Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, it is a great honour for me to accept your invitation to come and appear before you today.
I have been interested in access to information issues for close to 10 years now. In recent years, I have done a great deal of research and thinking about this fundamental right in any democracy. I am the co-author of Federal Access to Information and Privacy Legislation Annotated. After a work term at the Federal Court of Appeal of Canada, I worked for a few years at the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada as a legal advisor. I also helped establish a bilingual training program offered over the Internet on access to information and privacy at the University of Alberta. I am the editor of the Open Government Journal, a scientific journal available free of charge on the Internet that has to do with issues of access and transparency. I am currently a lawyer in private practice.
The Access to Information Act sets out the basic principles regarding access to information in Canada. In the last 25 years, the act has been tested and interpreted on many occasions both by Canadians and by the government. The Federal Court has handed down many decisions regarding the Access to Information Act. The act works only if all the people involved play their proper role and assume their responsibilities. The basic principles that appear in the current legislation are valid, even though times may change.
For example, in 1982 when the act was passed, the Internet did not exist or was in the embryonic stage. However, the travel expenses of senior managers in federal institutions are now posted proactively on the Internet. In 1982, there was no e-mail. And yet, e-mails are included in the definition of a "record" that is contained in the act and are routinely disclosed in accordance with the act.
These few examples show that this legislation, which sets out basic principles, can easily be adapted to changing conditions, without being amended. The people who use the act, the government, the Office of the Commissioner and the courts have been able to use and interpret the act in such a way that it has been able to function since July 1, 1983, the date on which it came into force.
Great caution must be exercised in any attempt to amend this basic legislation. The problems we are experiencing at the moment do not stem from the act, but rather from the fact that some of the people involved are not performing their role properly.
The Access to Information Act, which has quasi-constitutional status, is good and valid legislation.