Annual Report: 2002-2003

An important event in this reporting year was the publication in June 2002, of the report of the government's Access to Information Review Task Force, entitled: Access to Information: Making it Work for Canadians. Based on almost two years of work by a group of public servants, the report makes extensive recommendations for changes to the Access to Information Act and for administrative changes designed to make the overall access régime more efficient and effective.

The Information Commissioner responded to the Task Force Report in a special report to Parliament tabled in September 2002. The special report expresses grave concern about the "insider" perspective of the Task Force and the resulting, government-friendly, proposals for "reform". To use the words of the Information Commissioner's Special Report:

"By any reasonable measure, the Task Force review 'process' was entirely inadequate for determining how to strengthen the right of access. As a result, there is a great irony in the title which the Task Force gave to its report: 'Making it Work for Canadians'. By design of the process, and (as we shall see) from an assessment of its content, this set of reform proposals might, more aptly, be titled: 'Making it (Less) Work for Government Officials'. . ..

Every non-insider review of the Access to Information Act over the past 20 years has come to the same conclusion: narrow the scope of exemptions, broaden the coverage to include new records and institutions, make the system speedier, reduce fee barriers, strengthen the powers of oversight and make government more accountable for its obligations under the Act. The Task Force recommendations do not measure up to these expectations."

No effort will be made in this annual report to repeat, or even summarize, the content of this year's Special Report. To this point, the government has not responded to the Task Force recommendations. Many of its administrative proposals--better training, more resources, improved collection of evaluative statistics--require no legislative change and should be proceeded with. However, since the recommendations for legislative change do not reflect a broad range of perspectives drawn from the relevant stakeholders, they are an unacceptable basis for draft legislation. For this reason, the Information Commissioner urged the Minister of Justice and government to engage a more open process of review before introducing an access reform Bill. Here is the commissioner's proposal:

"The right of access is one of those rights which, by design, is uncomfortable for governments to live with. This is the type of legislation which justifies giving parliamentarians and the public more freedom to influence the shape of amendments than is possible once a government Bill has been tabled. It is to be hoped that the Minister of Justice and the government will support a public review of the Task Force proposals, by a Parliamentary Committee, prior to introducing proposed amendments in the form of a Bill". (Special Report, p. 33)

In January 2003, the Leader of the Opposition wrote to the Prime Minister expressing his concern about Task Force proposals and urging the Prime Minister to submit the matter of reform of the Access to Information Act to a Parliamentary Committee. The text of that letter is as follows:

"In 1993, you formed a Liberal government that was to be based on openness and transparency. The foundations of your electoral win were premised upon these basic ideals and a greater importance on ethics in government. All Canadians placed their faith in your stewardship and expected you to uphold our most fundamental values of freedom and democracy.

It is against this backdrop that I wish to raise your attention to the Access to Information Review Task Force and the corresponding Special Report to Parliament by the Office of the Information Commissioner. As an independent officer of Parliament, the Information Commissioner highlights fifteen separate recommendations in the Task Force report that increase the level of secrecy in the federal government. If adopted, these measures will result in even less openness and transparency than there is currently. They expand the number of exclusions and exemptions under the Act and will place a chill on access requests.

Of equal concern, the government is also proposing a long list of new restrictions on Canadians who make use of the Access to Information Act. The Task Force is proposing to authorize government institutions to refuse to process access requests that the government considers to be frivolous, vexatious or abusive. It would also require requesters to refer to a specific subject matter or to specific records. This is unnecessary and punitive.

I submit to you that Canadians deserve better. They want a federal government that leads the way in making information available and is a global leader in providing information to Canadians. They want crown corporations that are open and transparent. They want information made available without the need to make requests under an Act of Parliament. They do not want a more secretive government that seeks to exempt and exclude huge sections of government information.

Canadians expect us to act in openness and transparency.

Accordingly, I urge your government to take the lead and reject the recommendations for increased secrecy proposed by the Task Force.

I urge you to submit the Access to Information Act and the Information Commissioner's Special Report for review to a Standing Committee of Parliament in order to draft changes to this vital piece of legislation."