Community Leaders Call for Greater Transparency in Decision-Making

A coalition of community organisations from across Canada released a joint statement this week calling on federal and provincial governments to adopt stronger transparency standards in their decision-making processes. The statement, signed by more than 80 organisations, comes amid growing public concern about the accessibility of government information.

The coalition's demands are specific: mandatory plain-language summaries of regulatory decisions, proactive disclosure of consultation records, and shorter response times for access-to-information requests. These are not new demands — versions of them have been made before — but the breadth of the coalition behind this particular statement is notable.

The access-to-information backlog

At the federal level, the access-to-information system has been under significant strain for several years. Response times have lengthened, and the number of requests that are either refused or heavily redacted has increased. The Information Commissioner has flagged these trends in successive annual reports, but meaningful reform has been slow to materialise.

Community leaders say the practical effect is that citizens, journalists, and researchers who need information to participate meaningfully in public debates are being systematically disadvantaged. 'You can't hold government accountable for decisions you can't see,' said one coalition spokesperson.

Government response

A spokesperson for the Treasury Board said the government is committed to transparency and is reviewing the coalition's recommendations. The spokesperson noted that several initiatives to modernise the access-to-information system are already underway, though they declined to provide a specific timeline for implementation.