OPINION 6
Labour strife eases in B.C.
COMMUNITY 11
Wanted: puppy training site
ENTERTAINMENT 14
Weekend events highlights
LO
CAL NEWS
There’s more online att Th
.com m
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2022
LOCAL NEWS – LOCAL MATTERS.
Burnaby sues B.C. privacy commissioner Municipality seeks to quash decision to release details about 421 city-owned properties Lauren Vanderdeen
lvanderdeen@burnabynow.com
The City of Burnaby is fighting to keep information about 421 of the properties it owns secret. Burnaby resident David Hayre made a request to the city under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA) for “a list of all properties owned by the City of Burnaby and any properties it may own in the Province of B.C.” The city, which owns 2,735 properties, gave Hayre a list of 2,314 properties, with the information of 421 properties redacted. The withheld information included street addresses and land parcel IDs of properties “currently the subject of land acquisition projects where the City has targeted adjacent or prox-
imate properties for acquisition and land assembly.” The land assemblies have the goal of creating higher density housing or expanding existing parkland, according to a review by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC). A municipality can refuse to disclose information if it could “reasonably be expected to harm the financial or economic interests of a public body,” according to FOIPPA, as well as information about negotiations carried on by a public body. The city said disclosing the property addresses would “harm its ability to negotiate the purchase of these targeted properties at fair market value” and worries property owners would refuse to sell or Continued on page 3
There’s more at Burnabynow.com
A L M AT T ER
S
L
OC
REMEMBERED
A
letter from 19-year-old Flight Sgt gt. t Jack Fitzgerald, a former Burnaby highschooler, to his family in B.C. is making its way back home again as part of a campaign spotlighting the th h personal histories of men and women who lived and died during wartime. See story, Page 16
PHOTO CANADIAN LETTERS & IMAGES PROJECT, VANCOUVER ISLAND UNIVERSITY