October 21 2002

NEWS

B.C Freedom of Information
Act amendments under fire

By Alisa Voznaya

VANCOUVER (CUP) — A
civil liberties watchdog is criti-
cizing the B.C. provincial gov-
ernment’s amendments to the
Freedom of information Act.

The B.C. Liberals introduced
a miscellaneous _ statutes
amendment bill on Oct. 9, cov-
ering several provincial
statutes, including _ the
Employment Standards Act,
the Highway Act and the
Freedom of Information and
Protection of Privacy Act.

The amendments to the
Freedom of Information Act,
which came into force in
October 1993 and covers all
provincial ministries, crown
corporations, agencies, com-
missions and boards, will per-

mit the government to exempt
records of meetings where
only one cabinet minister is in
attendance.

“It’s an important principle of
democracy that the legislative
body be transparent to the
public,” said Murray Mollard,
executive director of the British
Columbia Civil Liberties
Association. Mollard believes
that the executive branch of
the government needs the
privilege of secrecy to conduct
some of its work, but says that
the new amendment would
unjustly extend this privilege to
non-cabinet members.

A July 26 order by the infor-
mation and privacy comris-
sioner would be directly over-
ridden when these amend-

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ments are approved. The com-
missioner ruled that commit-
tees consisting of MLAs,
including some cabinet minis-
ters, are not exempted from
the provisions of the act.

A civil liberties group says
the proposed changes contra-
dict Premier Gordon
Campbell’s previous promises
of an “open cabinet.’ On June
27, 2001, during the first open
cabinet meeting, Campbell
announced that it was impor-
tant to open up the govern-
ment and to adhere to the
Freedom of Information Act.

Currently, the Freedom of
Information Act increases gov-
ernment accountability by giv-
ing the public a right of access
to government records and
providing for review of deci-
sions by an independent infor-
mation and privacy commis-
sioner.

The proposed amendment
will reverse the order of the
commissioner and also allow
the cabinet to exempt any
meetings in which a cabinet
minister takes part.

“The amendment simply
confirms that government cau-
cus committees are commit-
tees of cabinet,” stated Sandy
Santori, B.C. minister of man-
agement services, in a letter to
the Vancouver Sun. According
to Santori, the amendment
reinforces the act’s original
intention and does not change
or expand what information is
protected.

The direct consequence of
this amendment will affect
those who seek to understand
the workings of the govern-
ment, as they won't be able to
gain access to many MLA
meetings. Mollard claims that
government transparency and
accountability are important
because they allow the voters
to retain their sovereignty from
the elected government.

Santori insists on the legiti-
macy of the amendment by
saying that the information and
privacy commissioner publicly
stated that he does not
oppose or object to the
amendment.

The commissioner will con-
tinue to monitor the application
of the amendment to prevent it
from being misused.

Over The Edge Page 4

Refugee Loans

continued from page 3

of Education] because | know

that there are other changes
that are needed to the Canada
Student Loan program,” she
said.

“We have so few people who
become refugees in
Newfoundland . . . it would be
very uncommon here in our
province to have refugees who
were looking at attending uni-
versity.”

However, Donna Geoffreys,
director of the Refugee and
Immigrant Advisory Council in
St. John’s, says the regula-
tions are a form of discrimina-
tion that impact refugees local-
ly. She says Newfoundland
sees a number of refugees
being denied access to stu-
dent loans.

“Taking a certain year, you
could say there were 15, or 20,
or maybe 25 [refugees] that
were ready for university edu-
cation, or to continue or to go
back into, and they couldn't,”
she said.

“So it depends on what you
call large. These are people

that would benefit if they could
get into the university - they'd
obviously have to get a loan,
there’s no way they could go
through.”

Ally Ayoob, president of
Memorial University’s
International Student Centre,
says he knows of cases where
refugees attending Memorial
have had to delay their educa-
tion due to lack of funding. He
says the struggle to finance
post-secondary education is a
problem for everyone in soci-
ety.

“Financially, [refugees are]
not safe. So that means they
have to resort to any small job
and that [causes] lack of edu-
cation - they can’t go to
school,” he said.

He says the government is
“not improving the underclass
people, it won’t be improving
the economy if you don’t give
[refugees] the chance and
financial support.”

Chris Drumm
Sales Consultant

Honda North

105 Brunswick Street
Prince George, B.C.
V2L 2B2

Sales: (250) 562-9391

Parts & Service: (250) 562-4744

Fax: (250) 562-5151
Emait: info@hondanorth.ca