Building on the successes of the Global RTI Rating, Centre for Law and Democracy has now moved on to apply the RTI Rating Methodology to Canada’s 14 federal, provincial and territorial access laws.
Canadian Access to Information Legislation Score sheets in Full
1. Newfoundland and Labrador: 111 (updated 2015)
2. British Columbia: 94 (updated 2022)
3. Manitoba: 94
4. Canada (national law): 93
5. Yukon: 91
6. Prince Edward Island: 90
7. Ontario: 89
8. Nova Scotia: 86
9. Northwest Territories: 82
10. Nunavut: 82
11. Quebec: 81
12. Saskatchewan: 80
13. Alberta: 79
13. New Brunswick: 79
Over the years, CLD has also produced different notes and analysis of pieces of Canadian legislation. Find the most important analysis, statements and submissions below.
Canada (Federal-Level)
- Submission to the 2023 Universal Periodic Review of Canada
- Submission to the 2021 Review of the Federal Access to Information Act
- Note on Bill C-58 Amending the Access to Information Act, 2018
- Note on Bill C-58 Amending the Access to Information Act, 2017
- Recommendations for Reforming Canada’s Access to Information Act, 2016
- Recommendations for Improving the Right to Information in Canada, 2013
British Columbia
- Note on British Columbia’s Bill 22: Needed Reforms, 2021
- Note on Access to Information Reform in British Columbia, 2015
Newfoundland and Labrador
- Submission to the Independent Review of the Newfoundland and Labrador Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 2021
- Submission to the Independent Review of the Newfoundland and Labrador Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 2014
- Statement on the Proposed ATIPPA Amendments, 2015
Nova Scotia
Quebec
- Submission on Access to Information Reform in Quebec, 2013
- Submission on Access to Information Reform in Quebec, 2015
- Follow-up Submission on Access to Information Reform in Quebec, 2015
2012 Comparative Analysis
In 2012, CLD conduced a major study of Canada’s access to information laws. These 2012 findings are discussed in an Analysis produced to accompany the results: Failing to Measure Up: An Analysis of Access to Information Legislation in Canadian Jurisdictions
Among the findings of the comparative analysis:
• Every Canadian jurisdiction excludes major public bodies from their access laws, often including the legislature and/or the cabinet.
• Every jurisdiction except Quebec, Saskatchewan and the Yukon allow for indefinite extensions of the time limits for responding to requests.
• Rules in many access laws to the effect that public bodies may only charge for actual costs incurred, regulations in every province go far beyond that, charging $0.20 or $0.25 per page of photocopying, up to $10 for a CD and up to $60/hour for employee time.
• Although every provincial and territorial access law presumptively overrides conflicting legislation, the list of exceptions to this is growing, so that numerous secrecy provisions override access laws (38 in Alberta, 26 in Saskatchewan and 22 in Nova Scotia).
• Every access law in Canada contains a massively overbroad exception for internal government deliberations that fails to conform to international standards.
• Information Commissioners in seven jurisdictions – Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Saskatchewan and Yukon – lack the power to order the disclosure of information.
