A detailed conference report on the seminar: "Access to Information: The Next Challenges" is available in the October 2007 Riley Report.

PowerPoint presentations from the seminar "Access to Information: The Next Challenges" can be found below.

Presented Friday, September 24, 2007

Introduction, documentation follows:

The Federal Access to Information Act has been in operation for twenty-four years. During that time there have been two major reviews of the legislation, and calls for change from practitioners, access advocates, business groups, academics and journalists who are concerned about the legislation as it stands. Last year the government put forth extensive amendments to the Access to Information Act (ATIA) as part of the Federal Accountability Act. The amendments to the ATIA included extending the law to all parent Crown Corporations and their wholly owned subsidiaries, agents of Parliament, and five foundations. The agents of Parliament and foundations came under the Act on April 1, 2007 and the Crown corporations and subsidiaries will come under the law as of September 1. 

Accountability is a key principle required across all government departments and related institutions.  This seminar will be especially useful to all the new institutions that have been brought under the umbrella of the Access Act and will assess the impacts of these changes.  In addition, there will be a debate regarding the proposed changes to the Act, which have yet to be passed by Parliament.  Such reforms are long overdue as no substantial changes to the Act have been made since its inception in 1983.  This event is part of the Right to Know week, which is now celebrated in many countries and jurisdictions around the world. 

SIGNIFICANT CHANGES PROPOSED 

There is still the question as to the degree to which the act will be further changed and what impact this might have on both government and the public. This seminar will take an in-depth approach to the proposed changes. There will be speakers from the legal and private sector and from government, bringing users and the access community together and creating an opportunity for dialogue and exchange between the speakers and the delegates on the extensive changes possibly to come. How are all these trends converging and what are the implications for access coordinators and professionals in the field? Target audiences for this event are federal access coordinators across the country, federal and provincial access to information commissioners and their staffs, policy makers, departmental offices within the public service, and users of access laws, including businesses, academic institutions, associations, NGOs and the media. This seminar will prove invaluable not only to current coordinators but to new coordinators who will be needed in the Crown corporations coming under the scope of the legislation.

Schedule of the  Seminar and Training Session 
Presented Friday, September 24, 2007
Westin Hotel, 11 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa

Highlights from the September 24, 2007 Seminar 

KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Robert Marleau, Information Commissioner of Canada 

What are the implications of proposed changes to Access to Information?
David Brown, Public Policy Forum and Carleton University

Access to Information – The Next Challenge: Fees
Joan Mann ATI Coordinator Canada Post Corporation

“Good Intentions and Unintended Consequences” The Fed AA and the ATI Act
Sean Moore, Partner / Public Policy Advisor, Gowling Lafleur Henderson

5 MAIN FACTORS TO CONSIDER FOR THE PROPER ADMINISTRATION OF AN ATIP OFFICE
Claudette Desormeaux, Office of Commissioner of Official Languages

Panel on Access and Change: New Institutions 
Suzanne Legault, Assistant Commissioner Policy, Communications and Operations, 
Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada