The Access to Information Act was passed in 1983. We therefore celebrated the act's 40th anniversary this summer, in July. As noted in my office's annual report as well as several subsequent statements, unfortunately there wasn't much to celebrate after 40 years. I must admit that we were very proud as Canadians to be among the first to adopt access to information legislation. More specifically, Canada was the eighth country in the world to do so. Today, over 125 countries have access to information legislation. However, given the current state of our legislation, we are now in 53rd place. The act hasn't been modernized since it was passed, and there are many issues with its enforcement. My office receives a lot of complaints. What we're trying to do is give Canadians key examples of why access to information is important and why the act should be modernized after 40 years.
On October 16th, 2023. See this statement in context.