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 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 set 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to ask for a range of federal documents—from internal emails to policy memos—but it the law has long been criticized as out of date and poorly administered….