Canadian laws<\/p>\n
R.S.C.<\/abbr>, 1985, c. A-1<\/p>\n<\/header>\n An Act to extend the present laws of Canada that provide access to information under the control of the Government of Canada<\/p>\n<\/section>\n Short title<\/p>\n 1<\/span><\/strong> This Act may be cited as the Access to Information Act<\/cite>.<\/p>\n Purpose<\/p>\n 2<\/span><\/strong> (1)<\/span> The purpose of this Act is to extend the present laws of Canada to provide a right of access to information in records under the control of a government institution in accordance with the principles that government information should be available to the public, that necessary exceptions to the right of access should be limited and specific and that decisions on the disclosure of government information should be reviewed independently of government.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Complementary procedures<\/p>\n (2)<\/span> This Act is intended to complement and not replace existing procedures for access to government information and is not intended to limit in any way access to the type of government information that is normally available to the general public.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Definitions<\/p>\n 3<\/span><\/strong> In this Act,<\/p>\n alternative format<\/dfn><\/span>, with respect to a record, means a format that allows a person with a sensory disability to read or listen to that record;\u2002(support de substitution<\/span>)<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n Court<\/dfn><\/span>\u2002means the Federal Court;\u2002(Cour<\/span>)<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n designated Minister<\/dfn><\/span>\u2002means a person who is designated as the Minister under subsection 3.2(1);\u2002(ministre d\u00e9sign\u00e9<\/span>)<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n foreign state<\/dfn><\/span>\u2002means any state other than Canada;\u2002(\u00c9tat \u00e9tranger<\/span>)<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n government institution<\/dfn><\/span>\u2002means<\/p>\n (a)<\/span> any department or ministry of state of the Government of Canada, or any body or office, listed in Schedule I, and<\/p>\n<\/li>\n (b)<\/span> any parent Crown corporation, and any wholly-owned subsidiary of such a corporation, within the meaning of section 83 of the Financial Administration Act<\/cite>;\u2002(institution f\u00e9d\u00e9rale<\/span>)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/dd>\n head<\/dfn><\/span>, in respect of a government institution, means<\/p>\n (a)<\/span> in the case of a department or ministry of state, the member of the Queen\u2019s Privy Council for Canada who presides over the department or ministry, or<\/p>\n<\/li>\n (b)<\/span> in any other case, either the person designated under subsection 3.2(2) to be the head of the institution for the purposes of this Act or, if no such person is designated, the chief executive officer of the institution, whatever their title;\u2002(responsable d\u2019institution f\u00e9d\u00e9rale<\/span>)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/dd>\n Information Commissioner<\/dfn><\/span>\u2002means the Commissioner appointed under section 54;\u2002(Commissaire \u00e0 l\u2019information<\/span>)<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n record<\/dfn><\/span>\u2002means any documentary material, regardless of medium or form;\u2002(document<\/span>)<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n sensory disability<\/dfn><\/span>\u2002means a disability that relates to sight or hearing;\u2002(d\u00e9ficience sensorielle<\/span>)<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n third party<\/dfn><\/span>, in respect of a request for access to a record under this Act, means any person, group of persons or organization other than the person that made the request or a government institution.\u2002(tiers<\/span>)<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n For greater certainty<\/p>\n 3.01<\/span><\/strong> (1)<\/span> For greater certainty, any provision of this Act that applies to a government institution that is a parent Crown corporation applies to any of its wholly-owned subsidiaries within the meaning of section 83 of the Financial Administration Act<\/cite>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n For greater certainty<\/p>\n (2)<\/span> For greater certainty, the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board are parent Crown corporations for the purposes of this Act.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n For greater certainty<\/p>\n 3.1<\/span><\/strong> For greater certainty, for the purposes of this Act, information that relates to the general administration of a government institution includes information that relates to expenses paid by the institution for travel, including lodging, and hospitality.<\/p>\n Power to designate Minister<\/p>\n 3.2<\/span><\/strong> (1)<\/span> The Governor in Council may designate a member of the Queen\u2019s Privy Council for Canada to be the Minister for the purposes of any provision of this Act.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Power to designate head<\/p>\n (2)<\/span> The Governor in Council may, by order, designate a person to be the head of a government institution, other than a department or ministry of state, for the purposes of this Act.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Right to access to records<\/p>\n 4<\/span><\/strong> (1)<\/span> Subject to this Act, but notwithstanding any other Act of Parliament, every person who is<\/p>\n (a)<\/span> a Canadian citizen, or<\/p>\n<\/li>\n (b)<\/span> a permanent resident within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act<\/cite>,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n has a right to and shall, on request, be given access to any record under the control of a government institution.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Extension of right by order<\/p>\n (2)<\/span> The Governor in Council may, by order, extend the right to be given access to records under subsection (1) to include persons not referred to in that subsection and may set such conditions as the Governor in Council deems appropriate.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Responsibility of government institutions<\/p>\n (2.1)<\/span> The head of a government institution shall, without regard to the identity of a person making a request for access to a record under the control of the institution, make every reasonable effort to assist the person in connection with the request, respond to the request accurately and completely and, subject to the regulations, provide timely access to the record in the format requested.