Globe and Mail Series on Canada's Underfunded Access to Information System

The Globe and Mail newspaper has published the fruits of its month-long research project called Secret Canada, an investigation into what it describes as Canada's broken access to information system.

As part of the project, journalists interviewed well over 200 experts and filed more than 500 freedom of informastion requests to every level of government. This included federal, provincial and territorial governments, as well as major municipalities, police forces, hospitals and school boards across the country.

They also created a database about freedom of information requests in Canada, videos and a podcast.

One of the articles in the series describes some typical situations:

"A developer from Cornwall, Ont., is perplexed to find that his building permits are suddenly being denied. He files a request under freedom-of-information law for copies of any city records about him or his company. Three months later, he’s told he will need to pay a $1,963.50 processing fee. When he does, he receives pages of mostly blanked-out paper, a full box of his own building applications and files and a note that 3,500 records are being fully withheld."

"In Saskatoon, a woman wants to learn about the outcome of a police investigation in which she was a complainant. She submits a freedom-of-information request and specifically asks for a copy of her witness statement, as well as copies of e-mails that she had provided as evidence. In response, the police service refuses to release those records without redactions, because of privacy concerns – privacy concerns about records she supplied."

"A wildlife protection organization is skeptical of an Alberta government claim that scores of wild horses need to be culled to prevent ecological damage. They believe the assertion is based on data that was given to the government by a ranchers’ association. The activists request those records, and are told they will need to pay the association for a copy. The price tag: $110,022.15."

"These cases, which are among hundreds reviewed by The Globe and Mail, are a snapshot of the frustrations and stonewalling Canadians encounter every day when trying to access public information using the legal framework governments have created."

They found an underfunded, understaffed system. Government agencies were often uncooperative, if not downright unresponsive. And delays and refusals were routine.