Summary Access Tips

Here is a short list of tips in making access to information requests:

• Identify the target department and ensure that it is the correct one (for example, is Health Canada the agency responsible for developing Canada’s Food Guide?)
• Ask for specific records related to a specific time period. What submissions were made concerning Canada’s Food Guide? Were internal studies conducted? Focus groups? What costs were involved?
• File your request (this costs $5 federally in Canada), and indicate you want to be contacted when the request is received.
• Be persistent and monitor progress. Has the agency gone to the appropriate branches? What’s delaying the response? Why are fees so high? Keep a log of the service you receive.
• Check what’s been received. Why is the correspondence, from the food industry missing? The exemptions that prevented the release of documents on policy advice or commercial confidentiality need an explanation.
• Review whether you need to appeal. If crucial data are withheld, seek help from the Information Commissioner.
• Don’t stop there. Ask for further details, and then publicize the information you have received – or the failure of the agency to provide it.
• Remember, what it takes to engage in access is a curiosity with a good dose of persistency. Keep fine tuning your information seeking skills and don’t stop going after essential data you need.