Annual Reports

The Information and Privacy Commissioner is mandated by the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) to publish an annual report, which is tabled as a public document in the BC Legislature.

The annual report describes the successes and challenges of the previous year, and provides statistics on the casework completed by our Office. The report also describes our public education and outreach activities, and our overall approach to enforcement of BC's access and privacy laws.

The following annual reports are available in PDF format. Contact us if you would like to request a paper copy of our most recent annual report, or if you are looking for annual reports published prior to 2006.

British Columbia’s Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA) came into force on December 1, 2019. The Act requires public bodies in British Columbia to report on investigations into wrongdoing started under the Act, the number of disclosures made internally, and the number of disclosures received by the Office of the Ombudsperson.

The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner and the Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists have not had any investigations or disclosures under PIDA between December 1, 2019 and March 31, 2020.

Title	Summary
2021-22 Annual Report	Fairness, transparency, and accountability are among our democracy’s most important values. Our laws... more Fairness, transparency, and accountability are among our democracy’s most important values. Our laws should reflect these. Our provincial access and privacy laws attempt to do so, but like most laws they are, as they should be, a work in progress. And progress does not always follow a straight line.
2020-21 Annual Report	During the last fiscal year, the spread of COVID-19 continued to strongly impact both our internal o... more During the last fiscal year, the spread of COVID-19 continued to strongly impact both our internal operations and our mandate to protect the personal information of citizens and their right to access information. The dramatic increase in online services utilized by public bodies, private organizations, and individuals accelerated these impacts.
2019-2020 Annual Report	I am pleased to present the 2019-20 annual report for the Office of the Information and Privacy Comm... more I am pleased to present the 2019-20 annual report for the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia. Past reports have highlighted the incredible pace of technological change and its impact on privacy and information rights in BC. During this past fiscal reporting year, my office has witnessed an exponential surge in this trajectory.
2018-2019 Annual Report	The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s Annual Report to the legislative assembly c... more The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s Annual Report to the legislative assembly covering the period from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019.
2017-2018 Annual Report	I am pleased to present our 2017-18 annual report, my first as British Columbia’s Information and Pr... more I am pleased to present our 2017-18 annual report, my first as British Columbia’s Information and Privacy Commissioner. When I began my term on April 1, 2018, I assumed responsibility for an office with a distinguished 25-year record of advancing the access and privacy rights of British Columbians. I owe a debt of gratitude to my predecessors, Elizabeth Denham, David Loukidelis, and David Flaherty.
2016-2017 Annual Report	As Acting Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC, I am pleased to present our 2016-17 annual re... more As Acting Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC, I am pleased to present our 2016-17 annual report. This past year has certainly been an interesting one.
2015-2016 Annual Report	When I came to this Office in 2010, I set out many goals for myself and my staff. I wanted to build ... more When I came to this Office in 2010, I set out many goals for myself and my staff. I wanted to build a proactive office with a policy and technology focus. I wanted to advocate for more privacy management programs that anticipate rather than just react to privacy breaches. And I wanted to assemble an audit program.
2014-2015 Annual Report	When I was appointed Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia in 2010, emerging tec... more When I was appointed Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia in 2010, emerging technologies were opening up new and promising in-roads for access to information. They were also presenting challenges to personal privacy. With this backdrop, my primary objective was to create a more proactive and effective regulatory role for this Office.
2013-2014 Annual Report	The 2013-14 fiscal year saw access to information and privacy issues increasingly discussed and deba... more The 2013-14 fiscal year saw access to information and privacy issues increasingly discussed and debated in the news media and among citizens. The deletion of government records, use of private email by some public servants to conduct government business, calls for a duty to document key public policy decisions, and demands for transparency in the spending of public funds made headlines on the federal and provincial level. It is very clear that citizens are hungry for open information. I believe that governments have a duty to meet those demands.
2012-2013 Annual Report	The year 2013 marks the 20th anniversary of the enactment of B.C.’s Freedom of Information and Prote... more The year 2013 marks the 20th anniversary of the enactment of B.C.’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. This important milestone in our province’s history gives us pause to examine our past, but also to look to the future.
2011-2012 Annual Report	On May 22, 1992, the government of the day introduced Bill 50, the Freedom of Information and Protec... more On May 22, 1992, the government of the day introduced Bill 50, the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) into the Legislature for first reading. On that day, the Attorney General declared that the proposed legislation, “does more than simply open government files; it makes it very clear that government is the domain of the public.” The Bill was passed unanimously by Members of the Legislative Assembly.
