Statistically, the Capital Regional District (CRD) is fielding fewer Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA) requests than it has in years, officials say — but the amount of work those requests create for staff has reached a new high point. 

The CRD’s Privacy and Information Services Division reported it responded to 255 Freedom of Information (FOI) requests in the 2025 fiscal year, reflecting a downward trend in the number of annual requests since reaching a peak of 284 in 2023. 

But the volume of staff work those requests generated — measured in the number of pages processed — has doubled compared to the previous year, as the regional district tallied an all-time high of more than 22,000 pages of records, mostly related to more than one theme and requiring a response from two or more divisions within the CRD.

“There were multiple requests with page volumes in the thousands,” said Melissa Sexsmith, FOI and privacy manager, who brought the report to the CRD’s Governance and First Nations Relations Committee Wednesday, April 1. “The largest request that we processed in 2025 had over 4,000 pages.”

Requests with large page counts are more complex and resource-intensive, said Sexsmith, requiring substantially more staff time to review, consult and then ultimately release records in compliance with the law. She added that the large-request applicant paid a “substantial fee” that recovered some of the processing costs.

“And many of these requests now say, ‘all records related to’,” said Sexsmith. “And what that means is emails, Teams messages, formal documents and drafts — rather than just a request that might be for the final report.”

The governing FOIPPA requires public entities to respond to requests within 30 business days — a tall order for document-heavy requests that Sexsmith said was nonetheless mostly met.

“In spite of the growth in request size, the CRD responded to 96 per cent of requests within the legislated timelines,” she said, “and on average, in 2025 the CRD took 27 days.”

The most commonly requested records related either to building inspections (64 per cent) or bylaw matters (25 per cent), and were mostly submitted by individual members of the public; 17 per cent of FOI requests were made by realtors, according to CRD figures, with businesses and special interest groups making up nine and four per cent of all requests, respectively. 

A bylaw amendment that came into effect in March is expected to change how some categories of building inspection-related records are accessed — moving responsibility for most of those record requests to the building department itself and hopefully reducing the number of pages handled under FOIPPA.

“I will admit to some extent it’s a bit of a shifting of duties from FOI and Privacy to Building Inspection,” said corporate services general manager Kristen Morley. “But part of that move is to hopefully reduce the workload on FOI and Privacy — so we don’t have to continue to increase our staffing needs.”

The CRD’s Privacy and Information Services Division is also responsible for reporting on data breaches; without going into specifics on privacy breach incidents, the report noted it investigated and remediated 12 “actual or suspected” privacy breaches last year.

As the recently refitted Salish Heron returned to Tsawwassen–Southern Gulf Islands service at the beginning of the month, BC Ferries warned passengers the vessel’s potable water source would not be available for drinking or food preparation.

The announcement came Thursday, April 2 from the ferry company, the latest in a run of poor water conditions reported on vessels — including elevated lead briefly found in the drinking water aboard the Salish Raven and discolouration seen in potable water aboard the Queen of Cumberland. Ferry service will continue as scheduled, BC Ferries said.

“Bottled water will be available on board,” according to a statement, “and full food service will be offered with adjustments in place to ensure food is prepared safely.”

The move came after routine water quality testing identified elevated Total Plate Count (TPC) levels in an initial sample, according to BC Ferries, which noted that while Health Canada’s Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality do not prescribe a limit for TPC, BC Ferries follows “industry best practices” to keep levels low and takes precautionary action when results are flagged. 

“Our approach goes beyond regulatory requirements and reflects our commitment to maintaining high water quality standards,” according to a statement. “We have restricted use of onboard potable water systems while follow-up testing and maintenance are underway.”

Ferry officials said the Salish Heron’s potable water systems will only be returned to normal use once results are confirmed safe, and insisted that despite poor water being found on several ferries, the problems weren’t indicative of a single fleet-wide issue.

“While this is more than we would typically expect to see in a short period, these cases have involved different types of test results and are not believed to be related,” according to BC Ferries. “In all of the other recent cases, follow-up testing confirmed water quality was safe, and there is no indication of a broader system issue at this time.”

