Ottawa censors majority of Access to Information requests
Toronto Star analysis of 28,000 requests over a one-year period finds a majority are sent back with information redacted.
Federal agencies censored the majority of government records requested under the Access to Information Act last year, a Star analysis of tens of thousands of requests shows.
Out of 28,000 requests filed between June 2013 and July 2014, only 21 per cent were returned free of redactions, according to data obtained from the government’s open information portal. Fifty-seven per cent were censored in some way.
The government said it could not find records 18 per cent of the time.
CSIS was by far the most secretive agency. During the one-year period, the intelligence service did not fully release a single government file, the data shows. The Privy Council Office followed closely behind, with staffers fully fulfilling only 3 per cent of the requests.
That is in sharp contrast with U.S federal agencies, which grant full access to government records at a far higher rate.
READ MORE: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/07/08/ottawa-censors-majority-of-access-to-information-requests.html
No comments:
Post a Comment