Privacy & access to information
Last reviewed September 2024 by the Clicklaw editors
In BC and Canada, there are rules to protect your personal information and devices and make sure employers and other organizations handle your data properly. You also have the right to ask for government and police records using freedom-of-information laws.
Explore the links below to reliable online guides and tools and to organizations in BC. They have been chosen by librarians at Courthouse Libraries BC.
Selected resources
Click on a topic to see a list of resources.
|
Your Privacy Rights at Work
People’s Law School
Explains the balance between an employer’s need to know what’s going on in their workplace and a worker’s right not to be snooped on. Information on this page includes what privacy law applies to your employer, and explains your privacy rights during the hiring process, including the fact that your employer must have a privacy policy, and more.
Last reviewed March 2024
Resources on Police Record Checks
Canadian Civil Liberties Association
Want to know what a police record is? How do you try to deal with a non-conviction record? What privacy and human rights laws apply, or what are the best practices for employers? Click on the link for related resources.
Last reviewed March 2024
Background Checks and Your Personal Information
People’s Law School
Learn about BC’s privacy laws and the protection of your personal information.
Last reviewed July 2024
Your Health Information
Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA)
This resource provides basic information about your health information rights. It explains how your health information is used throughout the health system, health information confidentiality rights, the laws relating to health privacy information, who can access your health record, and more.
Last reviewed September 2024
Your Political Privacy
Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA)
This resource provides basic information about your privacy rights in elections. It covers who has access to your personal information in an election, what information they have, how they're allowed to use it, how you can protect it, and what to do if you think your privacy rights have been violated.
Last reviewed September 2024
Electronic Devices Privacy Handbook: A Guide to Your Rights at the Border
BC Civil Liberties Association
This handbook is meant to help you make sense of the current state of play with respect to electronic searches at the Canadian border and at US preclearance zones in Canada, and to provide tools to protect your privacy when travelling with electronic devices.
Last reviewed March 2024
Taking Charge of Your Cellphone Privacy Rights
People’s Law School
Learn how to take charge of your cellphone privacy rights, and what provincial and federal laws protect your privacy.
Last reviewed July 2024
Complaint and Review Mechanisms
Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA)
This resource provides basic information about your options to make a complaint to authorities if you feel your privacy or access-to-information rights have been infringed upon. It includes what to do if you have an access-to-information or privacy issue with a BC public body or BC organization, or a federal body.
Last reviewed September 2024
Privacy & Reputation
People’s Law School
The page links to topics related to protecting your privacy and reputation. It includes guides on understanding your privacy rights, dealing with defamation, managing personal information, and navigating issues like online harassment.
Last reviewed July 2024
Privacy and Access to Information
Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA)
This website provides resources about privacy and access to information laws, your rights, and how to exercise your rights. Topics include your health information, your rights to access the personal information public and private bodies hold about you, and your rights to access general information that public bodies hold about you.
Last reviewed July 2024