Access-to-Information

By Ken Rubin April 25, 2020 - Secrecy and autocratic, erratic government should not become the new normal during or after the COVID-19 crisis. Rather, as former health minister Jane Philpott (currently working at COVID-19 intake centre) has said, what is needed is “radical transparency” to keep Canadians abreast of developments. Some see holding daily press conferences and putting some data on government websites as sufficient. Others see a limited-edition Parliament as being transparent. But neither is enough.

By Ken Rubin April 20, 2020 - COVID-19 puts privacy rights under attack. Zoom-bomers, COVID-19 scammers, and cellphone trackers are gaining ground as Canadians self-isolate. With the necessity of greater cyberspace interactions, the crisis continues to introduce or enhance more grounds for privacy invasion.

By Ken Rubin Trudeau isn't transparent enough; Some agencies have simply placed requests for information from the public on hold, despite this being a violation of the Access to Information Act. On April 17, 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised his government would proactively disseminate COVID-19 related information on-line. But the CBC, in its ongoing “Big Spend”series, has been reporting on the many gaps in available government information on the billions in pandemic funds going out the door.

The justice system is facing unprecedented challenges. Like almost every other sector of society, the new realities of province-wide “social distancing” have raised fundamental questions about whether — and perhaps even how — courts and tribunals can continue to function in the age of the pandemic.  

The police forces in Sudbury, Windsor, Peterborough, Longueuil, Quebec City, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, and the Ontario Provincial Police share the distinction of winning the 2019 Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy in the category of law enforcement agencies. 

The Town of Erin, Ontario, is the 2019 recipient of the Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy in the category of municipal government. The award is given annually by the Canadian Association of Journalists, Centre for Free Expression at Ryerson University, News Media Canada and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, to call public attention to governments and government departments and agencies that put extra effort into denying public access to information to which the public has a right under access to information legislation.