|
|
|
|
|||||
|
||||||||
|
|
Submissions | |
|
||||
|
Submissions to the Access to Information Review Task Force
SYNOPSIS OF RECOMMENDATIONS / PROPOSALS / COMMENTS FROM WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS SENT TO THE ACCESS TO INFORMATION REVIEW TASK FORCE
Facilitating Access
... Amendments to the existing legislation should be directed at facilitating and encouraging access to information and openness in government, both of which are essential components of a democratic society.
Canadian Historical Association
Amend the ATI Act to read, "Allow on-line public access to every piece of information except for federal cabinet documents, information relating to such areas as national security, advice to government, trade secrets and police investigations."
Simon Sunatori
We wholeheartedly endorse the proposal for a legislative amendment which requires the routine release of basic government information including a description of government organizations, activities, programs, as well as information which will assist the public in exercising their rights and obligations and understanding those of government and suggests that these principles be extended to include other records that can be routinely disclosed or actively disseminated in the absence of formal access requests.
Ann Cavoukian, Information & Privacy Commissioner, Ontario
Crown copyright should be reviewed and possibly removed, to eliminate any impediments to redistribution of information created by the Crown and obtained through access to information. Encouraging this redistribution would require the government to publish its information on a timely and cost efficient basis, due to the potential for competition. Wider publication of government information would facilitate general access.
Ad IDEM - Advocates In Defence of Expression in the Media
The Canadian government should seek ways to engage their citizenry in the process of government through the development of new and cohesive information policies to further engage the Canadian citizenry in the democratic process. They can do this in many ways such as:
- Making more information available online from government;
- Providing web sites that seek input from people on all manner of government programs and issues;
- Creating data spaces for previously withheld information, once deemed accessible under ATIP, to be available both online and off; there would need to be a time period, perhaps six months, to allow a grace period of usage by the original requester;
- Developing listservs and discussion groups on important national issues;
- Providing grants to organizations seeking online democratic activities;
- Developing local community projects that embrace all levels of society;
- Develop intelligent search engines;
- Ensure information on web sites is easily attainable, in a form understood by the citizen and can easily be downloaded;
- Provide tools and hot links;
Thomas B. Riley, Commonwealth Centre for Electronic Governance
Much of the detail about the Export Development Corporation and the Canadian International Development Agency projects should be readily available, online, automatically, thereby eliminating the need for citizens to use the Access to Information Act to inform themselves.
Probe International
The Depository Services Program (DSP) should be strengthened in order to ensure that all government publications, regardless of format, are provided through the programme. Enshrining the DSP and its work in legislation and giving it adequate funding would ensure that it continues its valuable role in access to information.
Canadian Library Association
The ATI Act should be amended to require all government institutions to participate fully in the Depository Services Program (DSP), to ensure that all government publications, regardless of format, are regularly and consistently made available to the public by being deposited into the network of libraries across Canada covered by the program.
Open Government Canada
The effect of the ATI Act has been routinely to confront us with degraded and flawed information and, to us, a cumbersome and in practice extremely inconvenient remedy.
Robert Bothwell and Patricia McMahon
The government has every reason to be concerned about the expense of processing access to information requests. One potential solution is to relax the application of restrictions to government information.
Robert Bothwell and Patricia McMahon
We ask the Task Force to take note of the continuing impasse over the census, and that it urge the Government to follow the recommendations of the Expert Panel. In our view, the census question is one of the most crucial access-to-information issues facing us at this time. Given Mr. Tobin's promise that the issue would be raised in conjunction with the review of the Access to Information Act, we urge the Task Force to address ways in which access to census for purposes of historical and ancestral research might be facilitated.
Canadian Historical Association
Return to Table of ContentsRole and Status of ATIP Co-ordinators
The ATI Act should be amended to clearly define the role, responsibilities and legal duties of access to information co-ordinators to ensure that co-ordinators have a clear mandate, powers and discretion to release records as required by the law.
Open Government Canada
Access requests should be entirely confidential.
