> Information for Members of the Public

The Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) provides individuals in B.C. with certain rights regarding their personal information in the control of a B.C. organization (including businesses and non-profit organizations).

PIPA has been reviewed by the all-party Special Committee to Review the Personal Information Protection Act. The Special Committee's website is here and a copy of its April 2008 final report on the review can be found click here.

A copy of the OIPC's submission to the Special Committee is found here.

The links below take you to information about PIPA, your rights and how to exercise your rights.

What are my privacy rights under PIPA?
How do I request access to my personal information from an organization?
How can I correct errors or omissions in my personal information held by an organization?
How do I complain about an organization’s response to my request for access or to my complaint?
How do I ask the Information and Privacy Commissioner to review an organization’s response to my request or to my complaint?
What are the OIPC’s policies & procedures?
Citizen’s Guide to Effective Resolution of Disputes – This guide provides useful tips aimed at helping individuals resolve their disputes involving personal information with organizations.
FAQs
Instructions for Written Inquiries
Faxing & Emailing Personal Information
Identity Theft Resources
Use of Social Insurance Numbers by Private Sector Organizations
When Online Gets Out of Line (brochure from Ontario's Information & Privacy Commissioner about protecting your privacy on internet social networking sites)
Photo ID Guidance
Privacy Resources for Physicians' offices
Guidelines for Overt Video Surveillance in the Private Sector

Other resources can be found at the following websites:

Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta. Alberta's PIPA is similar enough to BC's PIPA that the resources from the Alberta OIPC will be helpful, but remember the two laws do have differences.

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. The federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) has some similarities to BC's PIPA, although it is not as close as the Alberta law. Resources from the OPCC will be of some assistance, but remember the BC and federal laws have greater differences than the Alberta and BC laws.

Ministry of Labour & Citizens' Services. Resources from the BC government ministry that is responsible for PIPA.

Some of the resources on this page are in .pdf format and require Acrobat Reader to view. Please download free Acrobat Reader software at this link: