A pot-pourri of key transparency documents
Feb. 2, 2024 - The Supreme Court of Canada issues a 7-0 ruling that Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s mandate letters to his ministers are cabinet confidences, and out of the reach of freedom-of-information requests.
Dec. 20, 2023 - Federal government’s 2022-2023 statistical report on the Access to Information Act.
Dec. 14, 2023 - A condensed version of my remarks to the 10th annual Government Information Day conference in Waterloo, Ont. The presentation looked at the history of access-to-info reform to predict when change might happen next. Here are the slides that illustrated the talk.
Oct. 17, 2023 - Federal government response to the June 20 report of the ETHI committee (see below).
Sept. 30, 2023 - My opinion piece in the Globe and Mail on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s record on access to information.
June 20, 2023 - Report released by the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI) on The State of Canada’s Access to Information System, with 38 recommendations for reform.
June 13, 2023 - Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard’s 2022-2023 annual report to Parliament, again a chronical of decline in the ATIA system.
May 5, 2023 - Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard’s letter and testimony to the House of Commons’ Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Committee, about how her agency needs a funding mechanism that’s independent of the government she must hold to account.
April 25, 2023 - Transcript of my testimony to the House of Commons’ Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI) Committee for its study of the Access to Information Act.
April 2023 - Submission to UN body by Halifax-based Centre for Law and Democracy on needed reforms of the Access to Information Act.
March 7, 2023 - Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard testified before the House of Commons’ Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI) Committee for its study of the Access to Information Act, her second such appearance. Here’s a copy of her remarks, as well as a. backgrounder she provided to the committee.
Feb. 15, 2023 - An open letter to the federal justice minister and Indigenous-relations minister from the National Claims Research Directors about changes to an informal access-to-information process that will make it harder for First Nations to document treaty grievances and other matters.
Jan. 13, 2023 - An op-ed by prominent Canadian historians Robert Bothwell and John English compares Canada’s weak access-to-information system with that of the more pro-active United Kingdom, impacting the release of historical documents.
Dec. 13, 2022 - Treasury Board releases the results of it 2.5-year review of the Access to Information Act.
Oct. 17, 2022 - Six priorities for reform of the federal Access to Information regime, from FOI legal expert Michel Drapeau. One is an increase in application fees.
June 15, 2022 - The 2021-22 annual report of the Information Commissioner of Canada, in which she cites a record number of complaints. See my blog on same.
May 3, 2022 - My op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen on the need to enforce provisions of the Access to Information Act.
April 26, 2022 - Special report to Parliament by the Information Commissioner of Canada on the dire FOI situation at Library and Archives Canada.
March 30, 2022 - Mel Cappe and Yan Campagnolo discuss reform of the cabinet secrecy provisions of the Access to Information Act in this 90-minute video, presented by Ryerson University’s Centre for Free Expression.
March 3, 2022 - Andrea Conte’s excellent article in Briar Patch lays out the “administrative sabotage” of the Access to Information Act.
March 2022 - Transparency International Canada releases report on how Canada is being marketed internationally as a safe money-laundering haven and secrecy jurisdiction, as other traditional havens such as Caribbean islands and even Britain lose their lustre.
Jan. 26, 2022 - Ontario Court of Appeal issues majority ruling supporting the public release of mandate letters that were given to cabinet ministers by Doug Ford, Progressive Conservative premier of Ontario, following the 2018 election. The government was seeking judicial review of an order from the information and privacy commissioner that required the letters be released to the CBC. The ruling is an important limit on cabinet secrecy. The Ford government is seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Jan. 18, 2022 - The Liberal government issued a public tender for a commercial off-the-shelf software system to improve processing of Access to Information Act requests across its 265 institutions. The initiative has been underway since 2018, but now suppliers are being asked to deliver proposals by Jan. 28. The “Statement of Work,” Annex A, in this tender document gives details, which include an artificial intelligence component.
Dec. 23, 2022 - Treasury Board of Canada released this chart identifying what it calls non-legislated “key actions” it has taken to improve access to information since April 2020.
Dec. 22, 2021 - This annual Treasury Board of Canada report on the operation of the Access to Information Act covers the fiscal year 2020-2021, which includes the first full year of COVID. No surprise that the system’s decline accelerated, with growing backlogs and worsening on-time performance.
Dec. 22, 2021 - Since June 2020, the Liberal government has been conducting a legislatively mandated review of the Access to Information Act and its administration. This “What We Heard” report ostensibly summarizes public input received so far, from 34 written submissions, a self-selecting poll of 294 people, and a series of three workshops. Federal institutions were also consulted, 98 in a first round, 51 in a second round. Results of these internal consultations are largely missing from the document.
Dec. 16, 2021 - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s mandate letter to incoming Treasury Board President Mona Fortier is silent on reforming the Access to Information Act and its administration.
Oct. 21, 2021 - The Information Commissioner of Canada here reports on her investigation into a 80-year extension taken by Library and Archives Canada (LAC) to process an RCMP file. She did not accept LAC’s extension and LAC did not accept her recommendations for faster processing. The case is now headed to Federal Court.
Dec. 1, 2021 - The inaugural issue of Facts and Frictions includes a detailed review of how journalists are coping with a dysfunctional access-to-information system. Based in part on Margaret Thompson’s MA thesis for the Department of Journalism, Concordia University, Montreal.
Nov. 25, 2021 - This Policy Options article highlights the frustrations of Canadian scholars in accessing historical records from the last half-century or so, a situation aggravated in large part by the ineffective Access to Information Act.
Sept. 15, 2021 - FOI expert Vincent Gogolek highlights the absurdity of Ottawa spending $50 to cash a $5 cheque for an access-to-information request. From The Tyee.
August 2021 - Release of a searchable database, compiled by Stanley Tromp, of 6,500 news stories from 1983 to present that drew on records obtained under the Access to Information Act
July 5, 2021 - Op-Ed in the Globe and Mail by me, Justin Ling, James L. Turk and Wesley Wark on the dysfunctional Access to Information Act.
June 15, 2021 - Information Commissioner of Canada Caroline Maynard submits her 2020-2021 annual report to Parliament.
May 27, 2021 - My submission to the Treasury Board’s Access to Information Review.
May 25, 2021 - In a special report to Parliament, Canada’s information commissioner Caroline Maynard reviews the track record of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada in fulfilling Access to Information Act requests. She argues ATI is not the appropriate process for responding to questions about applicants’ immigration files.
May 2021 - Paul Marsden’s incisive skewering of the Access to Information Act and its damage to archival research. From the Literary Review of Canada.
Feb. 4, 2021 - FOI expert Vincent Gogolek argues for changing the Access to Information Act’s protections for cabinet documents, and allowing the information commissioner of Canada to review decisions to withhold.
January 2021 - Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard’s submission to the Treasury Board’s review of access-to-information.
Oct. 5, 2020 - My op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen on how to fix the Access to Information Act.
2015 - Liberal Party of Canada election platform, with key promises to update the Access to Information Act. The commitments were only partially fulfilled.
March 2015 - Then-commissioner Suzanne Legault’s landmark report to Parliament on proposed reforms of the Access to Information Act and its administration.
May 13, 2011 - In a landmark case, the Supreme Court of Canada rules that records in ministers’ offices are not subject to the Access to Information Act.
December 2005 - Conservative Party of Canada 2006 election platform, containing a comprehensive set of changes to the Access to Information Act, most of which were never implemented.
June 2002 - Report of the Access to Information Review Task Force, a $3-million exercise that remains the most comprehensive since the Act came into force in 1983. Most of its recommendations were ignored.