{"id":52649,"date":"2015-06-23T12:44:38","date_gmt":"2015-06-23T04:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=52649"},"modified":"2015-06-23T12:45:50","modified_gmt":"2015-06-23T04:45:50","slug":"bc-liberals-rule-change-protects-staffers-who-destroy-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/06\/23\/bc-liberals-rule-change-protects-staffers-who-destroy-records\/","title":{"rendered":"BC Liberals\u2019 rule change protects staffers who destroy records"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_52650\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-52650\" style=\"width: 450px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/john-horgan.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-52650\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/john-horgan.jpg\" alt=\"Liberal leader John Horgan (canada.com)\" width=\"450\" height=\"474\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/john-horgan.jpg 450w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/john-horgan-285x300.jpg 285w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-52650\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">New Democrat leader John Horgan (canada.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>VICTORIA &#8211; Two days before last week\u2019s disclosure about deleted FOI emails on the Highway of Tears, the BC Liberals changed the rules to protect staff who destroy documents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is very disturbing that minister\u2019s staff deleted information requested about missing women in British Columbia,\u201d said New Democrat leader John Horgan. \u201cIt strikes to the core of this government\u2019s integrity. Knowing that there are no criminal penalties for these actions is even more troubling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two days before the NDP revealed allegations by former executive assistant Tim Duncan that he had been directed to illegally destroy documents, the BC Liberals passed the new Information Management Act. Section 18 changes the law so that staff who improperly destroy documents will not face charges under the Offence Act.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are families in British Columbia looking for answers about their missing loved ones, and they want to know what action their government has taken,\u201d said local lawyer and Carrier Sekani Tribal Council Women\u2019s Advocate Mavis Erickson. \u201cWhere is the respect for people? If this was taken seriously, then breaking the rules would come with serious penalties.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA government that removes penalties for hiding information is not trying to be open,\u201d said New Democrat FOI Spokesperson Doug Routley. \u201cI spoke against this section in the legislature and tried to amend it. But the BC Liberals were apparently determined to take the teeth out of this law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGovernment\u2019s work should not be secret,\u201d said NDP democratic reform spokesperson Gary Holman. \u201cAs part of our democratic reform legislation, public servants would have a duty to document their actions and decisions. It would also protect whistleblowers like Tim Duncan from the wrath of an embarrassed government.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VICTORIA &#8211; Two days before last week\u2019s disclosure about deleted FOI emails on the Highway of Tears, the BC Liberals &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":52650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,18,483],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news-ca","category-politics","mauthors-press-release-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}