Kirsti Nilsen & Margaret Ann Wilkinson
Everything but the identity of individual requesters should be an entirely open process.
Ken Huband
The current prohibition in the ATI Act on disclosure of the identity of a requester without the consent of the requester should be maintained.
Open Government Canada
Formal Requests under the Act including "Frivolous and Vexatious" Requests
We are of the view that in most instances, a modest request fee alone should be sufficient to deter frivolous or vexatious requesters. To the extent that limits are necessary, they should be exercised with extreme caution and only as a last resort.
Ann Cavoukian, Information & Privacy Commissioner, Ontario
Neither the making of repeated requests, nor the uses to which requested information is being put, should be relevant under the Act.
Kirsti Nilsen & Margaret Ann Wilkinson
We strenuously oppose any efforts to impose limits on access to information based on a categorical approach. The Act should not include numerical restrictions for the number of applications and individual or organization may make.
Robert Bothwell & Patricia McMahon
Criteria are necessary but must be crafted with great care so as not to thwart the right of access.
Ken Huband
A reasonable and sensible fee schedule could deal with most of the concerns over excessive costs. To deal with extreme cases, institutions could be given the ability to refuse a request on the basis that it is trivial, frivolous, vexatious or made in bad faith or because responding would cause an undue disruption of governmental operations.
Ken Huband
I don't think a statutory limit on the number of requests is the way to solve this problem. A better way would be to give the Co-ordinator some formal ability to manage multiple requests from the same person by being able to schedule them according to the requester's priority, taking into account the total request load at the time.
Ken Huband
The federal government should not, in any way, amend the ATI Act or change the access to information system to give the government the right to deny access based on an opinion that the request is frivolous or abusive.
Open Government Canada
The federal government should not, in any way, amend the ATI Act or change the access to information system to limit the number of requests per person or entity in a specified period of time.
Open Government Canada
Fees and Fee Waiver
In Ontario the IPC has recommended that the government eliminate appeal fees, eliminate fees for personal information requests and restore two hours of free search time. We strongly urge the Task Force to take the effect of the fee increases in Ontario as a clear warning not to embark down this path.
Ann Cavoukian, Information & Privacy Commissioner, Ontario
We submit that entrenching fee waiver criteria in the Act would provide consistency and guidance to both requesters and government institutions.
Ann Cavoukian, Information & Privacy Commissioner, Ontario
The costs of making an access to information application remain affordable so as not to be a barrier to access.
National Council of Women of Canada
The power to waive costs should be required to be uniformly applied, under given circumstances to be established by regulation, and monitored by the Information Commissioner.
Kirsti Nilsen & Margaret Ann Wilkinson
Document copying costs should be required to be reasonable in terms of the market copying costs in the geographic environment of the applicant.
Kirsti Nilsen & Margaret Ann Wilkinson
The current schedule of fees seems to be reasonable.
Canadian Library Association
... Service fees be maintained at existing levels.
Canadian Historical Association
The cost of obtaining information under the ATIA needs to remain within the financial grasp of the ordinary citizen.
Canadian Library Association
Those who ask for a million pages can presumably afford to pay for the mountain of xerox they create.
Robert Bothwell & Patricia McMahon
The current five-hour limit is an arbitrary one, one that does not serve the purpose of the Act. Depending on the size of the collection under review, five hours may or may not be enough time.
Robert Bothwell & Patricia McMahon
I don't think the exercise of distinguishing categories of a requester based on intent is a productive one. If there is concern about "subsidizing" commercial requesters for example, a revised and sensible fee structure can take care of the costs of many such requests.
Ken Huband
I think the existing fee structure reflects a desire on Parliament's part to facilitate the right of access. For that reason, factors such as the nature of the request, the purpose of the request, the speed with which it is required, the time frame for processing the request should not affect the fees. The volume of information sought may result in higher reproduction fees which are currently subject to fees.
Ken Huband
The existing Act's method of assessing the costs associated with "machine readable records" is totally out of date and should be scrapped. It may be more sensible to drop any reference to fees related to computerized information since this information can be created at virtually no cost to the institution.
