitted using the “Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Request for Access to Records” form which is available below. Once again, please note that we are in the process of collecting, sorting, compiling and digitizing the past 60 years of our archives and some records may be unavailable due to the ongoing work. If that is the case, they will be provided at the earliest possible opportunity. The BC Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA) states that to obtain access to a record, the applicant must make a written request that provides enough detail to enable an experienced employee of the public body, with a reasonable effort, to identify the record sought.
Included in this category are: Letters Patent, the annual financial statements and auditor’s reports, budgets and annual trustee reports, All other documents are subject to FOI Request. Non-routinely available records are covered by the Act. The Act requires disclosure of existing records containing information, not the production of new records to comply with an information request. The LNID is not responsible for providing or creating records that do not exist.
Some records may be (or must be) restricted from access by the public, including the following records: personal information; information being considered in confidence; information subject to solicitor-client privilege; information harmful to law enforcement or the interests of the public if disclosed; and information harmful to third-party business interests if disclosed. If the report or documents are due to be published or released to the public within 60 days after the applicant’s request is received, the LNID may also choose to restrict release.
Requests for non-routinely available records should be submitted using the “Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Request for Access to Records” form. The BC Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA) states that to obtain access to a record, the applicant must make a written request that provides enough detail to enable an experienced employee of the public body, with a reasonable effort, to identify the record sought. For information requests pursuant to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, a fee of $20.00 for a Freedom of Information Request and $50.00 per hour or portion thereof after the first three hour may be charged for locating and retrieving a record, preparing it for disclosure or producing it manually, as set out in the Regulation to that Act. These fees are set out under Lower Nipit Improvement District’s Miscellaneous Fee Bylaw #57.
This form can be downloaded here and should be submitted to lnidcttee@gmail.com. Once received, you will be contacted with regards to fee payment.
All due diligence will be exercised to provide information in a timely manner and within the guidelines of the FOIPPA. All efforts will be made to protect the rights and privacy of individuals and corporations.
Subsection 6 (1) of the FOIPPA outlines Duty to Assist and subsection 6 (2) outlines the creation of records. A Provincial Summary of this section can be accessed here. It stresses the obligations of both the public body and the applicant and the summary in part reads as:
Subsection 6 (1) of FOIPPA outlines the public body’s “duty to assist” applicants throughout the processing of an access request. Although the legislation frames it as an obligation of the head of the public body, it can only truly be fulfilled through the efforts of all employees involved in the processing of an access request. It is a general obligation for the public body to make a reasonable effort at all stages of the processing of a request.
There is no singular procedure for how a public body fulfills the duty to assist but it includes actions like interpreting the request fairly or clarifying the scope and intent if necessary, conducting a comprehensive search for records, applying exceptions fairly, and adhering to the Act’s timelines.
Put another way, 6 (1) makes it clear that public bodies must not frustrate the public’s right to access through negligence, administrative delays, or excessive severing.
In responding to an applicant’s request for information, the duty to assist obliges the head of the public body to defer to the applicant’s wishes, if practicable, but does not require the public body to make unreasonable efforts to satisfy an applicant’s request for information.
Subsection 6 (1): Duty to Assist/Working with applicant in good faith6 (1) requires the head to respond “openly”.
The duty to assist obliges public bodies to work with applicants in a forthcoming and collaborative spirit.
Employees of public bodies and applicants should work together rather than in opposition: both parties have an interest in the efficient, timely processing of requests. The access “partnership” between public bodies and applicants covers both the formal rights and duties under the Act and more informal communication during the request process.
In some cases, the public body and the applicant may jointly decide that some or all of the applicant’s request is satisfied by routinely available records.
Interpretation of requests
6 (1) requires the head to respond “accurately”. A prerequisite to fulfilling this portion of the duty to assist is that the public body understands the request and interprets it in a manner that a fair and rational person would consider appropriate in the circumstances. This typically involves avoiding interpretations that would make the request overly narrow.
If the public body has any uncertainty about the interpretation of a request, they should contact the applicant and ask for clarification or assist them in better defining their request. An applicant’s request may be vague or overly broad, for instance, because of a lack of knowledge of the public body’s mandate or structure. Without assistance from the public body, applicants may not be able to specify what records would satisfy their needs.
Section 6 (2): Creation of Records
The Act is not limited only to electronic records that already exist such as an email, Word document, or PDF file. Subsection 6 (2) is intended to recognize that information will also exist within a public body’s broader electronic systems such as information or records stored in a database or computer program. If a record sought as part of an access request can reasonably be produced from an electronic system, subsection 6 (2) obligates the public body to create that record.
This requirement is subject to some limitations:
- the underlying records must be machine-readable, and in the custody or control of the public body
- producing the record must be possible using normal computer hardware and software
- producing the record must be possible using normal technical expertise of employees; and
- producing the record must not unreasonably interfere with the operations of the public body