Early observations on the state of access to information and priorities to improve government transparency
Information and Privacy Commissioner Forum
by Caroline Maynard, Information Commissioner of Canada
September 14, 2018
Regina, Saskatchewan
(Check against delivery)
Hello everyone,
I would like to begin by congratulating Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner Ron Kruzeniski for organizing a successful meeting of federal provincial and territorial information and privacy commissioners earlier this week. Thank you, Ron, for being such a gracious host and for inviting me to extend my visit and speak to you here today.
I can’t tell you how useful it is for me to meet with people working in the field of access to information and government transparency, especially in the early months of my mandate as the Information Commissioner of Canada.
Since this is my first visit to Saskatchewan in this role, and that I’ve not crossed paths with a fair number of you, let me tell you a bit about myself before I dive into talking about my priorities.
I was appointed as the Information Commissioner of Canada at the beginning of March 2018 for a seven-year term. Prior to this appointment, I worked in arms-length bodies responsible for conducting independent review of grievances submitted by members of the RCMP and the Canadian Armed Forces.
My daily work in these agencies gave me insight into how to respond to the needs of individuals, while ensuring thorough, efficient and impartial review. As a legal counsel and then Acting Chairperson of the Military Grievance External Review Committee, I was often called on to apply access or privacy laws. My interest in access to information, coupled with my experience as a leader and administrator in an independent arms-length institution and my legal background convinced me that the job of Commissioner could be a good fit for me.
My first six months as Information Commissioner have gone by in the blink of an eye. In this time, I’ve met with all my staff to understand how we conduct our investigations and other operations. I’ve also met with senior government officials to discuss their issues and concerns, check in on their relationship with my office, and understand the inner workings of access in the federal institutions they lead. I’ve also met with various stakeholders, including access professionals, Indigenous groups, journalists, and complainants to understand their experience with access to information and get their perspectives on what is and is not working.
And what have I learned? First, I quickly discovered that I have a solid and versatile team supporting me at the Office of the Information Commissioner, with a great deal of expertise I can depend upon.
Second, I believe senior leaders in government
when they tell me they strongly believe in access to information and compliance with the law.
They are open to using their discretion to provide access.
That being said, the experience at my office shows this message is not always getting through to ATIP coordinators and subject matter experts as they process requests. This reality has informed one of the priorities I’ll be addressing shortly.
Third, stakeholders in the access regime are very passionate about access. I’m impressed with how resolute they are in their desire for more information, more transparency and more involvement. Let me assure you that I am listening to the conversation out there and value this input.
Based on these learnings, I have developed four main priorities for the early part of my mandate.
My first priority is the most urgent one for our office. We have a very large and looming backlog of complaints. In my office, this backlog now stands at 3,500 complaints, which is a 23 percent increase from the previous year.
As a leader, I need to be squarely focused on my operational mandate, which is essentially to investigate complaints. Luckily, I have both a keen interest and a great deal of experience in operations. I’m also a big proponent of continuous improvement – I believe in regularly re-examining processes and questioning the status quo.
In order to make some early progress, I made a few simple changes to our investigative process not long after I became Commissioner.
One of the first changes was to create a Triage Team to address delays in resolving complaints. This team reviews new files as they arrive and speaks with complainants to confirm the scope of their complaint and timelines. This process has proven useful as it provides an early contact point and an opportunity to clarify the details of the request.
In addition to the Triage Team, I also decided to involve our legal team earlier on in the investigation process, reduce the sizes of our investigative teams and move towards a paperless environment.
With these changes, I’m very happy to report that my office has closed 806 complaints this fiscal year, which is 160 more than we received. If we can continue this momentum, we will have closed 2,400 files by the end of next March.
However, we are not stopping there. We must continue to make our operations more streamlined.
Our next step is a full review of our investigative process, which is currently underway.
I am also working with my directors to hire and train new investigators. The 2018 Federal Budget included $2.9 million in funding for my office. Unfortunately, this funding is only for one year. We have already started filling vacant permanent positions and hiring experienced consultants so that we can resolve more complaints during this fiscal year.
My second priority is to prepare for the implementation of Bill C-58, which will amend and update the federal Access to Information Act.