Elsewhere in the fleet last month, drinking water tested aboard the Salish Orca and Queen of Alberni indicated the presence of E. coli bacteria on March 19, prompting water shutoffs. Subsequent testing came back negative for bacteria, and water service on those vessels was reinstated on March 24.

Salt Spring’s Special Olympic athletes like a true challenge. 

In recent years that has seen swimming and bocce teams train and travel to attend competitions at provincial and national levels, often returning home with medals in hand. 

Without those opportunities available this year, six local swim team members decided to create an original substitute challenge: tracking their swimming distances in the pool and matching them to how far they would travel if swimming in the ocean around Salt Spring Island. 

“In January we started adding up the collective kilometres they did,” said Jill Schulze, who coaches the swimmers alongside fellow volunteer Rob Wiltzen. 

Until their season ended March 12, the swimmers had tallied 24.2 kilometres from their one-hour Thursday swim sessions.

“As a group of six, that is pretty impressive,” said Schulze. “It’s roughly the distance from Ganges to Fulford. They still have a goal of going all the way around the island, but that might take us all of next year.”

The group estimates a complete circumnavigation would take 133 kilometres worth of strokes. Athletes will resume their journey when swim season begins again in September.

“They’ve been working really hard at their endurance,” said Schulze. “They like to be challenged that way.”

The swimmers are Carlos Manzano, Debbie McNaughton, Jason Newport, Dawn Hadler, Claire Motherwell and Pam MacDonald.

Group secretary Carol Newmeyer said more volunteers are always needed to support Special Olympics athletes and programs. Restarting both the golf and Club Fit programs and initiating a new one called Fundamental Youth, for kids aged seven to 12, are among the local group’s goals that depend on getting enough committed volunteers, she said. People can contact volunteer coordinator Lisa Foster at saltspring.volunteer@specialolympics.bc.ca for more information about how to help out. 

BC Hydro’s plans to shift how it pays rooftop solar customers for electricity they generate has been approved by the B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC), a move local clean energy advocates say has likely upended financial viability for community solar generation on Salt Spring Island. 

The independent regulator issued its decision on the utility’s net metering program Wednesday, March 24, replacing the current scheme with new “self-generation” and “community generation” service rates that set compensation at a flat 10 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). 

But those rates come without contracts, according to Community Solar Coalition’s (CSC) Kjell Liem, who said the decision demonstrates how easily BC Hydro can change its structure. 

Liem lives on Salt Spring, where the grassroots CSC grew out of the island’s 2016 Community Solar Summit. He said that unlike power purchase agreements, the new programs have no inflation adjustment mechanism — so the actual price will decline as electricity rates inevitably go up.

“It’s just not viable on the Gulf Islands,” said Liem, who had travelled to Vancouver in November to take part in BCUC’s public hearing process. 

The two intervenor groups with direct interest in the Community Generation rate — both CSC and the Vancouver-based EcoSmart Foundation — opposed the new rate as presented; both had been part of the Net Metering Working Group.

Liem said the new rates and future uncertainty might not dissuade solar projects that had free access to acreages and federal financial assistance, but there were too many risks for smaller producers — such as community solar projects envisioned to build resiliency on islands.

“Despite over a decade lobbying for a shared solar rate, it’s unlikely that Salt Spring will be able to make use of the Community Generation rate,” said Liem. “It’s hard, if not impossible, to find the ‘community’ part of BC Hydro’s rate.”

The program also includes what BC Hydro has called “safeguards to ensure community participation” — a framework that adjusts the maximum amount of electricity that can be sold to the utility based on the number of participating customers. In its decision, the BCUC said it agreed with BC Hydro’s assessment that if rates were left unchanged, non-participating ratepayers would be gradually subsidizing an increasing share of program costs. 

The new rates both take effect July 1, although net metering service rate customers who did not receive any rebate for their solar panels will have 10 years from the date they joined the program to transition to the new rate, according to the commission.