The Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia

The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia (OIPC) is independent from the government and reports directly to the legislative assembly of BC about government compliance with FOIPPA, and about other matters relating to compliance with FOIPPA and PIPA. The OIPC is impartial, and its decisions are legally binding.

The responsibilities of the OIPC include:

  1. To oversee and enforce government compliance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (BC)
  2. To investigate complaints made by individuals about government bodies, and resolve them by mediation, or by holding a formal inquiry and issuing orders;
  3. To oversee and enforce compliance by businesses and non-profit organizations with the Personal Information Protection Act (BC);
  4. To investigate complaints made by individuals about businesses and non-profit organizations, and to resolve them by mediation, or by holding a formal inquiry and issuing orders;
  5. To issue investigation reports, decisions and formal orders;
  6. To write and publish public education materials, discussion papers, public comments and guidelines for how to comply with the laws;
  7. To provide comments and recommendations about proposed legislation and government policy, to make presentations to legislative committees, and to issue Annual Reports to the legislature;
  8. To publicize privacy and access laws in British Columbia, to give talks on privacy and access rights, to educate the public about their rights and raise awareness about technological developments that impact privacy.

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada is an officer of Parliament, which means that she reports directly to the House of Commons and the Senate and is independent of the government in power.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (the ‘OPC`) is responsible for overseeing compliance with PIPEDA and with the Privacy Act, and for protecting and promoting individual privacy rights. To do this, the OPC does the following:

  1. Investigates complaints, and resolves them by mediation, or by making recommendations and issuing decisions about the complaints and the resolution;
  2. Carries out audits of the government and of businesses, and issues reports of the audits;
  3. Issues public reports about a variety of privacy issues;
  4. Pursues actions in the courts under both PIPEDA and the Privacy Act;
  5. Comments on proposed legislation and policy;
  6. Supports and undertakes research into privacy issues and promotes public awareness and understanding of privacy law and privacy issues;
  7. Monitors trends in technology development to identify new privacy issues; and
  8. Works with privacy commissions throughout Canada and abroad to address global privacy issues.

The OPC website has a wealth of material about privacy issues. On the site you will find case summaries of complaints, practical guidelines for compliance, information sheets, and a wide range of useful materials about privacy rights and obligations, including research into privacy risks, international privacy law issues and the impact of new technology on privacy.