News April 3, 2017

Centre calls on Canadian government to make immediate changes to Access-to-Information legislation

The Centre for Free Expression, Newspapers Canada, Canadian Association of Journalists, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and la Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec have jointly written Treasury Board President, Scott Brison, expressing concern about the government’s decision to indefinitely postpone making reforms to strengthen Canada’s Access-to-Information legislation.

The organizations proposed several changes that could easily be made this fall to make the legislation better serve the public interest. These include reducing the list of exemptions to the Act and extending the Act’s coverage to ministers’ offices and the Prime Minister’s Office.

Click on the link below to read the letter:

News June 10, 2024

Vancouver Fire Rescue Services' chill on access to information recognized with Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy

The Vancouver Fire Rescue Services (VFRS) has been selected as this year's recipient of the Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy in the municipal category for its efforts to charge exorbitantly high fees for access to a fire investigation report already paid for by taxpayers.

Access-to-Information

News June 6, 2024

CFE joins 13 other organizations in deploring government plans to rush the Countering Foreign Interference Act through Parliament without allowing meaningful study

In an open letter today to the members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, the Centre for Free Expression and 13 other civil society organizations expressed their deep concerns with the speed with which Bill C-70, the Countering Foreign Interference Act, is currently being rushed through the legislative process.

Freedom of Expression & Its Limits, Privacy & Surveillance, Access-to-Information

News May 23, 2024

Nova Scotia premier's office recognized with award for punting promises to empower province's information and privacy commissioner

The Premier of Nova Scotia, Tim Houston, has been selected as the 2023 recipient of the provincial Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy for his bait-and-switch on the 2021 election promise by his own government-to-be to strengthen his province's notoriously toothless freedom of information law by giving order-making power to its information. commissioner.

Access-to-Information