General

An Ontario school board that refused to release information on its small art collection because of supposed safety concerns has been selected as the municipal winner of the 2025 Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy. The Thames Valley District School Board is one of many public bodies that possess large amounts of fine art, and CBC reporter Colin Butler filed a freedom-of-information request to learn more about what it owned. One would think it would be a relatively simple request, but the school board refused to disclose them citing legal exemptions for records whose disclosure could [...]

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s government has been selected as the provincial winner of the 2025 Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy after Alberta’s information and privacy commissioner found the province broke its own freedom of information laws. The nearly two-year investigation into 27 public bodies was sparked by requests for reviews of access-to-information requests that the province refused, including several made by The Globe and Mail as part of its Secret Canada freedom of information project. In her May 2025 report, provincial commissioner Diane McLeod found non-compliance by the Government of Alberta included requiring applicants to [...]

Canada’s federal government has once again been selected as this year’s recipient of the federal Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievements in Government Secrecy after statistics showed federal institutions delivered the worst on-time performance ever for timely response to access to information requests in 2024-2025. According to the Treasury Board Secretariat’s annual Access to Information and Privacy statistical report, more than 35 per cent of all requests were delivered after legislated deadlines during Ottawa’s 2024-2025 fiscal year. That is the lowest rate of completion based on published government-wide statistics. “These statistics, which are used to assess the Government of [...]

A recent lawsuit in Alberta, a British Columbia court ruling, and the widespread use of artificial intelligence programs have shown why all Canadians need their governments to enact legislation that deters vexatious lawsuits intended to prevent journalists and members of the public from speaking freely about important matters.Individuals are increasingly filing vexatious libel lawsuits intended to intimidate and deter future or ongoing criticism or efforts to hold them accountable. The merits or prospect of success mean little for people filing such suits — often referred to as a strategic lawsuit against public participation, or a SLAPP. Instead, the goal is to [...]