Moderator, 1 March 2024
In an article in Ottawa Citizen (“DND ignores requests to release information, undercutting federal law, MPs are told”), David Pugliese discusses Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard’s report to the House of Commons Committee on National Defence earlier this week. According to her, the Department of National Defence is ignoring requests to release government records as required by law. The House Committee is conducting hearings into openness and transparency within DND and the CAF – or the lack thereof. The Commissioner says that DND violates the law in almost 40% of the requests it receives to produce records under the Access to Information Act, withholding records relating to shipbuilding and sexual harassment, among other matters. Maynard says DND, in some cases, “simply ignore[es] requests made under the Access to Information law.” Pugliese notes that DND often claims that records don’t exist, and that’s why it's not releasing them. As Pugliese says, “At times such responses strain credibility. For instance, National Defence claimed not a single document or any information whatsoever was sent to Anita Anand, then the defence minister, throughout the four-month period covering the selection and announcement of the F-35 fighter jet in a $19-billion procurement deal.” If that’s true, there could be an even bigger problem – has DND gone rogue? There’s no question that DND isn’t great at providing information, you need only look at the website to see that in some places, information hasn’t been updated in months, even years! See the Pugliese article at
DND ignores info requests, undercutting federal law, MPs are told | Ottawa Citizen
6 thoughts on “Information Denied”
Canadians are tired of lies and deception. The government has failed in its promise of an Open and Transparent government. They have failed Canadians our allies and friends alike. It is time Canadians demand an election and disposal of the current leadership.
Par for the course for all arms and levels of Canadian governance. A compliant Canadian public has allowed our political leaders and public servants to become opaque and kremlin-like in the way it interacts with the public. The mantra of Canadian public governance is “You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!”
The unintended consequences of this mantra is that Canadians’ trust of our institutions is falling daily. Has it yet reached the point where the pitchforks and torches are being gathered? Not yet, but it’s on the horizon unless there is a change in openness by our public servants.
Although I have little appreciation for David Pugliese as an ethical journalist, in this case he seems to be correct. The Canadian government and DND are keeping as much as possible from the Canadian people and using the Access to Information Act to keep everyone in the dark or not even answering ATI requests at all. It is no wonder that there is very little coming from the government on the CSC Frigate programs and others! The Access To Information act is a “joke” and needs to be updated now.
Unfortunately, the possibility that DND has gone rogue is not crazy. I think it was less than a year ago that the minister of public safety admitted on camera that he could not be certain whether the RCMP would obey a direct order. Ministers are ostensibly responsible for their departments, but in reality ministers are parachuted into departments for a few months or years and have little understanding of the work that goes on underneath them. It is the mid- and upper- level civil servants who are really in control. They are in their posts for years, have a deep understanding of their positions, are skilled in evading commands they dislike and blame for failure, and are nearly impossible (legally and procedurally) to fire. The result is that ministers are largely the spokespeople for the views of the department, and become the whipping boys for failures they could not have prevented.
One part of the solution is for our society and our government to remember what democracy is. In a democracy, decisions are supposed to be political. Government ministers are supposed to hold power – yes, arbitrary power. That is what “ministerial accountability” means. The minister can be called to account before Parliament, and before Canadians if and only if the minister is really in control. If our ministers are hamstrung by contracts, by policies, by social scepticism of political decision making, or by their own unwillingness to compel their staff to obey, then our ministers are not in control. In that case, who is? Someone the public cannot identify and does not influence. Or no one.
Such a country is no longer a democracy, and will be unable to act effectively.
I want to add one thing to my comment: of course the minister himself may be at fault in any particular case including this one. Even if he is not, he must still take the blame. There is no one else that Parliament can call to account.
Sounds like David Pugliese is upset that his requests for information are seemingly being ignored as most certainly they have many in to keep the propaganda machine going and of course DND must be hiding something. Perhaps the sheer volume of requests is the issue, after all its only $5 to put in a request tying up government resources. Perhaps raising the request to $1000 per search would help hire more resources and eliminate misuse?