Ontario wants to change its FOI rules to keep some records secret. Here's what you need to know
CBC
Ontario wants to exempt the premier, cabinet ministers and parliamentary assistants from being subject to the province’s freedom-of-information laws, a move that’s sparked outrage from experts, opposition parties, and the province’s privacy commissioner.
FOIs are a way for the public to access information from public institutions and have been used by journalists to report groundbreaking stories ranging from the controversial closure of the Ontario Science Centre to the state of Ontario's jails.
Here’s what you need to know about the potential changes and their impact:
If passed, the new law will mean that government records — which can include everything from emails to data — from the office of the premier, cabinet ministers and parliamentary assistants will no longer be subject to freedom-of-information laws, meaning you won’t be able to get it.
The changes would also be retroactive, meaning any existing requests in the pipeline that deal with any of those offices could be put in jeopardy.
That includes ongoing battles by news organizations fighting for disclosures about the Greenbelt scandal and Ford's cellphone records.
Making the FOI changes retroactive could wipe out “hundreds” of requests, says James Turk, director of the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University.
“It’s obviously going to have a significant reduction in government accountability,” he said.
The province said in a news release Friday the changes are the first "major" ones to the legislation in 40 years. It’s unclear what the government means by “major” change, but there have been amendments to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) since it was introduced in 1988.
The most recent changes were made through a bill that passed in 2024 and came into effect last year. Those changes largely had to do with how institutions subject to FOI requests handle privacy and protect personal information.
Ontario also made changes to the act in 2014, which were aimed at preserving public records. The changes made it an offence to “alter, conceal or destroy a record.”
Anyone can file an FOI request.
The latest annual report from the Information and Privacy Commissioner, which oversees FOI laws independently of the province, identified a number of groups that frequently file FOIs:
If you’re filing an FOI request to get personal records, the proposed changes will not impact your ability to do that.
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