2010-2011 Annual Report	There has been a remarkable consistency in the number of requests for review and complaints made to ... more There has been a remarkable consistency in the number of requests for review and complaints made to our office in recent years under the two laws we oversee, the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). In fact, the total number of FIPPA and PIPA requests and complaints we received during the fiscal year covered by this report (April 1, 2010–March 31, 2011) was almost identical to the number five years ago (1,086 then, 1,096 this year). (Page 14) On the other hand, much also changed in the past few years. We have gradually introduced a number of efficiencies that have sped up resolution of many of our requests for review and complaints, both at mediation (our standard technique for producing fair resolutions for all parties involved) and later at inquiry, during which our adjudication team considers evidence and makes orders on matters that have not been resolved at mediation. This annual report, covering Commissioner Elizabeth Denham’s first year in office, also reflects an increased emphasis on a proactive role for the office, including systemic reviews of policies and technologies, and public education.
2009-2010 Annual Report	The 5,972 files we closed in fiscal year 2009-10 represent an 8% increase over last year. Our caselo... more The 5,972 files we closed in fiscal year 2009-10 represent an 8% increase over last year. Our caseload has increased by 40% over the past five years. Year after year we find ways to develop new and innovative efficiencies in our handling of files, but public demand for our services continues to grow beyond our ability to respond to all our files in the expeditious and thorough manner they deserve. For example, we managed to close 58% more Personal Information Protection Act complaint files and 22% more Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act privacy complaint files this year than last, but the number of FIPPA and PIPA privacy complaints received also jumped 18% this year.
2008-2009 Annual Report	The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act guarantees ordinary citizens the right of a... more The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act guarantees ordinary citizens the right of access to most information (anything recorded in print or electronic form) in the hands of the more than 2,000 public bodies (primarily provincial and local government agencies) covered by FIPPA. Democracy works best when government is fully accountable to the people it serves. Making access to government information a basic right (subject to a few common-sense exceptions described in the Act) provides ordinary people the means to see how and why public servants make the decisions they do and the details of how public money is spent. FIPPA also sets clear rules on how public bodies can collect, use and disclose your personal information (i.e., all information about you).
2006-2007 Annual Report	Another year has slipped away since unanimous Legislative Assembly review committee recommendations ... more Another year has slipped away since unanimous Legislative Assembly review committee recommendations were made to improve the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). The government says it has implemented some changes by policy, and a minor housekeeping amendment has been enacted, but the vitally important work of the committee sits on the shelf gathering dust. At year’s end a Bill was tabled with a number of important amendments that flowed from the committee’s work, but it sits there still. It seems House time ran out – I certainly hope the Bill’s fate was not sealed by the hostile reaction it received from advocates of open government.
2005-2006 Annual Report	Thinking it would be my last, I used last year’s annual report message as an opportunity to look bac... more Thinking it would be my last, I used last year’s annual report message as an opportunity to look back on my term as Information and Privacy Commissioner. This first message of my second six-year term in the position allows me to look forward at the next several years in access and privacy. Let me first say how grateful I am to have been re-appointed last November on the unanimous recommendation of the Legislative Assembly. It has been, and continues to be, a great privilege to serve the public in the areas of access to information and privacy protection. I will serve to the best of my abilities, with energy and diligence. This year we are presenting the office’s annual report in a new format with new features. We are distributing the report on a CD and are placing additional resources on the CD. The portions of past annual reports describing the role and mandate of the office, as well as questions and answers about privacy in the hiring process, are included on the CD. In addition, links to full documents on our website are included where the document is mentioned in the report.
2004-2005 Annual Report	It has been a privilege to spend the last six years promoting transparent and accountable government... more It has been a privilege to spend the last six years promoting transparent and accountable government and privacy protection in both the public and private sectors and I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the citizens of this province.
2003-2004 Annual Report	This has been a notable year on a number of fronts. Significant new responsibilities came our way at... more This has been a notable year on a number of fronts. Significant new responsibilities came our way at a time when our activities under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (“Act”)—which turned ten on October 4, 2003—were as extensive as ever. I will focus here on only a few of the more notable developments this past year.
2002-2003 Annual Report	The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (“Act”) came into force ten years ago on Oc... more The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (“Act”) came into force ten years ago on October 4, 1993. Its express purposes are to make public bodies more accountable to the public they serve and to protect the privacy of the personal information of citizens. The time is right to begin asking whether British Columbia’s access and privacy legislation has delivered on these promises. For example, has freedom of information made the activities and decisions of government more transparent and is government more accountable to the public? Are public agencies appropriately restrained in the collection, use and disclosure of citizens’ personal information?