Your ticket to searching

requests made under

Canada’s Access to

Information Law

                                                                                                                   Digging Deeper, A Canadian Reporter’s Research Guide, Edition, Oxford University Press. Order it at Amazon.ca.

A comprehensive guide to
investigative journalism, research techniques,
Digging Deeper also contains a chapter on
using access-to-information and freedom-of-information.

Your Right To Know:How to Use the Law to Get Government Secrets

A practical guide that walks you through the process filing successful access to information requests.

Brokering Access: Power, Politics, and Freedom of Information Process in Canada

An academic probe into the strengths and weaknesses of Canada’s Access To Information Law.

David
McKie, CBC News
Phone: (O)
288-6523 (C) 290-7380

David McKie is an author (see two of his co-authored books at the top of this page), part-time, journalism instructor, and award-winning producer in CBC New’s Parliamentary Bureau.

Search a database of requests
submitted under Canada’s Access to Information
Act

This page allows you to search a database of requests
for information filed with departments and
agencies of the Canadian government under Canada’s
Access to Information Act from the early nineties to August 2008,

You can use this database to identify requests that relate to your
own research interests. Next, you can contact
departments and agencies to obtain records already
made public in response to those requests.

Once the search engine is fixed, you’ll be able to use it so search for specific summaries pasted below in the form of monthly text files. For now, you can click each each link and search within the document, using control-F on your keyboard, or an alternative shortcut for Mac users.

If you experience difficulties, please let me know.

Where does this
data come from? [Top]

The information in this database was entered by
federal institutions into the now-defunct Coordination of
Access to Information Requests System (CAIRS), a central registry that was maintained by the Department of Public Works and Government Services, now Public Service and Procurement Canada. 

The monthly reports from the CAIRS database were obtained from
Treasury Board Secretariat, another agency of the
Canadian government, using Access to Information Act
requests.

How to use this
database [Top]

Enter keywords relating to your research into the search
engine (below). The search engine will retrieve
pages that contain your keywords. Each page
consists of a monthly report generated by the
CAIRS database. Click on each retrieved page and
repeat your search using your browser’s search
feature. Some monthly reports are large and load
slowly.

When you’ve located a relevant request, note the
institutional code and the file number. Once you’ve identified a request, you can contact the institution in question about receiving the records, probably by filing an informal request. Given that the records are old, it’s best to contact the department’s access-to-information officials, determine the best course of action.

 

Limitations of the database
[Top]

The former Conservative government under Stephen Harper killed CAIRS. So this database only goes to Oct. 2008.
The federal Information Commissioner’s Office attempted
to either convince the government to revise the
system, or devise another method of making this
kind of information more accessible. Given the
limitations of this database, it is still a valuable
resource for records dating back several years.

Some large departments did not enter all requests which
they have received into CAIRS. Consequently you
should not assume that this is a comprehensive
list of federal ATIA requests. And when CAIRS
was in operation, several government institutions,
including Crown corporations such as the CBC,
were exempt from the Access to Information Law.

Search this database 



You can use this search engine using the same search operators for regular queries. For more guidance, please check out this GoogleGuide.

News about this
database [Top]

April
2001: The Canadian government releases documents
that explain the public access features of
its new CAIRSWeb software. The public access features
have not been activated.

Access
monthly reports directly [Top]

March 1993 May 1993 June 1993 July 1993 August 1993 September 1993 October 1993 November 1993 December 1993	January 1994 February 1994 March 1994 April 1994 May 1994 June 1994 July 1994 August 1994 September 1994 October 1994 November 1994 December 1994	January 1999 February 1999 March 1999 April 1999 May 1999 June 1999 July 1999 August 1999 September 1999 October 1999 November 1999 December 1999
January 2000 February 2000 March 2000 April 2000 May 2000 June 2000 July 2000 August 2000 September 2000 October 2000 November 2000 December 2000	January 2001 February 2001 March 2001 April 2001 May 2001 June 2001 July 2001 August 2001 September 2001 October 2001 November 2001 December 2001	January 2002 February 2002 March 2002 April 2002 May 2002 June 2002 July 2002 August 2002 September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002
January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005	February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006

January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008

Amberlight Monitor [Top]

ATIA requests submitted by journalists and
Members of Parliament are usually tagged by
federal agencies for special attention, which
often causes added delay in the processing of
requests. (To learn more, read
this paper, “Spin Control and
Freedom of Information.”) In some agencies,
these requests are said to be “amberlighted.” The
following reports identify media and parliamentary
requests logged in CAIRS each month.

June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004

January 2005 February 2005 March 2005

ACCESS in the news[Top]

Oct. 13, 2010
The information commissioner gives many federal
government departments a failing grade.
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/04/13/information-requests.html

Access to Information Act turns 30 amid calls for reform (CBC News)
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/07/06/pol-access-to-information-30th-anniversary.html

Full review of Access to Information law 2 years away, Scott Brison says
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/access-information-law-review-brison-1.3514800

Government institutions don’t respect access to information laws (The Hill Timesonline)
http://www.thehilltimes.ca/page/printpage/-08-22-2011

Government’s online information access plan falls short
Deadline looms for federal instiutions to post access to information summaries online
http://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.1142495

Interim Directive on the Administration of the Access to Information Act
https://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?id=18310

Liberals end access to information fees, more reforms coming

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/05/05/liberals-end-access-to-information-fees-more-reforms-coming.html

Liberals’ slow movement on Access to Information reform concerns commissioner
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/suzanne-legault-access-to-information-timeline-liberals-1.3812208

New access law is needed for a digital age: Editorial-An all-party Commons committee is on the right track with a series of overdue reforms to fix the broken Access to Information Act
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2016/06/20/new-access-law-is-needed-for-a-digital-age-editorial.html

Rubin: Open government promise rings hollow
http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/rubin-open-government-promise-rings-hollow

Watchdog recommends blanket ban on personal emails for government business
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/information-commissioner-personal-emails-government-ban-1.3793832

Why are the Liberals stalling on their promise to reform access to information?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/why-are-the-liberals-stalling-on-their-promise-to-reform-access-to-information/article29496212/