B.C.’s privacy watchdog is investigating whether the public should have been notified of the potential risks the Mount Polley mine posed prior to the tailings pond dam breach earlier this month.
The province’s Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham announced August 14 she would examine the incident to find out if the government was obligated to disclose information about the mine under provisions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA).
One section of FIPPA requires public bodies to provide timely information to citizens “about a risk of significant harm to the environment or to the health or safety of the public or a group of people” or if “the disclosure of which is, for any other reason, clearly in the public interest.”
The Mount Polley tailings pond dam breached August 4, sending millions of cubic metres of water — the equivalent of 4,000 Olympic-sized pools — gushing through the central interior of B.C.
Denham said in a statement her office had been monitoring the situation and concerns had been raised about what the province knew about the condition of the mine.
She said her office decided to investigate after receiving a complaint and reviewing all publically available information about the disaster.
The commissioner highlighted a December 2013 report about the government’s responsibility to inform citizens of public safety concerns under provisions listed in FIPPA.
The report determined public bodies did not fully understand their duty to make information available to the public under those specific provisions.
Denham said she would not comment further on any active investigation.
It’s not known when the investigation would be completed.
