The BCCLA has been notified by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner that the audit of B.C.’s RCMP has not been given to Cabinet or to the Treasury Board, despite the fact that these bodies are on the verge of signing another 20 year agreement with the force.

“We can only imagine that the point of this audit, which is almost a year old now, was commissioned to inform the government on how to ensure the best quality policing for B.C.,” said Micheal Vonn, Policy Director of the BCCLA. “How is it that B.C.’s Cabinet and Treasury Board have not yet received a copy of it, given that they’re on the verge of signing a single-source, multi-billion dollar, 20 year contract with the RCMP?”
The decision, issued by an analyst from the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, reads as follows:

The Ministry states that all audit reports, other than ad hoc and forensic ones, are presented to both Treasury Board and Cabinet for deliberation. The Ministry tells me that the record is currently in draft format. It has been prepared for Treasury Board or Cabinet.

I understand that neither body has yet had the opportunity to review the record or deliberate on its contents.

“Once the contract is signed, it’s too late to read the audit and realize what should have been included in the contract,” says Vonn. “This audit needs to get to Cabinet and Treasury Board urgently, and before B.C.’s signature goes on the dotted line.”

The BCCLA will be appealing the decision to refuse to disclose the audit pursuant to an FOI request made by the BCCLA for the audit, which the organization first learned about in October of 2010.

Click here to read the OIPC’s letter to the BCCLA

MEDIA CONTACTS:
David Eby, Executive Director, (604) 630-9752