Access-to-Information

OTTAWA /  — The federal department of finance, headed by minister Bill Morneau, is the 2018 recipient of the Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy in the federal category.

ST. CATHARINES, ON, Oct. 15, 2018 /CNW/ - The Regional Municipality of Niagara is the 2018 recipient of the Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy in the category of municipal government.

By Ken Rubin October 15, 2018 - Treasury Board President Scott Brison was hard at it on October 3 selling Bill C-58 as a great transparency advance, which it is not.  Kicking off Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee deliberations on Bill C-58, Brison boasted that Canada is rated number 1 by fellow governments for its open data portal. But that's despite Canada's Access to Information Act being moved down to 55th  on the Global Right to Information index scale that compares over 120 country's FOI legislation.

By Ken Rubin July 23, 2018 - Canada's broken access to information system has increasingly become entrenched, complete with backlog specialists and a new Information Commissioner facing her office's own backlog. Parliament did not pass Bill C-58, the government's regressive anti-transparency bill before the summer recess which would give bureaucrats added powers to deny and delay public access and would limit the commissioner's order powers.

The Canadian Association of Journalists, the Centre for Free Expression, News Media Canada and the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression are inviting nominations for the Code of Silence Award for outstanding achievement in government secrecy. The award will be given annually in each of four categories -- federal, provincial, municipal and police services – starting this fall.

The Toronto Star has brought an application before the Ontario Superior Court asking for a declaration that the open court principle should apply to administrative tribunals – that their proceedings and records be public in the same way that court proceedings and records are public.