SUMMARY

This enactment amends the Access to Information Act. New provisions are added concerning the destruction and falsification of records. A duty to disclose information relating to the actual or threatened destruction or falsification of a record is created. The duty is accompanied by immunity from prosecution and protection against reprisals by the employer towards the informant. Three new criminal offences with prison terms are created in connection with the destruction and falsification of records.

In addition, to encourage heads of government institutions to observe the time limits set out in the Act for responding to a request for access to a record, the Information Commissioner will now be required to prepare a semi-annual list of the names of those who have not complied. This list will be tabled in Parliament and referred to the Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs. The committee will hear from the persons listed, will question them on the reasons for the delay and will publish the list twice yearly. Also, an administrative penalty will be imposed on non-complying government institutions so that they will no longer be able to charge fees for responding to requests or to rely on certain exceptions in refusing to disclose a record.

The enactment also provides for the implementation of the 17 recommendations made by the Information Commissioner in his 1995-1996 Annual Report. These concern changes to the manner in which confidences of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada are handled. A mandatory exemption has been created so that some confidential records cannot be disclosed and so that decisions regarding a refusal to give access can be appealed to a body independent of the executive power. These changes take account of the current realities of the cabinet confidences system, the need to protect the confidentiality of cabinet deliberations and the obligation to provide for certain exceptions to allow the disclosure of records that would not reveal the substance of deliberations of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada. A provision providing for the disclosure of records when this is in the public interest and another limiting the Information Commissioner's power of delegation have been added.

Finally, various amendments were made necessary as a result of these changes and affect, inter alia, definitions, offences, regulatory powers and the National Archives of Canada Act.