The Freedom of Information Request Process

1. Complete and submit the Request for Access to Records form

  • Keep your request simple, clear, and focused to reduce processing time and possible service fees.

  • If you have questions or need clarification about the District’s records before you send your request, contact the Information and Privacy Coordinator (see our contact information on this page).

online FOI request form

FOI request form (PDF)

2. We review and acknowledge your request

  • The Information and Privacy Coordinator reviews your request, making sure that your request is for information that the District holds, and not some other public body.

  • We may contact you to clarify your request.

  • We will contact you officially, letting you know when you can expect to have your request fulfilled. The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act) requires the District to respond to your FOI request within 30 days of receiving it. If your request is complex, we may extend this time within what the Act allows, but will inform you of this within the 30 days.

  • We contact the appropriate department managers to inform them of your request.

3. We estimate the time and possible fees needed to fulfill your request

  • You will NOT be charged for access to your own personal information or for the first three hours spent locating and retrieving records.

  • If it will take longer than three hours to retrieve and prepare the records you requested, we will send you a fee estimate.

  • You will be required to pay a 50% deposit of the estimate before the appropriate department continues with your request. Alternatively, you may choose to revise your request to reduce the time it will take to complete it.

  • Get your requested information electronically to reduce fees to prepare and photocopy records.

Service

Fee
Locate, retrieve, produce, and prepare records
$7.50/15 minutes ($30.00/hour) 

Photocopy records (in black and white)
$0.25/copy 


4. We gather the information

  • Department staff assigned to your request search for and gather all the records related to your request, and send them to the Information and Privacy Coordinator.

  • If your request asks for a large number of records or for third-party records, we may take up to 60 days to respond and will inform you of this extension.

5. We review the information for privacy concerns

  • We review the records and withhold any information that would be an invasion of privacy or cause harm by one of the means listed in the Act.

  • If a record contains information we cannot provide, we cover that information, and mark it with the relevant section(s) of the Act to explain why it has been withheld.

6. We send you the information

  • We prepare our final response package with your requested information and send it to you.


Information and Privacy Coordinator
Box 219, 446 Main Street
Sicamous, BC V0E 2V0
Fax: 250-836-4314
Email: corporate@sicamous.ca