https://www.oipc.bc.ca

This office is very important for parents who are seeking a Freedom of Information request and the district is refusing to disclose certain documents to you or you question what they have redacted, etc.

I highly recommend parents go this route, if you have any concerns, even if it’s just a gut feeling that something isn’t right. If the districts tells you what you are requesting cannot be located, file a complaint. It’s amazing what will come to light.

There are policies and laws around student records. The student Act also reflects expectations for privacy and record keeping. There are policies for anything that has a students written name on it. What papers must be shredded, how long they must be kept, and storage rules.

For privacy rights focused on youth.

Companion document – Putting best interests of young people at the forefront of privacy and access to personal information

FIPPA CHANGES COMING FEB 1st, 2023

There are big FIPPA changes coming to BC on Feb 1st, 2023. These affect all government organizations and affects our children’s privacy and how it is managed.

One thing that really sticks out to me, is how privacy breeches will be managed and there is the expectation of a privacy management program. To find out more information click on the link in the above paragraph.

https://www.bcschoolcounsellor.com/legal-ethical-guidelines

There is an important case regarding the disclosure of counselling session notes between the school counsellors.

https://www.oipc.bc.ca/orders/298

This order was upheld in the Supreme Court of BC.

https://www.oipc.bc.ca/orders/1226

If you have any concerns connected to the Ministry of Education, how they handle privacy, you can file a complaint with the Privacy Compliance and Training Branch of the Ministry of Citizens’ Services. The Privacy Compliance and Training Branch (PCTB) is responsible for responding to privacy complaints regarding all government ministries.

This order from the OIPC is also important. I have tried as well to get documents from the Ministry of Finance from this exact department and was denied. I decided not to pursue it to an inquiry, but these people did and answered my question around this topic, by doing so. Now, we know as parents, that this is a dead end.

https://www.oipc.bc.ca/orders/3683

More noteworthy orders

There is great information in these cases on how FOIPPA is applied to accessing educational information. Great advocacy by these parents!!!

Order F23-49 – Langley SD

https://www.oipc.bc.ca/orders/3701 – SD61 doesn’t need to disclose information regarding student exclusion due to student privacy issues under S. 22 (1) of FIPPA.

For more info around privacy issues,

Please contact PCTB at privacy.helpline@gov.bc.ca or call 250-356-1851. If you are not satisfied with their response or do not receive a response after 30 business days, you may submit a complaint to the OIPC.

S.25 – Public Interest

If you are going to be any kind of systemic advocacy with FOI requests, an important thing to do is to make a S.25 request in email early on in the process.

How this works.

1. You submit a FOI request
2. They either don’t provide the documents with a reason, or provide only partly
3. You have to go back to them and request what is missing and give them 30 business days to respond. This is when you make your S.25 public interest. You are going to to want to explain to them why you feel its in the public interest for you to have access to these records. You will need to mention the S.25 in your request.
4. If they don’t provide you the documents, you can file an OIPC complaint. You will now have S.25 included as an issue and this will be very important incase it goes to an adjudicator.

For example:

Let’s say that your FOI request is for the total legal fees that the school district has spent fighting you in your complaint process.

Example:

Hello XXXXXXX,

OIPC says that I need to provide you 30 business days to respond to me raising S.25 public interest as a reason to gain access to the information in my FOI request (submitted XXXXXX, 2025) which you have denied. After such time, if I do not get a response or I am not satisfied with your response I can file another OIPC complaint. 

My request to access information on how public money is spent on legal fees for human rights complaints is reasonable for the following reasons. 

1. It is my belief that school districts use litigation abuse strategies on parents to delay the human rights process in hopes parents will withdraw or accept low settlement offers. 

2. It is my belief that school districts are wasting taxpayer money and spending an extremely disproportionate amount of money on legal fees instead of compensating disabled children for the harm and discrimination they have experienced. 

Given that resources are very constrained and school districts are making cuts to programs, how districts choose to spend their money is of great public interest. 

I look forward to your response. 

Kind regards

XXXXXXXX