Freedom Of Information and Privacy Protection Act, a.k.a. FOIPPA - Alcyonenews

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Posted December 1, 2023

Freedom Of Information and Privacy Protection Act, a.k.a. FOIPPA

When imported by Pierre Trudeau, FOIPPA was heralded as a great leap forward for Canadian Democracy. It must have proven good voter bait judging from the rush of Premiers to emulate Pierre. Some caused a tad of confusion by dropping the “O” from the acronym making it FIPPA. I will use FOIPPA.

FOIPPA is meant to supercharge the “openness in governance”, that which we do not really have due to the “democratic deficit”. Trudeau the Just-in promised to fix that deficit and won the 2015 election. He apologized for that, after being told by Maryam Monsef that there was no democratic deficit in the Realm! But there was a serious deficit and it has been growing ever larger past the fake apology. FOIPPA is part of that.

What is Freedom of Information, I ask? Does it mean freedom to know that my car broke down or that I need eat lunch? What? We are led to believe that it is freedom to access government “secrets”. But in a democracy we, the people, govern ourselves, hence government “secrets” should be no secrets to us.

Then the enactment of FOIPPA is tantamount to politicians pleading guilty to stealing information from us and turning it into their secrets. Then we, citizens of a “certified” deficit-free Democracy that we are, should take the government to court asking his Lordship to order retributions be paid to us for historical wrong information deprivation.

We should also ask the court for an order for decency in FOIPPA. Simply put, we are not left in the dark by the thieves of our trust because of curiocity loss. We were (and we are, do not forget) left in the dark because “information is power” and lack thereof causes weakness. By stealing information from us, “they” are amassing power with which to subvert our democracy.

The complicity of the politicians in this crime manifest clearly in the composition of the FOIPPA. They gave us freedom to process information, but only if we crystal-ball its hidden existence, make them admit to it, and wrestle it loose from them. FOIPPA stays clear from commanding information be made public “without a fight” and specifies no accountability for anyone withholding information essential to the democratic governance of the society.

FOIPPA gloriously ignores the criminality of those stealing or withholding information from us. There is nothing in FOIPPA to stipulate penalty for information fraud or for identifying victims of the consequences from the information predators inducing information deprivation. There is some relief in the collection of “personal” information phase, but the term “personal” is unduly narrowly defined. As for the rest, try to be informed on the reasons for streaming, year in, year out, public Dollars to “restore” our fleet of four rusty submarines to “surface-after-dive” condition. This while our fellow citizens sleep hungry under tents or in store doorways.

There is no “Tabulation of Withheld Information” to tickle our curiosity and guide us to detect what we need learn, or simply desire to know. The need for that is exacebrated by the reality that we do not have to “justify” why we vote for whom we do when we cast ballots - we can choose whoever we want, for whatever reason we deem appropriate. But this hinges on our awareness of the parameters we value. Hence we need a facility to pose questions and to publish the politicians’ answers or expose denial of such. What matters to us can be at great variance with what the politicians want us to elect them for and which is frequently not sincerely told.

As for FOIPPA providing access to Information while simultaneously Protecting Privacy, what can one say? But a story I will tell. FOIPPA BC provides for reassessment every five years by a Committee of the Legislature. Citizens could (the past tense intentional) provide input and this I once did. I remarked that the Act lacks definition of “privacy” and suggested it be defined. When the FOIPPA Commissioner appeared before the Review Committee, my concern was brought to him. He objected to defining “privacy” because it would restrict his discretion, he dexteriously argued. In Denmark, once, cops removed “No Parking” signs thereby creating lots of ticketing opportunities.

In 2023 AD, over half a century after the crime was committed, we learned how the police determined the targets fof that midnight super raid. This happened of course when Father Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act. In the dark of night the police plucked 450 citizens from their beds and transfered them to jail cells. It is only now we learned that Trudeau’s PMO had created a secret police force, FAN-TAN they had code-named it, to spy on unsuspecting citizens enagaging in lawful activities. That is how the “Father of FOIPPA” targeted the 450. In a sense this is worse than in overt oppressive regines where people know they are watched and fake “correctness” to survive the surveillance.

FOIPPA, eh? Amen!