Ken Huband
Because fee changes can have a significant impact on the use of the law, they should only be made based on solid evidence about the likely effect of proposed changes.
Open Government Canada
Given that it is an unnecessary and unjustifiable barrier to access to information, and that processing the payment of the current $5 application fee results in administrative costs for the federal government that exceed the application fee, the application fee should be eliminated.
Open Government Canada
The 5 hours of search time included with each access request for no extra charge should be increased to 10 hours given that the lack of an efficient information management system in many departments currently causes excessive search time, and the current $10 per hour search and preparation fee should not be increased.
Open Government Canada
No requester should be required to pay a fee simply to view records.
Open Government Canada
Copying fees should be standardized across the federal government and strictly limited to reflect the fact that the public already pays for the creation and maintenance of all government information, and should never exceed market rates.
Open Government Canada
The criteria for waiving fees should be expanded to include a consideration of whether the payment will cause financial hardship for the requester, as in Ontario.
Open Government Canada
The federal government should allow unrestricted copying or other means of reproduction of government information without payment of a copyright fee.
Open Government Canada
There should be no fees for access, and reproduction costs should be minimized. ... fees are simply a disincentive for citizens to obtain access, which is contrary to the philosophy of the Act. If there is a concern that free access would inundate government departments with requests, this could be phased in so that patterns of requests could be discerned and accommodated more efficiently. If many applications come for a particular kind of information, consideration should be given to standardizing responses, or making them electronic.
Ad IDEM - Advocates In Defence of Expression in the Media
[The CJFE] asks that the federal government demonstrate that a new fee policy, were it to come into being, not only justify changes to that policy but that it will not affect citizens' right to information and will maintain transparency, which is a legitimate part of government.
CJFE - Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
We believe the initial fee and the hourly fee for search and preparation should be dropped completely. The information was created or compiled at taxpayer expense. For government, keeping the public informed should be considered as part of the "cost of doing business", not as an extra cost. Any cost could be viewed as an impediment to participatory democracy: citizens need basic information in order to understand the issues and, as a consequence, have the ability to make useful contributions to dialogue. If charges for photocopying are retained, they should be in line with commercial rates, which are now considerably lower than $0.20 per page.
Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
Time Limits
The ATI Act should be amended to prohibit extensions of the response time limits in the law beyond one year without the permission of the Information Commissioner, and to permit complaints about delays beyond one year with the permission of the Information Commissioner.
Open Government Canada
... Firm procedures be established to discourage government departments from lengthy delays in responding to access requests.
Canadian Historical Association
Penalties
The Access Act should contain a penalty for wrongly refusing to release information.
Kirsti Nilsen & Margaret Ann Wilkinson
The penalty provisions of the Access Act should apply to the breach of this provision (s. 5(1)) of the Archives Act).
Kirsti Nilsen & Margaret Ann Wilkinson
At least, by regulation, no fees should be chargeable where time limits have been exceeded.
Kirsti Nilsen & Margaret Ann Wilkinson
The ATI Act should be amended to prohibit the use of any of the discretionary exemptions if the response time limits in the law are exceeded.
Open Government Canada
The ATI Act should be amended to prohibit the charging of any fees if the response time limits in the law are exceeded.
Open Government Canada
If a civil servant in good faith releases information that should have, in hindsight, been withheld, that person should be protected from liability. Deliberately misleading a person seeking access, or obstructing a requester's access should be an offence. Consideration should be given to a tax on departments that do not release information on time in accordance with the Act, and that tax should be payable directly to requesters.
Ad IDEM - Advocates In Defence of Expression in the Media
Public Service managers should be held accountable for the management of information under their administration in the same way that they are accountable for financial resources. As an option, a system of financial penalties might be established for the failure to respond to an access request within specified time limits, e.g. a sliding scale with rising penalties for failure to provide the requested information after more than 30 days, ... more than 6 months, more than one year.
Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
Duty to Create and Retain Records
The Access Act should be made complementary to the Archives Act.
