The British Columbia provincial government is ending public access to an online directory listing provincial employees and the government's organizational structure.
The move removes a long-standing tool for public transparency regarding how the provincial government is staffed and organized. By restricting access to these records, the government changes how citizens identify and contact specific public officials.
Jody Toor, the MLA for Langley-Willowbrook and government services critic, announced the change. The directory in question has been a public resource for nearly a century [1].
"A directory of this nature has been in place and available since the 1930s," Toor said [1].
The directory provided a comprehensive map of the provincial bureaucracy, allowing the public to see the hierarchy of various departments, and the individuals filling those roles. This level of access had been maintained since the 1930s [2].
While the government is removing the public-facing version of the directory, the dossier does not provide the specific reasoning cited by the administration for the decision. The removal affects a system that has remained accessible to the public for decades [3].
Critics of the decision point to the loss of institutional transparency. The directory served as a primary point of reference for those seeking to understand the internal workings of the British Columbia government [1].
“The British Columbia provincial government is ending public access to an online directory listing provincial employees.”
The removal of a public employee directory marks a shift in the transparency standards of the British Columbia government. For nearly 100 years, the public could map the province's administrative hierarchy; removing this access may complicate efforts for journalists and citizens to hold specific bureaucrats accountable or navigate the provincial government's structure.
