Improve access to information to enhance the openness of government.

What success looks like

Greater government transparency and more information available for Canadians to hold their government to account.

Government's narrative on progress

Following an Interim Directive in May 2016 that eliminated all fees except for the application fee and confirmed the principle of "open by default," the government introduced Phase I reforms to modernize and expand the scope of the *Access to Information Act*. Legislation introduced in June 2017 proposes new requirements for the proactive publication of a broad range of information and would apply to more than 240 government federal institutions, as well as the Prime Minister's Office, ministers' offices and administrative bodies that support Parliament and the courts. The legislation would also provide the Information Commissioner with the power to make binding orders to government institutions, including for the release of records. A review of the Act would also be required every five years to ensure that it remains current and continues to improve transparency for Canadians. The first of these reviews would be initiated within one year of the legislation coming into force. The legislation is currently before the Senate. Further measures to improve Canadians’ access to information are included in Canada’s 2018-2020 National Action Plan on Open Government, which was published in December 2018. These measures include engaging all sectors of Canadian society including Indigenous organizations and representatives in a broad review of the *Access to Information Act* that examines: • the extent of coverage of the Act including the range of institutions that are subject to the Act; • ways to improve timeliness of responses to requests; • the regime of exemptions and exclusions; • appropriate protections for information relating to Indigenous people and governance; and • how technologies could be used to improve the functioning of the system and service to the user.

Note: this is the government's own description, not an independent assessment.