Question Period Note: 2024-25 Information Commissioner Report

The Information Commissioner of Canada is expected to release her 2024-25 Annual Report on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. Like previous reports, recent correspondence with the Prime Minister, former Presidents of the Treasury Board, and public statements over the past several years, the Commissioner’s 2024-25 Annual Report delivers a critical assessment of Canada’s access to information regime and of TBS’ and institution’s efforts to uphold it. What is being done to improve transparency through access to information?

• The federal government is committed to upholding the values of open government, transparency and accountability.
• This year, we will launch a review of the Access to Information Act, which will include broad engagement with various stakeholders.
• As well, we have taken key actions to improve some of the most pressing challenges facing the ATI regime.
• These include:
o building capacity to improve ATI service delivery
o providing guidance for the use of exemptions and exclusions under the Access to Information Act
o publishing the Trust and Transparency Strategy, a whole of government approach to support transparency, accountability, and public participation.

If Pressed

• We are required by law to undertake a review every five years. In doing so, we plan to capture a wide span and view and inputs working with indigenous partners, experts and other stakeholders.

The Access to Information Act (the Act) mandates the Information Commissioner of Canada to independently oversee access to government records. The Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) provides support by leveraging the full range of tools and powers at the Commissioner’s disposal. Within three months after the end of each fiscal year, the Commissioner submits an annual report to Parliament on the OIC’s activities during that fiscal year.
The 2024-25 Annual Report is the Commissioner’s eighth overall and the first in her second seven-year term, which began in March 2025. Consistent with previous reports, recent correspondence with former Presidents of the Treasury Board, and public statements over the past several years, the 2024-25 Annual Report delivers a critical assessment of Canada’s access to information regime and of TBS’ and institution’s efforts to uphold it.
In the report, the Commissioner also re-emphasizes her priorities for her second term: pressing for legislative change, advocating for a more efficient and responsive access system, and promoting a culture of openness within institutions.
The President of the Treasury Board is responsible for the overall administration of the Act and assessing federal institutions’ compliance with the provisions under the Commissioner’s oversight.
When her annual reports are tabled, the Commissioner sends the President a letter outlining its contents and key criticisms. Over the course of the last fiscal year, the Commissioner has also written to the President four times, and most recently wrote to the Prime Minister to “begin a constructive dialogue on how the access to information system can better serve Canadians.”
The President is responsible for collecting and publishing statistics on access to information requests on an annual basis. Reports are generally published in December, nine months after the end of the fiscal year to which they apply. The Commissioner’s report suggests the timelines and depth associated with annual reporting represent a “highly unsatisfactory state of affairs”, and that more regular and detailed reporting could yield benefits to Canada’s access regime.
Review of the Act
The next mandated review of the Act is scheduled to be launched no later than June 20, 2025 and will give the Government of Canada the opportunity to explore ways to continue strengthening the ATI regime and address conclusions that would require legislative change, including those areas of the Act identified by Indigenous partners as requiring alignment to meet the obligations under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UNDA).
Under the UNDA, the Government must, in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous Peoples, “take all measures necessary to ensure that the laws of Canada are consistent with the Declaration.”

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