Provincial decisions affect First Nations' rights, lands and environments, and FOI requests are one of the few mechanisms available to First Nations and the public to understand how those decisions were made. Having access to this information, particularly if it's a decision made by the premier or other cabinet ministers, or just understanding how those decisions came to be, is just part of good governance.
Public Resource acquires and makes available online a wide variety of public documents such as tax filings, government-produced videos, and federal rules about safety and product designs. Those rules are initially created through private standards organizations and later incorporated into federal law. Such documents are often difficult to access otherwise, meaning the public cannot read, share, or comment on them.
Crawford says the changes will help protect cabinet confidentiality. He says the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act has not been updated in nearly 40 years. Crawford says that presents unnecessary privacy risks for the government and the public.
The government hoped a single trade window (STW) would simplify border processes after Brexit by creating a single digital platform in which importers and exporters could upload all documentation linked to goods before they are transported. However, the STW project was paused in 2024 amid concerns over the cost of implementing the scheme. Government responses to freedom of information requests, submitted by the thinktank TaxWatch and seen by the Financial Times, now suggest no money has been spent on the project since January last year, with the Treasury writing that the programme had been brought to an early closure.
On this page, you can find minutes of all Board meetings for the last five years. We aim to publish the minutes of meetings as soon as we can after they have been formally approved.
In August, CBC News filed a freedom-of-information request to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), seeking the fate, size and disposal plans for U.S. alcohol products removed in March. The LCBO took 64 days to respond 34 days longer than the 30-day limit allowed by law. When the documents were finally released, they spanned 50 pages, but were heavily redacted.
