Ottawa-based experts on Canada’s access-to-information law are condemning recent government proposals to update the legislation and calling on parliamentarians to urgently review how best to reform the ailing system.
Ken Rubin, who has uncovered reams of government documents as an independent researcher and activist, is one of three signatories to an open letter dated March 26 asking a Commons committee on access to information to review current best practices and develop a “model” access to information bill.
The other two signatories are Dean Beeby, an independent journalist and author, and Matt Malone, a lawyer, academic and founder of the investigative journalism database Open by Default.
The letter comes as the Treasury Board is conducting a statutory review of the federal Access to Information Act, which governs how Canadians access internal government records.
“The urgency now is that the current announced Treasury Board review is proposing to the public further regressive access to information administrative changes, so we fear the end result will not be helpful and your review cannot wait,” the letter reads.
“Now is the time for your Committee to assist and bring forward much needed model legislation on the public’s right to know.”
The Access to Information Act, which came into force in 1983, requires a review of the legislation every five years. The Treasury Board is responsible for handling that review.
Earlier this month, the department put out a call for public feedback on several proposed policy approaches to address issues with the access-to-information system.
Most frequent users of the act, including journalists and lawyers, agree the act is badly in need of reform, often describing a sluggish system where information is frequently withheld without adequate justification.
But Beeby, one of the signatories of the open letter, described in a post on his Substack why he believes the Treasury Board proposals are a step in the wrong direction.
Beeby raised concerns with several of the policies, including one that would allow the government to certify “bad actors” — or those who use digital tools to flood the system with requests — as “vexatious applicants,” allowing departments to legally ignore their requests for information.
According to Beeby, the journalistic database Open by Default could qualify under that criteria.
Rather than relying on what the Treasury Board recommends, the letter is calling for the Commons standing committee on access to information, privacy and ethics to instead conduct its own review based on expert testimony.
“This we would see as a credible exercise that the public will participate in, and not be hostage to a negative outcome from Treasury Board,” the letter reads.
The letter also came a couple of weeks after Premier Doug Ford’s government announced changes to provincial access-to-information legislation, which would shield the premier’s office and cabinet members from having to release information.
Those proposed changes have been criticized by the provincial information commissioner.
The Treasury Board did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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