Liberal info bill could hinder Indigenous land claim efforts, watchdog tells MPs
OTTAWA — The Trudeau government’s proposed changes to the Access to Information Act could hamper efforts to settle Indigenous land claims, the federal information watchdog says.
Legislation that would give government agencies more leeway to refuse to process access requests would make it tougher for Indigenous groups to obtain the historical records they require, information commissioner Suzanne Legault told a House of Commons committee Wednesday.
Legault is critical of provisions that would allow an agency to reject a request unless the applicant stated the type of record being sought, the subject matter and the time-frame in which the documents were created — criteria she considers unreasonably specific.
For instance, a requester might not know the date a property title they seek was drafted — but that missing information could disqualify the request.