{"id":106039,"date":"2026-06-22T08:47:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T12:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=106039"},"modified":"2026-06-22T08:47:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T12:47:19","slug":"bid-to-narrow-transparency-law-a-move-in-the-wrong-direction-info-watchdog-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/22\/bid-to-narrow-transparency-law-a-move-in-the-wrong-direction-info-watchdog-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Bid to narrow transparency law &#8216;a move in the wrong direction,&#8217; info watchdog says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Jim Bronskill Information commissioner Caroline Maynard says a federal proposal to narrow the scope of the Access to Information Act is a move in the wrong direction that could exclude &#8220;entire swaths of government-held records&#8221; from public scrutiny. Maynard makes the blunt warning in a newly published submission to the Treasury Board Secretariat&#8217;s latest review of the access regime. The department issued a policy document in March that set out possible changes to the Access to Information system and solicited feedback from interested parties. The policy paper acknowledges shortcomings in the access system, including poor federal information management, a lack of systematic declassification of historical records and difficulties with obtaining documents related to Indigenous affairs. &#8220;The review must not become a justification for further secrecy,&#8221; Maynard says in her&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F06%2F22%2Fbid-to-narrow-transparency-law-a-move-in-the-wrong-direction-info-watchdog-says%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jim Bronskill Information commissioner Caroline Maynard says a federal proposal to narrow the scope of the Access to Information Act is a move in the wrong direction that could exclude &#8220;entire swaths of government-held records&#8221; from public scrutiny. Maynard makes the blunt warning in a newly published submission to the Treasury Board Secretariat&#8217;s latest review of the access regime. The department issued a policy document in March that set out possible changes to the Access to Information system and solicited feedback from interested parties. The policy paper acknowledges shortcomings in the access system, including poor federal information management, a lack of systematic declassification of historical records and difficulties with obtaining documents related to Indigenous affairs. &#8220;The review must not become a justification for further secrecy,&#8221; Maynard says in her... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F06%2F22%2Fbid-to-narrow-transparency-law-a-move-in-the-wrong-direction-info-watchdog-says%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bid to narrow transparency law &#039;a move in the wrong direction,&#039; info watchdog says - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/22\/bid-to-narrow-transparency-law-a-move-in-the-wrong-direction-info-watchdog-says\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bid to narrow transparency law &#039;a move in the wrong direction,&#039; info watchdog says - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jim Bronskill Information commissioner Caroline Maynard says a federal proposal to narrow the scope of the Access to Information Act is a move in the wrong direction that could exclude &#8220;entire swaths of government-held records&#8221; from public scrutiny. Maynard makes the blunt warning in a newly published submission to the Treasury Board Secretariat&#8217;s latest review of the access regime. The department issued a policy document in March that set out possible changes to the Access to Information system and solicited feedback from interested parties. The policy paper acknowledges shortcomings in the access system, including poor federal information management, a lack of systematic declassification of historical records and difficulties with obtaining documents related to Indigenous affairs. &#8220;The review must not become a justification for further secrecy,&#8221; Maynard says in her\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/22\/bid-to-narrow-transparency-law-a-move-in-the-wrong-direction-info-watchdog-says\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-22T12:47:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/22\\\/bid-to-narrow-transparency-law-a-move-in-the-wrong-direction-info-watchdog-says\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/22\\\/bid-to-narrow-transparency-law-a-move-in-the-wrong-direction-info-watchdog-says\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Bid to narrow transparency law &#8216;a move in the wrong direction,&#8217; 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