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Records produced from machine readable records<\/p>\n (3)<\/span> For the purposes of this Act, any record requested under this Act that does not exist but can, subject to such limitations as may be prescribed by regulation, be produced from a machine readable record under the control of a government institution using computer hardware and software and technical expertise normally used by the government institution shall be deemed to be a record under the control of the government institution.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Publication on government institutions<\/p>\n 5<\/span><\/strong> (1)<\/span> The designated Minister shall cause to be published, on a periodic basis not less frequently than once each year, a publication containing<\/p>\n (a)<\/span> a description of the organization and responsibilities of each government institution, including details on the programs and functions of each division or branch of each government institution;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n (b)<\/span> a description of all classes of records under the control of each government institution in sufficient detail to facilitate the exercise of the right of access under this Act;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n (c)<\/span> a description of all manuals used by employees of each government institution in administering or carrying out any of the programs or activities of the government institution; and<\/p>\n<\/li>\n (d)<\/span> the title and address of the appropriate officer for each government institution to whom requests for access to records under this Act should be sent.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n Bulletin<\/p>\n (2)<\/span> The designated Minister shall cause to be published, at least twice each year, a bulletin to bring the material contained in the publication published under subsection (1) up to date and to provide to the public other useful information relating to the operation of this Act.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Descriptions in publication and bulletins<\/p>\n (3)<\/span> Any description that is required to be included in the publication or bulletins published under subsection (1) or (2) may be formulated in such a manner that the description does not itself constitute information on the basis of which the head of a government institution would be authorized to refuse to disclose a part of a record requested under this Act.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Publication and bulletin to be made available<\/p>\n (4)<\/span> The designated Minister shall cause the publication referred to in subsection (1) and the bulletin referred to in subsection (2) to be made available throughout Canada in conformity with the principle that every person is entitled to reasonable access thereto.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Request for access to record<\/p>\n 6<\/span><\/strong> A request for access to a record under this Act shall be made in writing to the government institution that has control of the record and shall provide sufficient detail to enable an experienced employee of the institution with a reasonable effort to identify the record.<\/p>\n Notice where access requested<\/p>\n 7<\/span><\/strong> Where access to a record is requested under this Act, the head of the government institution to which the request is made shall, subject to sections 8, 9 and 11, within thirty days after the request is received,<\/p>\n (a)<\/span> give written notice to the person who made the request as to whether or not access to the record or a part thereof will be given; and<\/p>\n<\/li>\n (b)<\/span> if access is to be given, give the person who made the request access to the record or part thereof.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Transfer of request<\/p>\n 8<\/span><\/strong> (1)<\/span> Where a government institution receives a request for access to a record under this Act and the head of the institution considers that another government institution has a greater interest in the record, the head of the institution may, subject to such conditions as may be prescribed by regulation, within fifteen days after the request is received, transfer the request and, if necessary, the record to the other government institution, in which case the head of the institution transferring the request shall give written notice of the transfer to the person who made the request.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Deeming provision<\/p>\n (2)<\/span> For the purposes of section 7, where a request is transferred under subsection (1), the request shall be deemed to have been made to the government institution to which it was transferred on the day the government institution to which the request was originally made received it.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Meaning of greater interest<\/p>\n (3)<\/span> For the purpose of subsection (1), a government institution has a greater interest in a record if<\/p>\n (a)<\/span> the record was originally produced in or for the institution; or<\/p>\n<\/li>\n (b)<\/span> in the case of a record not originally produced in or for a government institution, the institution was the first government institution to receive the record or a copy thereof.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Extension of time limits<\/p>\n 9<\/span><\/strong> (1)<\/span> The head of a government institution may extend the time limit set out in section 7 or subsection 8(1) in respect of a request under this Act for a reasonable period of time, having regard to the circumstances, if<\/p>\nShort Title<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Purpose of Act<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Interpretation<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Designation<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Access to Government Records<\/span><\/h2>\n
Right of Access<\/span><\/h3>\n
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Information about Government Institutions<\/span><\/h3>\n
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Requests for Access<\/span><\/h3>\n
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