Kirsti Nilsen & Margaret Ann Wilkinson
As in the U.S., United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, the federal government should amend the ATI Act or enact a separate law to require a clear, accurate, detailed, meaningful and useable record be created and routinely disclosed (and preserved for an appropriate period) of each government institutions' organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures and essential transactions to ensure that the details of each action by the institution are accessible to the public.
Open Government Canada
The federal government should amend all laws that concern government information management to include an anti-avoidance measure that makes it a violation to fail to uphold the spirit and intent of each law.
Open Government Canada
Information Management
The author recommends that the Federal Government mandate, in any amendments to the Access to Information Act, the requirement of public sector institutions to develop Best Information Practices.
Thomas B. Riley, Commonwealth Centre for Electronic Governance
We would also like to emphasize the non-discretionary authority of the National Archivist in the National Archives of Canada Act (1987) to control all disposal and destruction of all government records in any medium, and to conduct the archival appraisal first before any such destruction takes place - again of all records in any medium including the new electronic ones - to determine which records have "archival and historical" value. This is a vital element of any reformed government information management regime... . Clearly, a revitalized information management system must involve a partnership involving Treasury Board, the Information Commissioner and the National Archives.
Canadian Historical Association
The great problem is electronic data and how it is to be confronted. Unless solved it could render the Act redundant.
Robert Bothwell & Patricia McMahon
[The Association of Canadian Archivists] urges the Task Force to recognize the clear linkage between any realistic implementation of the right of access and the effective management of the information of Government in all recording media (including especially electronic records), grounded by control of authorization of all records destruction by the National Archivist of Canada... [and] ... urges the Task Force to strengthen the authority (and resources) of the Information Commissioner and National Archivist in promoting better records management, including expanded punitive powers and penalties for non-compliance with record-keeping directives.
Association of Canadian Archivists
Today there is less consistent organization and retention of paper records and a lack of coherent management for electronic records which now represent a very significant proportion of all the information used in government.
Ken Huband
The federal government should establish a clear and comprehensive information management policy and administrative framework based on effectively fulfilling the legal requirements of the ATI Act and adhering to the following key, democratic principles (which could also be added to the ATI Act):
- maintenance of government information as an essential national resource;
- routine disclosure and active dissemination of most government information to the public; and
- complete and easily accessible assistance to help the public find and gain access to government information.
Open Government Canada
The federal government should amend the ATI Act to require all government institutions to maintain a public register listing all records, including all public opinion surveys, maintained by the institution, and all records which have been released under the law.
Open Government Canada
The federal government should implement a public Internet access system for the Co-ordination of Access to Information Requests System (CAIRS)database so that the public can easily track the subjects and government institutions about which information has been requested.
Open Government Canada
The federal government should clearly define and assign responsibility for information management in all government institutions, and clearly co-ordinate this responsibility with key information management government institutions (e.g. Office of the Chief Information Officer, National Archives, Information Commissioner, Privacy Commissioner, Auditor General, National Library).
Open Government Canada
The federal government should, as it does with finance, equipment and human resources, regularly audit the information systems of government institutions.
Open Government Canada
... We agree that proper and effective access to government information depends on meticulous management and archiving of documents within government control. As suggested by the Honourable John Reid in his Remarks to CNA Publishers Forum on Access to Information (November 25, 1999), "If records about particular subjects cannot be readily located and produced, the right of access is meaningless. ...[mismanagement] does not only threaten the viability of the right of access, it also threatens to undermine national archival requirements and the ability to deliver good government".
We suggest that mismanagement of information may also lead to the release of confidential information exempt from disclosure under the Act and as such threatens the integrity of the exemption provisions. Accordingly, we would encourage any step taken to improve records management and accountability under the Act.
Association of International Automobile Manufacturers of Canada and the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association
Information management systems need to be significantly improved. A key reason for delay in responding to access requests is the lack of knowledge of what information exists. Consequently, the time taken to do the searches to find the information slows the response process. We support including a requirement in the Act for managers to maintain an inventory of all information and documents for which they are responsible.
Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
