Yearly Archives: 2017

TORONTO / Nov. 29 / CNW — The Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure is the 2017 recipient of the Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy in the category of provincial government ministries and agencies.  The award is given annually by The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), Centre for Free Expression at Ryerson University (CFE), News Media Canada and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) to call public attention to government departments and agencies that put extra effort into denying public access to government information to which the public has a right under access to information [...]

OTTAWA, Nov. 22, 2017 /CNW/ - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is the 2017 recipient of the Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy in the category of law enforcement agencies. The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), Centre for Free Expression at Ryerson University (CFE), News Media Canada and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) have joined forces to expand an award that the CAJ has for almost 20 years handed out to government departments, agencies or public bodies that put extra effort into keeping information from reaching public attention. The awards jury, which comprised representatives [...]

TORONTO / Oct. 24 / CNW — Toronto Hydro is the 2017 recipient of the Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy in the category of local government departments and agencies. The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), Centre for Free Expression at Ryerson University (CFE), News Media Canada and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) have joined forces to expand an award that the CAJ has for almost 20 years handed out to government departments, agencies or public bodies that put that extra bit of elbow grease into keeping any sunlight from reaching public attention. The awards [...]

OTTAWA / Oct. 18 / CNW — Ottawa's point-man on access-to-information reform, Treasury Board President Scott Brison, is this year's first recipient of the Code of Silence Award for outstanding achievement in government secrecy won by the Treasury Board of Canada, which he heads. The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), Centre for Free Expression (CFE), News Media Canada and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) have joined forces to expand an award that the CAJ has for almost 20 years handed out to government departments, agencies or public bodies that put that extra bit of elbow grease into keeping any [...]

OTTAWA, April 30, 2017 /CNW/ – The most secretive government department in Canada, as “honoured” by the Canadian Association of Journalists at its annual awards gala at the Sheraton Ottawa Hotel on April 29, is Ontario’s Office of the Fire Marshal. The winning nomination for this year’s Code of Silence award came from Larry Cornies of the London Free Press, whose reporting on the aftermath of a costly fire, and a lack of transparency on the part of the London Fire Department and provincial Fire Marshal’s office, demonstrated a clear pattern of secrecy. After a fire on June 30, 2016, [...]