In Practice 5, we drill down into Canada's written constitution, focusing in this session on the Constitution Act, 1867?  Have you ever read your country's constitution?  You need to for this session:  Read the Constitution Act, 1867, found in this syllabus (or a lot of other places on the internet).  In the practice we shall play Public Law Jeopardy (Constitution Act 1867) Round.

CONSTITUTION ACT, 1867

Every lawyer should know how to find information in the possession of government. And one key skill is knowing how to file effective access to information requests. And knowing comes from doing.

In Practice 5, we will spend 15 minutes discussing strategy. Our focus will be on requests that you yourself initiate.

In terms of filing a request, I will ask you either to initiate your own request or “piggyback” on a request that has already been completed.

Filing Your Own Request

If you choose to file your own request, there are several basic steps: 1. Decide what information you are seeking. We will discuss how best to describe this information in a request, but you need, first, to at least figure out your subject matter. 2. Decide which government department is most likely to have that information. The easiest way to review the list of government departments is to look at the list of bodies subject to the Access to Information Act (in the list of Access Coordinators at each such department). You may need to do a little additional work figuring out what each department does, which will require a little more internet research. 3. Prepare the request. There is no requirement that you follow a specific form, but the form is a very useful tool. With some departments, you may also file an electronic request. 4. File the request, with the accompanying $5 fee. 5. Track the request. Calculate the applicable deadline (and here, it is useful to consult the Access to Information Act), and make sure you set up a “tickler system” (some sort of warning system) in your calendar so you know when that deadline has passed. Monitor any correspondence from the access coordinator in the department affecting those deadlines, and keep your “tickler system” current. If delays are extenuated, contemplate your right to complain to the Access to Information Commissioner. 6. Consider the final response from the government, and again contemplate your right to complain to the Access to Information Commissioner.

Piggybacking on Another Request

Before initiating a request, it very good practice to see if the information you are seeking has already been released under another access request. Visit the appropriate site on data.gc.ca. Search for that information, using likely keywords. If there are existing information requests that cover the topic, you may informally request that information directly from that website. This will be a much faster process than initiating your own re   quest (and does not come with a fee).

General observation

With either request, ask for the information in electronic form – it will come as a pdf on a CD-Rom. This will avoid instances where the government requires payment for copying before releasing the information. The government, by the way, cannot bill you for anything (above the $5 fee to initiate a request) without first securing your consent. But it is useful to be careful in how you frame it so it does not produce endless search hours that the government will then ask for you to pay before releasing the information.

Follow Up

Please file your request by no later than Sept 30. You should them be prepared to report on the status of your access request to the class in Practice 23 on November 27. I require also a (maximum) one page report in writing on: 1. What you requested from whom; 2. What happened (e.g., the information came, there were delays, you were contacted about the request, etc.); 3. Your observations on whether you regard the request as “successful” and “lessons learned” on how you might approach an information request in the future. Please file this report with me over email by Practice 20 on November 17.

Further Reading and Resources for Developing this Skill

If you are interested in really developing your "ATIP" (Access to Information and Privacy) request skills, I strongly recommend picking up Jim Bronskill and David McKie's excellent little manual Your Right to Know: How to Use the Law to Get Government Secrects (Self-Counsel Press, 2014).  Messieurs Bronskill and McKie are veteran journalists and cutting edge users of ATIP laws.