Sabrina Maddeaux: Our ‘dysfunctional’ Access to Information system is feeding Canadians’ distrust
Canadians #Canadians
Canada has a trust problem, and it’s not one we can afford to overlook. While, for some, “trust” means little more than some vague feel-good vibes, it’s actually a foundation of any functioning society.
When trust begins to erode, it’s very difficult to stop the spread. Distrust may begin with one institution or political party, but it almost inevitably begins to consume others. It eventually reaches outside the political realm, affecting neighbours and communities. Recent polls show only one-third of Canadians believe most people can be trusted.
Distrust has economic ramifications, too. Trust is tied to entrepreneurship levels — something Canada also now struggles with. In the second quarter of 2022, new business openings dropped 50 per cent when compared with last year. Of course other economic factors, like interest rate increases, impact new openings, but entrepreneurship is fundamentally an act of trust. Investors and investees must trust one another. Business partners must trust each other. Customers must trust the new player in town.
Low societal trust is also connected with higher rates of crime and corruption , with the latter being a justice, economic and national security issue. While it’s fairly obvious that widespread corruption would slash a country’s trust levels, the reverse is true, too: low trust encourages corruption.
People who don’t trust others to do the right thing, or play by the rules, find it harder to see why they should do so to their own detriment. It becomes a vicious trust-corruption cycle — one Canada appears to be whirling through ever more quickly.
So how do we fix trust? It’s tempting to resort to the cliché “there are no easy answers,” but in Canada’s case, there’s actually a glaring, easily fixable place to start.
We must begin by fixing our Access to Information system, which, in its current state, rarely provides true access or information. The Centre for Law and Democracy publishes an annual ranking of countries’ right to information laws. Canada currently sits at number 51 behind India, Brazil, Afghanistan and, at least prior to its Ukraine invasion, even Russia.
Government wait times for responses can exceed 1,000 days and a Toronto Star study found that over half the information the government does release is censored . Nearly 20 per cent of the time, the federal government says it can’t find requested records at all.
Under the Access to Information Act, federal agencies are supposed to respond to requests within 30 days. If they need more time, they must give a valid reason.
This week, a long overdue effort by the House of Commons information, ethics and privacy committee to review our very broken system heard testimony from Mike Larsen, president of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association. He called Canada’s Access to Information system “dysfunctional” because “no government has taken responsibility for meaningfully updating it to address these problems.”
“In Canada, we are left with a stubborn inertia and, as a result, a dysfunctional system,” he said.
He’s correct. This has long been a problem, no matter which party is in power, and even though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been saying he’ll make it better since 2015, it continues to get markedly worse. Canada’s information commissioner, who acts as a watchdog for complaints about record requests under the Access to Information Act, has been overwhelmed for years despite processing ever-larger numbers of complaints.
The result is that regular citizens, advocacy groups and media alike can’t hold politicians and government agencies responsible on important issues. The long-standing problem has resulted in a culture of secrecy. Those who are meant to be accountable and transparent with the public have realized they don’t have to be, and can often get away with it.
The public also loses trust in the media because they feel important matters aren’t being reported on and powerful people and organizations aren’t being fully held to account — and they’re right. A failing Access to Information system makes it infinitely harder, and in some cases impossible, for journalists to uncover, research and report stories.
The House of Commons information, ethics and privacy committee can’t allow this to become just another government review that stretches on indefinitely and ultimately goes nowhere. This is not some mysterious, overly complex issue. Organizations like the Canadian Association of Journalists have presented clear solutions for years.
It’s rare that a problem so big can be solved, or at least made significantly better, with such straightforward and inexpensive fixes. There’s no excuse for real change to be delayed any longer, other than that enacting change may inconvenience the very people in charge of making it.
National Post