Brokering Access: Power, Politics, and Freedom of Information Process in Canada

Access to information (ATI) is widely regarded as a fundamental democratic right. Yet in Canada there still exists a struggle between the public's quest for accountability and our government's culture of secrecy. Drawing together the perspectives of social scientists, journalists, and ATI advocates, Brokering Access explores the policies and practices surrounding access to information at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels. This groundbreaking volume is the first of its kind to promote the idea that ATI should be used as a critical research strategy. It is a vital resource for scholars, policy makers, journalists, and anyone who is concerned about access to information and its effect on all Canadians.

Foreword / Ann Cavoukian

Introduction: On the Politics of Access to Information / Mike Larsen and Kevin Walby

Part 1: Access to Information, Past and Present

1 Sustaining Secrecy: Executive Branch Resistance to Access to Information in Canada / Ann Rees

2 Access Regimes: Provincial Freedom of Information Law across Canada / Gary Dickson

Part 2: Behind Closed Doors -- Security and Information Control

3 Flying the Secret Skies: Difficulties in Obtaining Data on Canadian Airport Security Screening Tests Following 9/11 / Jim Bronskill

4 Access to Information in an Age of Intelligencized Governmentality / Willem de Lint and Reem Bahdi

5 Accessing Dirty Data: Methodological Strategies for Social Problems Research / Yavar Hameed and Jeff Monaghan

Part 3: Access to Information and Critical Research Strategies

6 The Freedom of Information Act as a Methodological Tool: Suing the Government for Data / Matthew G. Yeager

7 "He who controls the present, controls the past": The Canadian Security State's Imperfect Censorship under the Access to Information Act / Steve Hewitt

8 Behind the Blue Line: Using ATI in Researching the Policing of Aboriginal Activism / Tia Dafnos

9 Accessing the State of Imprisonment in Canada: Information Barriers and Negotiation Strategies
/ Justin Piche

10 Accessing Information on Streetscape Video Surveillance in Canada / Sean P. Hier

Part 4: Dispatches from the Fourth Estate -- Access to Information and Investigative Journalism

11 Access, Administration, and Democratic Intent / Fred Vallance-Jones

12 Access to Information: The Frustrations -- and the Hope / David McKie

13 The Quest for Electronic Data: Where Alice Meets Monty Python Meets Colonel Jessep / Jim Rankin

Postscript / Suzanne Legault

Index