Province of

British Coiumbia N EWS R E LEAS |

For Immediate Release February 1, 1993
JONES REPORT RECOMMENDS EXTENDING FREEDOM OF INFORMATION

VICTORIA — MLA Barry Jones today released a report calling for extension of
freedom of information and privacy legislation to cover public sector bodies outside
the provincial government. Jones said the change would place BC on the "leading
edge", and give British Columbians more information rights than people living
elsewhere in Canada.

Jones, a member of the Cabinet-Caucus Committee on Information and
Privacy, was asked last September to prepare a report for the committee.

The report, which contains more than 40 recommendations, says the province
should amend existing freedom of information legislation, extending it to include the
broad public sector, including municipalities, school boards, hospital boards, police
boards, universities, colleges and self-governing professionai bodies. Many local
puvlic bodies lad suggested a separate piece of legislation, but jones said the
experience in Ontario and Quebec convinced him to recommend a single law for
everybody.

"A patchwork of laws will create a patchwork of rights. I don’t think that’s
what people want," said Jones.

The report also recommends that individuals have a legislated right of access
to their own health care records, even if those records are held by hospitals or
doctors’ >ffices. "These are personal records," he said. "People should have the right
to access them regardless of where the file is stored."

Jones said his recommendations would also remove any inconsistencies
between the information and privacy rights governing provincial law enforcement
organizations and those governing BC’s twelve municipal police forces.

Municipal RCMP detachments are not within provincial jurisdiction, and Jones
recommends special measures to increase information and privacy rights with the
RCMP. "I have recommended the BC Attorney General write Ottawa asking that
municipal RCMP in British Columbia no longer be exempt from federal access to
information and privacy legislation,” he said.

The RCMP in British Columbia are not subject to federal information and
privacy laws as a result of a 1987 letter from former Attorney General Brian Smith

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