1995 Legislative Session: 4th Session, 35th Parliament
FIRST READING
The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.
The printed version remains the official version.
MR. LEONARD KROG
HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, enacts as follows:
1 The Document Disposal Act, R.S.B.C. 1979, c. 95, is amended by adding the following definitions:
"municipality" means a municipality as defined in the Interpretation Act which in the 1991 Census had a population of 50,000 or greater;
"municipal office" includes any office which conducts the business of or keeps the records of a municipality;
"record" includes a record as defined in the Interpretation Act; .
2 Section 2 is repealed and the following substituted:
2 The officer in charge or having the custody of the documents deposited in any ministerial office, municipal office, or record office may, subject to the regulations and to every approval required by this Act, destroy or otherwise dispose of the documents deposited which are not considered of sufficient public value to justify their preservation.
3 Section 3 (1) is repealed and the following substituted:
3 (1) No document shall be destroyed except on the written recommendation of:
(a) a committee to be known as the Public Documents Committee, which consists of the Provincial Archivist, the Comptroller General, and 3 other persons to be named by the Lieutenant Governor in Council; or
(b) for municipalities covered by this Act, a committee to be known as the Municipal Documents Committee, which consists of the City Archivist where applicable, the city's Director of Finance, 1 other representative from the municipal council, and 1 other person to be named by the Provincial Archivist.
4 Section 3 (2) is amended by adding "; and" at the end of paragraph (c) (ii) and by adding the following paragraph:
(d) notwithstanding subsections (b) and (c), municipal records and documents may be disposed of on the recommendation of the Municipal Documents Committee.
5 Section 4 is repealed and the following substituted:
4 Nothing in this Act takes away from the right of any person outside of the scope of this Act to deposit in the archives any noncurrent records or other documents, with the consent of the Provincial Archivist.
This bill amends the Document Disposal Act to protect the public interest by requiring that records and documents of municipalities are retained for a minimum amount of time. In order to ensure accountability, these records and documents must be subject to a prescribed retention schedule and disposal process that will guarantee public accessibility to the workings of city government.
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