The Commissioner Submits His Special Report to Parliament

Ottawa, Ontario

[2002-10-10]

Canada's Information Commissioner, John M. Reid, P.C., today tabled in Parliament a special report containing his response to the recommendations for changes to the Access to Information Act, made in June of this year by a Task Force of government officials. The Task Force was established in August of 2000 by the Minister of Justice and the President of Treasury Board; its mandate was to review the federal access to information régime.

The Task Force supports the longstanding calls for an expansion of the Act's coverage to a range of new institutions, including Crown Corporations. While Mr. Reid applauds this proposal, he points out that many of the Task Force's other proposals would seriously weaken the public's right to know.

"No matter how many institutions are covered by the Act", said Reid, "the Task Force proposes to double the number of exemptions and exclusions the government may rely upon to refuse to disclose requested records. The Act now contains fourteen justifications for secrecy, the Task Force proposes fourteen new reasons and leaves open the possibility that even more could be invoked by any new institution brought under the Act's coverage".

In addition, Mr. Reid is highly critical of the Task Force proposals to make it harder and more costly for Canadians to use the law and to limit the investigative and enforcement powers of the Information Commissioner. "All in all", said Reid, "I fear that these proposals to amend the Access to Information Act are a recipe for turning a good access law into a strong secrecy law".

On the other hand, the Commissioner applauded the Task Force for many of its non-legislative proposals, such as that: public servants be better educated about their access obligations, records management be improved, and the access function be better resourced and more carefully nurtured by the senior ranks of the public service. Yet, he also expressed reservations about the will of government to act voluntarily on these improvements. "For 20 years, the basic foundation on which the access program is built (education, resources, best-practices, leadership from the top) has been ignored", said Commissioner Reid. "Why should we have confidence that the job will get more attention now, without some legislative nudging by Parliament?"

The Information Commissioner urges the government, before introducing a reform bill, to allow a Parliamentary committee to hold hearings on the Task Force proposals and the many other proposals for reform which have been brought forward in recent years. Such a process would ensure that a multitude of perspectives--not just the "insider" perspective--would inform the government's consideration of possible amendments.

The report is available upon request from the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada at (613) 995-2410 or 1-800-267-0441 and on Internet (www.infocom.gc.ca).