Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to LA FOIP, CHAPTER 2, Administration of LA FOIP. Updated 2 March 2023. 50 faith is an intangible quality encompassing honest belief, the absence of malice and the absence of design to defraud or take advantage of something.80 Subsection 54(1)(c) of LA FOIP also confers immunity from suit for failure to give any notice required under LA FOIP, if reasonable care was taken to give the notice. Reasonable care means the degree of care that a prudent and competent person engaged in the same endeavor would exercise under similar circumstances.81 Subsection 54(2) of LA FOIP provides that reasonable care is deemed to have taken place if the notice required to be sent to an applicant is sent to the address of the applicant given on the access to information form.82 An injured party will usually find it extremely difficult to mount a successful case against the government or its agents in the face of these provisions.83 The Information and Privacy Commissioner and staff of the Commissioner are also protected from civil liability when acting in good faith when exercising any authority granted under LA FOIP or The Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Regulations.84 Section 55: Immunity from Prosecution Immunity from prosecution 55 No person is liable to prosecution for an offence against any Act, or regulation, resolution or bylaw by reason of that person’s compliance with a requirement of the commissioner pursuant to this Act. As the provision states, no person is liable to prosecution for an offence where the person was following a requirement of the Commissioner under LA FOIP. 80 British Columbia Government Services, FOIPPA Policy Definitions at https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/services-for-government/policiesprocedures/foippa-manual/policy-definitions. Accessed April 23, 2020. 81 Garner, Bryan A., 2019. Black’s Law Dictionary, 11th Edition. St. Paul, Minn.: West Group at p. 263. 82 The Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, SS 1990-91, c L-27.1 at s. 54(2). 83 McNairn and Woodbury, Government Information: Access and Privacy, (2009), Carswell: Toronto at p. 6-34. 84 Section 48 of The Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, SS 1990-91, c L-27.1 provides that subsection 66(3) of The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, S.S. 1990-91, c. F-22.01 is adopted, with any necessary modification for the purposes of LA FOIP.
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