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Submission to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) Government Consultation

May 31, 2022

Read our recommendation against expanding FIPPA to cover teaching and research materials in BC universities. Learn how this change would impact faculty rights, research ethics, and funding structures.

Request a copy

The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) is a provincial law in Canada that grants individuals the right to access records held by public bodies. It also regulates how those public bodies collect, use, and disclose personal information.

The Special Committee by Michael McEvoy, Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC has recommended an amendment to apply Section 3(3)(i) of FIPPA to Part 3 of teaching and research materials.

CUFA BC has taken a stance against this recommendation, with the support of the 5,500 unionized faculty members who currently hold custody and control over their teaching and research materials at BC’s research universities.

Intellectual property and privacy rights over teaching and research materials were established under the original founding of universities in relation to faculty rights to academic freedom. A change in this legislative exemption would threaten those rights, conflict with decades of established case law and arbitral jurisprudence, and encroach into the existing structures of research ethics and funding.

Request a copy of our full response to the Special Committee, which outlines our argument for keeping post-secondary teaching and research materials exempt from FIPPA.

“A change in this legislative exemption would be a fundamental change in the rights of faculty in Canadian universities.”

- Excerpt

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