The B.C. Securities Commission and BC Ferries are now accepting digital payments for fees they have recently imposed on freedom of information (FOI) requests.
Before, both public bodies had only accepted cheques and, in the case of the commission, wire transfers.
It was fall 2021 when the BC NDP government introduced a $10 FOI application fee for applications requesting government information, thus allowing all other public bodies to follow suit.
In January 2023, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) found flaws in the administration of the fee while making five recommendations to the government, including four directed at all public bodies, such as the commission and BC Ferries and the likes of municipalities and Crown corporations.
“We recommended, at the time, that if the public bodies choose to administer the fee, they should have multiple payment options available for expediency and accessibility for all applicants, including an option that permits an applicant to remain anonymous,” Commissioner Michael Harvey told Glacier Media in June.
Pamela MacDonald, the commission’s communications director, told Glacier Media June 25 the commission now has an e-transfer payment system in place for the fee.
Meanwhile, BC Ferries says it now accepts credit cards, having made the change in early 2023.
But FOI advocate and journalist Stanley Tromp said he had found the option was not clear on the BC Ferries website and so the company has, as of this week, ensured the digital payment option is more prominent on the website.
Tromp has also complained to the OPIC and Premier’s Office about BC Ferries publishing information about active (not concluded) FOI requests.
“We thought this malignant practice had ended long ago but, in zombie form, apparently not. In 2016, Mike De Jong, the provincial minister for FOI, began a similar practice of posting live requests. This prompted a storm of protest from the media, lawyers and other applicant groups,” resulting in a reversal, said Tromp.
BC Ferries spokesperson Ceilidh Marlow claims BC Ferries does this for transparency.
Tromp says public bodies ought to scrap the $10 application fee, even though the provincial government has afforded them the right.
That application fee is in addition to record search/production fees that have also come under scrutiny.
He notes the Vancouver Fire Department charged $260 for a single-page investigation report, earning it the Code of Silence award.
Tromp wrote to Premier David Eby on July 8.
“As the B.C. provincial election of Oct. 19, 2024, approaches, transparency advocates ask you to repeal the harmful aspects of Bill 22, particularly its $10 fee to request records via the FOI law. Last year a report by B.C.’s information commissioner found that media FOI requests dropped by a shocking 80% since this fee began, a disaster for our democracy. Such a repeal would be easily done, and hugely popular.
“In March 2022, through FOI, I found 400 pages of complaints to the premier and the citizens services' ministry about Bill 22, mainly on fees. Some writers describe themselves as former NDP supporters who pledged to vote against the party in the next election.”
This article was updated July 12 to clarify when BC Ferries made its changes to FOI payment processing
