Issue 4: January, 2023

Welcome to the FOI Insider!

In this issue of The FOI Insider, we talk about new reporting requirements for Privacy Breaches, information about Data Privacy Week as well as a high level review of 2022 from the FOI team. As always, please forward this on to your colleagues as you see fit.

Past issues of The FOI Insider will be posted here.

A Year in Review

2022 was a busy year for the FOI team. We opened 307 files and reviewed an amazing 133,167 pages of records. To all of you who helped us to locate records – we appreciate you!

Interested in FOI Training?

Start 2023 off on the right foot by booking an FOI training session for your business unit and/or team! Our standard 30-minute session covers the fundamentals of Freedom of Information requests -- how the FOI process works, what information people are entitled to, and how to ensure you manage your records in a legally compliant manner. We conducted around 20 such sessions last year and have received positive feedback from our attendees.

We also offer privacy training and can combine this with the FOI training in a 60-minute session. Please reach out to Suzanne Raikes who would be happy to tailor a session to your specific needs.

Data Privacy Week

The last week of January is International Data Privacy Week. This year UBC is planning interactive sessions exploring the privacy issues around Student & Employee Investigations (January 24) and Web Analytics and Web Marketing (January 25). We encourage you to attend. For more information, see https://privacymatters.ubc.ca/ .

New Legal Requirement to Report Breaches

On February 1, 2023, a new requirement to report privacy breaches will be added to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. A privacy breach is an information incident involving personal information. After the implementation date, all serious privacy breaches will have to reported to the affected individual(s) and the Information and Privacy Commissioner. If you become aware of a privacy breach, it is essential to notify our office as soon as possible so that we can advise you about whether the incident needs to be reported.