OTTAWA — A newly launched federal review of the Access to Information system is being greeted with deep skepticism by transparency advocates.
The Treasury Board Secretariat announced the government review, which takes place every five years, in a news release late Friday.
The release says officials will seek input from a broad range of Canadians, Indigenous groups, experts and other interested people in the coming weeks and months.
For a $5 fee, people can use the access law to ask for federal documents — anything from internal emails to policy memos — but the law is widely seen as out of date and poorly administered.
Federal agencies are supposed to respond to requests within 30 days or provide valid reasons explaining why they need more time.
Many users complain of lengthy delays and exemptions in the law that result in the release of heavily blacked-out documents.
Several concerned groups and individuals recently urged Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali to ensure the federal review was overseen by an independent panel — not the government — to avoid a conflict of interest.
University of Ottawa law professor Matt Malone, who was among those calling for an independent review, said the exercise now underway is flawed from the start and will waste precious government resources.
The Treasury Board Secretariat is one of the many federal agencies covered by the access law and has a say in funding the office of the information commissioner, an ombudsman for people filing access requests.
As a result, Malone said, it has no incentive to undertake the review in a meaningful way.
"We do not need a perfunctory review to teach us that," he said.
The last federal review of the access system began in June 2020 and led to a final report released in December 2022.
Civil society groups, journalists and members of the public who took part in that review called for expansion of the law, the removal of loopholes, stricter timelines for responses and more resources to make the system work.
The government opted to focus on better administration of the law, not changes to the legislation — which hasn't been fully overhauled since its passage more than 40 years ago.
The Treasury Board Secretariat says the new review will "build on the conclusions" of the last one. That worries Toby Mendel, executive director of the Centre for Law and Democracy.
The last federal review "was almost universally rejected as illegitimate by independent observers. It seems clear that this review will be more of the same," Mendel said.
"Put simply, the act is fundamentally flawed and needs a serious overhaul."
Mendel said the shortcomings are reflected in the Access to Information Act's score on the centre's Right to Information rating — 93 out of a possible 150 points — and Canada's "woeful position" of 53rd out of 140 countries.
The Treasury Board Secretariat was asked about the federal review's degree of independence and potential scope. It had not responded by late Monday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 23, 2025.
Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press
