Transparency advocates call for independent review of Access to Information Act

OTTAWA — Transparency advocates say a coming federal review of the Access to Information Act should be overseen by an independent panel — not the government — to avoid the pitfalls of the last such exercise.

In a letter sent Monday to Prime Minister Mark Carney and Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali, civil society groups, academics and others call for a genuine and timely examination of the access law.

The next federal review of the Access to Information regime is supposed to begin soon.

For a $5 fee, people can use the access law to ask for a range of federal documents — from internal emails to policy memos — but the law has long been criticized as out of date and poorly administered.

The law has not been overhauled since its introduction more than 40 years ago. Many users complain of lengthy delays and report receiving heavily blacked-out documents or full denials in response to their applications.

On the federal election trail in April, Carney committed to an “objective review” of the system, saying it would serve Canadians well.

The letter says the last federal review, which led to a report to Parliament in late 2022, suffered from “serious structural flaws.”

The review was led by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, which represents a fundamental conflict of interest, given that the agency is among the federal institutions that fall under the access law, the letter says.

“We are calling for the upcoming review to be conducted in a fundamentally different manner, namely under the guidance of an independent panel with a broad mandate to consider all reform needs and with sufficient resources to conduct robust consultations with Canadian stakeholders,” the letter says.

“Anything less than such an independent, comprehensive, consultative review would not only represent a waste of valuable public resources, but it would inevitably further erode public trust in the (Access to Information) system.”

The Treasury Board Secretariat had no immediate responses to questions Monday.

The letter was signed by such groups as B’nai Brith Canada, the Centre for Free Expression, the Centre for Law and Democracy, World Press Freedom Canada and OpenMedia.

Among the individual signatories were Democracy Watch co-founder Duff Conacher, University of Ottawa law professor Matt Malone and University of Toronto history professor Tim Sayle.

“Time after time, Canadian governments have committed to introducing serious reforms on access to information while ending up only making minor changes,” the letter says. “That should not happen again.”

The letter also includes suggested draft terms of reference for the review, and calls for assurances that the panel overseeing the exercise would be independent of government and political biases.

“Its members should be both independent themselves and also broadly representative of Canadian society. This independence should be underpinned by their manner of appointment, the definition of their mandate and the funding and other resources which are made available to them,” the proposed terms say.

“The panel should choose its own chair and be supported by a secretariat which enables it to do its work effectively and without bias.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 9, 2025.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press