In Canada, laws relating to access to information aim to empower citizens and to promote an open and democratic society. They allow them to request documents held by government institutions, which promotes government transparency and accountability. At the federal level, the Access to Information Act guarantees this quasi-constitutional right. But after 40 years of existence, it is showing signs of age.
As Right to Information Week draws to a close, a frank discussion is needed. My experience as Canada’s Information Commissioner has shown me that a culture of complacency has begun to take root within many federal institutions, with them treating access requests as if they were nuisance, tolerating unjustified delays and disregarding legislative obligations.
Some federal institutions break the law on a daily basis, while requesters wait months or even years to obtain documents to which they are entitled. In other cases, institutions outright refuse access to these documents.
To me, these are clear signs of a lack of leadership and commitment to transparency.
In May 2022, the parliamentary study on the access to information system of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Protection of Personal Information and Ethics of the House of Commons allowed me to highlight the urgency of making improvements to the system, including necessary changes to the law.
I am not alone in this opinion: stakeholders from different sectors have called for additional resources, modernized tools and other legislative changes. Although I agree with many of the recommendations made in the committee’s report, published in June 2023, the government has not yet indicated its intention to act on them.
I refuse to believe that the government’s nonchalance in enforcing its own law is acceptable to the Canadian public, and there is nothing to suggest that things will change anytime soon. The government has already signaled that no changes to the law are on the horizon, and its efforts to fix the system have been lethargic at best.
As the government embarks on a cost-cutting exercise, leaders must remember that access to information is both a quasi-constitutional right and a legislative obligation — and should be treated as such. It is therefore necessary to provide the necessary resources to the access to information and protection of personal information teams and to avoid at all costs subjecting them to budget cuts.
For my part, I have already made it known that I will use all the means at my disposal, in particular by issuing more orders and seeking recourse before the courts when institutions do not respect the right of access. Unfortunately, this will not be enough to fix a broken system. At a time when public trust in government institutions is deteriorating, challenges in accessing information have repercussions that profoundly affect the health of our democracy.
It is high time that our leaders make the necessary changes so that the access to information system overcomes its existential crisis and meets the needs of Canadians in the 21ste century.