Feds ease up on unpopular access proposal

Yorkregion.com
October 4, 2018
The Canadian Press

The Liberal government says it's willing to back down on a proposal -- criticized by Indigenous groups -- that would force users of the Access to Information Act to be precise about the records they're seeking.

A federal bill would amend the access law by requiring applicants to state the type of record being sought, the subject matter and the time-frame in which the documents were created.

At a Senate committee Wednesday, Treasury Board President Scott Brison said he had heard the concerns of Indigenous groups, who argued the provision could hinder the ability to request archival records needed to settle historical claims.

It is often difficult for archival researchers to know when a desired record was created or where exactly in the files it might be found, and Brison invited senators studying the bill to amend the planned wording.

However, Brison is not budging on another, related provision of the bill that would give agencies the power, with permission from the information commissioner, to decline to act on requests considered overly broad, vexatious, made in bad faith or otherwise an abuse of the process.

The Access to Information Act allows applicants who pay $5 to ask for federal documents, but it has been widely denounced as slow, antiquated and riddled with unnecessary exceptions that shield files from release.

The Trudeau government says its bill represents the first real modernization of the law since it took effect in 1983.

It would give the information commissioner new authority to order the release of records as well as entrench the practice of routinely releasing documents such as briefing notes and expense reports.

But many who testified at a House of Commons committee dismissed the legislation as a step backward.