
This page from the House of Commons Debates Official Report shows the introduction of Bill C-39, NDP MP Barry Mather’s proposed administrative disclosure law. (Image by Library of Parliament)
The history of the Access to Information Act, the law that allows Canadians to obtain internal government records that might otherwise remain secret, isn’t well-known. So, as part of my dissertation research, I’ll be building a detailed timeline of that history – both for my own reference, as well as for those who are interested in the legislation. I’m pleased to share with you my first entry:
April 8, 1965 – New Democrat Barry Mather, a former Vancouver Sun humour columnist, became the first MP to introduce a freedom of information bill in the House of Commons.1Canada, Parliament, House of Commons, Debates, 26th Parl., 3d sess., vol. 1 (1965): 92. The bill didn’t make it to second reading. So we don’t know what Mather would have said about it in the House if it had. But the Canadian Press paraphrased him as saying it was based on similar legislation in the United States, which would become law the following year.2The Canadian Press, “MP Proposes Bill to Make Records Open,” Globe and Mail, April 14, 1965. “This bill is in aid of the public’s right to know in what manner a government is administering the public duties entrusted and delegated to it by the people,” he said. “The bill enacts the basic parliamentary rule that public affairs must be conducted publicly.”3The Canadian Press, “MP Proposes Bill to Make Records Open,” Globe and Mail, April 14, 1965. In an editorial, the Globe and Mail endorsed that legislation, calling on the government to “put its blessings on the bill and ensure its passage.”4Editorial, “It’s is the Public’s Business,” Globe and Mail, April 16, 1965. But it would be another 18 years before the Access to Information Act would come into force.
As the timeline develops, you’ll be able to see the complete version here.