Darts and laurels from the 2017 national freedom-of-information audit

OTTAWA — The national freedom of information audit prepared for News Media Canada by independent researchers identifies government institutions that show a strong commitment to transparency and those unwilling to pull files from the shadows. Some notable examples from the 2017 audit:

DARTS:

— The RCMP and National Defence for not answering a single request during the audit period.

— The federal government, more generally, for being by far the slowest government organization in the audit, for its F grade for disclosure of information and for its watered-down plans to reform the Access to Information Act.

— The City of Windsor, Ont., for its $1,872.60 fee estimate for the release of a list of received freedom of information requests. Most government bodies provided this information at no charge.

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— Prince Edward Island for holding out as the only province or territory in Canada to exclude municipal government bodies from the application of its freedom of information law.

— The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for cashing a cheque for a request for data on long-term care facility inspections, providing no response of any kind for months and then, when contacted, indicating that if the requester was still interested in the information she needed to phone the ministry.

LAURELS:

— The Nova Scotia government for developing a central portal for filing freedom of information requests that allows everything related to requests to provincial departments to be handled from one online account.

— Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, P.E.I., and a host of municipalities for answering all of their audit requests within 30 days.

(Source: 2017 National Freedom of Information Audit)

The Canadian Press