The federal information watchdog says the Trudeau government’s proposed changes to the Access to Information Act could hamper efforts to settle Indigenous land claims.
Information commissioner Suzanne Legault tells a House of Commons committee today a federal bill that would give agencies more leeway to refuse to process requests could deny Indigenous groups the historical records they require.
Legault is critical of provisions that would allow an agency to reject a request unless the applicant stated the type of record being sought, the subject matter and the time-frame in which the documents were created — criteria she considers unreasonably specific.
For instance, a requester might not know the date a property title they seek was drafted — but that missing information could disqualify the request.
Legault says she has already received at least one complaint about an agency applying the new criteria, even though the bill is still before committee.
The Liberal government says the bill represents the first real modernization of the access law since it took effect in 1983.