Information: it’s a precious and costly commodity nowadays.
Take, for example, the City of Burnaby’s new plan to charge for a fire investigation report, a motor vehicle incident or medical incident report from the fire department.
Under its new plan, the reports would cost between $100 and $200, and the process would no longer be under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act in B.C.
The city says it changed its process to streamline it and to recover administrative costs.
Freedom of information activists are alarmed at the city’s actions and believe it cannot opt out of the act.
At this point in time, we don’t know who will win that argument.
To be clear, as a media organization, we’re for more transparency and accountability in all matters of government.
Simply put: this is information in the public realm, and it should stay in the public realm under the umbrella of the FOIPA.
If it is removed from that jurisdiction, it does not allow for an independent body to adjudicate complaints or enforce transparency.
Who are you going to appeal to when the city says it doesn’t have the info you’re looking for if it’s not under the FOIPA? City council? The mayor?
We get that it could be costly for the city.
Lots of lawyers are always looking for the reports to defend their clients.
But ensuring public information is accessible to, well, everybody, is not the place to start looking for savings.
Let’s face it. It’s not just the City of Burnaby that’s always trying to make it harder, and more costly, to get information. In the news media, we are finding more and more hurdles being added to either slow down or prevent us from getting public information.
We don’t think it’s a coincidence that at a time when newsrooms are losing resources, governments are making it harder or more expensive to get information.
Burnaby values its volunteers enough to throw a $40,000 annual dinner for them.
It values the city’s heritage enough to propose a costly heritage marker plan for its 125th anniversary.
How much does it value transparency and freedom of information?
