Good morning,
When the federal government enacted freedom of information legislation 40 years ago, Canada was among the first 10 countries in the world to do so, making it a global leader. But today, after decades of neglect by successive provincial and federal governments, our system is broken.
For the past 20 months, The Globe has been investigating how and why the system has come apart, as part of a project called Secret Canada.
The investigation involved hundreds of interviews, an analysis of thousands of government records and appeals decisions, as well as a national audit of FOI statistics and practices. Our reporting has shown that – at a time of plummeting trust in government and institutions – every day, public bodies and governments at every level are breaking the law.
Across the country, FOI units have been starved of resources and staff. Institutions can no longer meet their statutory deadlines. The laws themselves are impractical in a digital world. And it is normal for institutions to refuse to release records that judges and adjudicators have repeatedly said are public, such as government contracts.
The United Nations has declared freedom of information a fundamental human right – and that right is imperilled in Canada by political leaders who have effectively created a regime that incentivizes institutions to keep public records secret.
“If you believe in democracy‚ you have to believe that the public has a right to be informed,” said Stephen Azzi, a political historian and former public servant. “The public can’t pass judgment on government if we don’t know what the government is doing. But how can we assess the work of government if we don’t have information?”
Explore the Secret Canada website: Search our database of hundreds of thousands of FOI request summaries filed across the country, and read about how to file requests, navigate the system and appeal decisions.
Editor-in-Chief David Walmsley: Our freedom of information systems, binding frameworks to ensure Canadians have transparency, have collapsed under their own weight.
Behind the story: How a conversation between two reporters in the fall of 2021 spawned a newsroom-wide project.
Podcast: Robyn Doolittle and Tom Cardoso speak with Decibel host Menaka Raman-Wilms about their 20-month-long investigation into the state of Canada’s FOI system.
Illustration by Romain Lasser
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Also on our radar
Donald Trump says he’s been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents: Donald Trump said Thursday he’s been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, igniting a federal prosecution that is arguably the most perilous of multiple legal threats against the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.
David Johnston ends relationship with crisis communications firm Navigator in foreign interference probe: Special rapporteur David Johnston fired crisis-communications firm Navigator Thursday after learning it also advised former Liberal MP Han Dong, whose conduct he scrutinized as part of his inquiry into Chinese state foreign interference.
Biden orders firefighting help as smoke from Canadian wildfires blankets U.S. cities: President Joe Biden has ordered all of the U.S.’s federal firefighting personnel to be ready to deploy to Canada as raging wildfires burn across the country, continuing to blanket eastern American cities in an unprecedentedly thick, smoky smog.
New Brunswick teachers no longer obligated to use students’ preferred pronouns without parental consent: Teachers in New Brunswick are no longer obligated to use the preferred pronouns or names of transgender or non-binary students under age 16 without their parents’ consent, under a new education policy introduced Thursday. The policy has already led to a revolt among Premier Blaine Higgs’s Progressive Conservatives, and sparked outcry from human-rights advocates.
BoC rate hike followed surprise jump in consumer spending, inflation, Beaudry says: After five months on the sidelines, the Bank of Canada was pushed back into action this week by surprisingly strong consumer spending data and worrying signs that the downward trend in inflation has begun to stall, Paul Beaudry, one of the bank’s deputy governors, said Thursday.
Dam explosion causes waters to rise in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, 200 km away from initial disaster: The torrent of water unleashed by Tuesday’s destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam has now surged down the Dnipro River, causing the Dnipro Gulf at its southern end to swell, and pushing flood waters up a different waterway, the Southern Bug River. On Friday, Russia reported heavy fighting along the front in southern and eastern Ukraine.
With rising seas at their doorstep, an Indigenous nation in Washington State moves onward and upward: Increasingly, the seawall at Quinault Indian Nation can no longer hold back the Pacific. So locals are building on higher ground, while other nations and the U.S. government take notes on what’s involved and what it costs
Morning markets
World stocks edge up: Global equities were set for a small weekly gain on Friday following a Wall Street rally a day earlier, as rising bets the Federal Reserve will skip a rate increase next week overshadowed worries about U.S. markets being drained of cash. Just before 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.08 per cent. Germany’s DAX was flat and France’s CAC 40 added 0.14 per cent. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei jumped 1.97 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.47 per cent. New York futures were mixed. The Canadian dollar was higher at 74.99 US cents.
What everyone’s talking about
Mr. Poilievre’s Hollywood filibuster
“Mr. Poilievre succeeded in taking the stage and turning the public’s attention back to the issue that has worked best for him: inflation and the average Canadian’s struggles to make ends meet.” – Campbell Clark
After this season of fire, the Tories must make their peace with carbon pricing
“The lesson of the past three elections is that carbon pricing has become table stakes in federal politics, at least among voters in the regions and demographics the Conservatives need to reach: the sign of whether you’re serious about climate change, and therefore fit to govern. After this season of fire, that is only likely to be more true.” – Andrew Coyne
The Bank of Canada shouldn’t have hiked interest rates this week
“While we have long advocated for looking at more up-to-date indicators of inflation – for example, the annualized three-month inflation rate instead of headline inflation – the three-month rate has indeed risen beyond the bank’s target range.” – Steve Ambler and Jeremy Kronick
Today’s editorial cartoon
Illustration by Brian Gable
Living better
Yes, you can cook delicious food while camping
Read on as Ian Brown explores the highs of cooking gourmet delights in the great outdoors thanks to Chris Nuttall-Smith’s new cookbook, Cook It Wild.
Moment in time: June 9, 1891
Cole Porter is born
Sasha/Getty Images
Cole Porter, born in Peru, Ind., on this day in 1891, I’ve Got My Eyes on You. You learned to play violin at age 6 and piano at 8. There was no stopping you From This Moment On. By 1919, you decided, Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall In Love and married Linda Lee Thomas, despite the fact you were gay, because Anything Goes. In the 1920s and 1930s, in the height of your prolific Broadway and Hollywood career, (You’d Be So) Easy To Love with your ability to start with an idea, turn it into a title then add words and music. You’re The Top! It was Wunderbar, but sometimes your lyrics were just Too Darn Hot. You worked Night and Day, or was it In The Still Of The Night? You always enjoyed it because, It’s De-Lovely. But then in 1937, you thought, Don’t Fence Me In, and were Ridin’ High but left with a debilitating injury when your horse thought, I Get a Kick Out Of You. Cole Porter, I’ve Got You Under My Skin, with all those eternal earworm songs you created. However, Opportunity Knocks But Once, so let’s have a drink and Make It Another Old-Fashioned, Please. Philip King.
Read today's horoscopes. Enjoy today's puzzles.
Editor’s note: A headline in Friday's Morning Update newsletter published an incorrect birthdate for composer Cole Porter. In fact, he was born June 9, 1891.
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