OTTAWA -- An independent review of Canada's transparency efforts says the federal government should commit to robust reform of the Access to Information Act to finally bring the law into the 21st century.
The report card on Canada's latest initiatives also calls for specific funding of openness commitments, better takeup of advice from interested parties and more co-operation with First Nations on transparency issues.
The report, made public today, was conducted as part of the Open Government Partnership's independent evaluation scheme, which does progress assessments for each of the global partnership's 75 member governments, including Canada.
The Right to Know Coalition of Nova Scotia was selected by the partnership to carry out the task for Canada.
The coalition held consultations in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax, and spoke with officials from 16 government agencies and departments.
The report is intended to help develop Canada's fourth open government plan under the partnership umbrella.
