Freedom of Information in Canada

News item for Canada placed below may be of interest to the Members of rti4ngo.Despite the fact that the freedom of information legislation is 15 years old and literacy level in Canada is quite high,there is dissatisfaction regarding its implementation.In India, RTI Act is only two years old. We have vast public administration system: the administrative measures leading to its implementation are quite complex. Official reluctance towards effective transparency and public accountability is evident.Sustained public pressure is essential. Several citizen groups have already emerged in India, to enforce implementation of RTI Act.

FOI legislation has failed, pioneer says Act has not fostered a 'culture of openness, 'with public information still being withheld :Vancouver Sun: Saturday, October 06, 2007 . The politician who spearheaded the creation of the B.C. Freedom of Information Act says the 15-year-old legislation has failed to blunt government's natural instinct to withhold public information. Former NDP attorney-general Colin Gabelmann said Friday the act was designed to "foster a culture of openness" so that government officials would automatically release information as long as it wasn't violating privacy requirements.

"But that hasn't happened," Gabelmann said in an interview after speaking to the B.C. Information Summit in Vancouver. The legislation was intended to allow citizens to request copies of government records and reports, and to receive them in a timely and affordable manner. Gabelmann said there have been advances since the act's passage in 1992, but that the reluctance of provincial governments to be open has become "worse over time."

The former attorney-general said funding for the handling of freedom-of-informat ion requests has been steadily reduced, starting in 1998 with the Glen Clark NDP government and continuing "in spades"under Gordon Campbell'sLibera administration.

"They just don't have the staff to do the job effectively, and that's how they throttle it."Gabelmann said government officials and civil servants have "a need just to keep everything to themselves. I think it's because knowledge is power." David Loukidelis, B.C.'s information and privacy commissioner, said delays in the responses to freedom-of-informat ion requests has become unacceptable. He said the act requires that requests be answered within 30 business days but that the average response time is now 37 days.

"We should be in a situation where they are routinely responded to in a period of time less than the statutory requirement. "Darrell Evans of the Freedom of Information and Privacy Association of B.C. said Campbell's attitude to the public's right to government information has changed since he was in opposition and his caucus was filing more FOI requests than any other group. Now that he's in government, everything changes, and the Freedom of Information Act is no longer in their interests. They don't want to feed their critics or the opposition or the media.