Access to Information Eroding, Warns Commissioner

Exemptions to the Access to Information Act have nearly doubled since it came into effect in 1983.

Access to Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault says it’s time for the government to address the “back door” legislation that’s eating away at Canada’s freedom of information laws. Sec. 24 of the Access to Information Act includes a list of types of documents that are not subject to the act, and that list has been growing steadily for the past three decades. Taxpayer data, census results, and national security information are exempt from the law, but Legault said new additions to the list are rarely subjected to parliamentary debate and her office is infrequently consulted, let alone listened to. The House unanimously approved a report in 2010 recommending reforms to the act but no action has been taken since then.