Bill C-58 is now before the Senate and I expect to appear before the committee tasked with studying it to share my views with respect to the proposed amendments.
My team and I are already working on new processes to manage changes to the Act. We are also developing guidance to explain how we will implement these changes.
There are two significant changes that will most likely affect our work.
The first change is the proposed section of the Bill that would allow federal institutions to refuse to process an access request when:
- the requester has already been given access to an identical record;
- the request is for a large number of records or requires a search through a large number of records; or
- when the request is vexatious, made in bad faith or is an abuse of the right to access.
The caveat is that an institution cannot refuse to process a request without the Information Commissioner’s approval. Therefore, these files will need to be treated quickly by my office to ensure requesters’ right to timely access.
The second significant change is that the Bill would give me the ability to issue and publish orders, rather than be limited to issuing findings and recommendations as is the case now.
My team is looking to implement a searchable database on our website that will allow Canadians, institutions and stakeholders to find the new orders, as well as any new findings and guidance. This, in my view, will benefit everyone as it will provide clarity as to the office’s positions in particular cases and will result in more consistency across the system.
This brings me to my third priority, which is to ensure that the day-to-day work of my office is open and transparent. I view this priority through the lens of open government, which encourages government institutions, including ones such as my own, to become more transparent, more accountable, and more responsive, with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of governance, as well as the quality of services they provide.
Therefore, my goal with this priority is to make the complaint investigation process as simple and transparent as possible. I want to be clear on our interpretations of the Act and our process when conducting investigations so that Canadians and institutions can easily understand our position.
We will provide more timely updates on information affecting our office and the access regime. We will also communicate any new processes or expectations clearly to institutions and the public.
My fourth and final priority is to work closely and collaboratively with institutions to help them meet their obligations under the Act and to address barriers to access in the system. With this in mind, I have met with the leadership of institutions, and I plan on ensuring their expressions of commitment and goodwill towards my office translate to actual results for requesters.
As the former Official Languages Commissioner Graham Fraser recently said to me, we need to model the behaviour we want the institutions to adopt. Rather than confrontation and conflict, which is sometimes a by-product of “holding someone to account”, the tone I’m setting, both within my own organization and in my dealings with institutions, is one of openness. I think we can all agree that dealing with each other in a forthright but constructive manner is the best way forward.
As an example, my office is taking a balanced approach in how we present investigation findings in our Annual Reports so that we can encourage and recognise the good work done by some institutions, while at the same time provide guidance to those institutions where improvement is needed.
As Information Commissioner, I also look forward to collaborating with the ATIP community on new initiatives to improve their day to day work. News ideas are already being generated, such as the potential to professionalize the roles of those who work in the ATIP community, similar to what has already been done in the financial and HR communities.
I would also like to work with the government to see if we can find a way to create common staffing pools of ATIP professionals so that institutions avoid poaching resources from one another.
I’m certain there are more ideas out there like this within the community, and I encourage you to share those ideas so that I can lend my support where I can.
A lot has happened since I started as Information Commissioner. And the milestones keep coming: Right to Know Week, which takes place this year from September 24 to 30, is approaching quickly. This will be my first celebration as Commissioner, and I look forward to working with my provincial and territorial counterparts to draw awareness to the importance of access to information.
I think that we’ve put together an interesting variety of activities for the week. I’m particularly looking forward to hosting an Armchair Discussion on access to information in partnership with the Canada School of Public Service, during which anyone across the country can attend via webcast. The events of the week will conclude on Right to Know Day, September 28, where I will participate in a discussion during FOI Friday, moderated by Dylan Robertson of the Winnipeg Free Press and live-streamed on the Canadian Association of Journalists’ Facebook page. The details on each of the events can be found on the Right to Know website.
I would like to give one final observation as a new Commissioner before closing today. Despite all the challenges I have seen, I am very encouraged by all we are achieving. Conferences like this one today, or the meetings I just attended with my fellow commissioners, or the regular meetings I have been having with leadership in the government, show me that it is possible, if we all work together and respect one another, to promote a culture of transparency in the public service and to increase awareness of the importance of access to information.
Thank you.