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A lot has changed over the last 30 years. Between an increased capacity for data storage and the speed with which the Internet lets us share that data, the way we manage our lives — and our offices — has completely changed.

I can now scan a document and email it with the same cell phone I use to play Angry Birds. It would be ridiculous to run a 1980s-style office in 2014.

Unless, of course, you’re the federal government.

Canada’s Access to Information Act came into being in 1983. At the time, it was a cutting-edge piece of legislation, giving Canadians brand-new tools to learn what their government was getting up to.

But what was cutting-edge in 1983 hasn’t exactly stood the test of time. Canada’s Access to Information Act has barely been touched since it was first enacted. While the way our government does business has undergone a complete transformation — especially when it comes to handling information — the tools citizens have to monitor that work are hopelessly out of date.

The Centre for Law and Democracy currently ranks Canada’s access to information regime at 57th out of 89. We lag behind Ethiopia, Yemen, and Russia — countries not exactly known for their strong democratic institutions.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. In 2012, the Treasury Board launched its first ‘Open Government’ plan. That initiative was going to make government more transparent and accountable, in part by making more government data available to the public. Since then, Canada has actually dropped in the access to information ratings — from 40th place in 2011, to 55th in September 2012, to 57th now.

In a tragicomic turn of events, the government’s response to its pathetic access to information ranking in 2012 only came out five months after an Access to Information request was submitted to obtain it — four months longer than the 30 day deadline that is supposed to apply in nearly all cases.

Far from being an exception, that kind of delay is actually par for the course on access requests. Canada’s information commissioner, Suzanne Legault, actually took the Department of National Defence to court when it granted itself a three-year extension on an access to information request about sales of surplus military assets to Uruguay.

The Treasury Board issued a directive in 2013 letting political staffers make decisions about whether documents requested from ministers’ offices should be released at all.

The Federal Court ruled that it didn’t have jurisdiction to hear an application for judicial review in the matter. While a three-year delay might be unreasonable, the Access to Information Act doesn’t provide for any real remedy — the information commissioner is basically limited to issuing strongly-worded reports. (The Federal Court’s decision is being appealed.)

To be fair, the government has taken some administrative steps to make it easier for Canadians to get access to information. One useful tool is the Access to Information online portal, which the government launched last year. Yes, it took until 2013 for Canadians to be able to submit access to information requests online — but at least we have an online request form now.

But while the website for the form says the cost of a request is only $5.00, it doesn’t mention the potentially prohibitive fees involved in getting an answer.

For instance, let’s say you want a document that doesn’t exist yet, but could be compiled from existing government data.

You absolutely have the right to access that information — at a cost of $16.50 per minute for the cost of the “central processor,” and $5.00 for every 15 minutes a person spends “programming a computer” to get that information to you. By comparison, photocopies cost 20 cents per page; for non-computerized records, applicants can only be charged once the time spent on the search exceeds five hours.

It’s no wonder, then, that requests for information that should be readily available can end up costing thousands of dollars. After all, how many government offices still print off and compile their data into paper documents?

But let’s say you’re willing to wait, and you’re willing to pay. The government might still try to make an end-run around your request. The Treasury Board issued a directive in 2013 letting political staffers make decisions about whether documents requested from ministers’ offices should be released at all; according to Legault, some departments have not even bothered to review documents before deciding to exclude them from access to information requests.

These problems are not exactly impossible to overcome. Putting a cap on search fees, or waiving them for applications that serve the public interest, would help deal with the cost issue. Stronger penalties for unreasonable delays would lead to more timely disclosure. Oh, and making sure the information commissioner’s office is adequately funded would go a long way, too.

Unfortunately, the second round of Open Government initiatives, released last Thursday, doesn’t include updates to the Access to Information Act. According to Treasury Board president Tony Clement, the Access to Information Act is “a good piece of legislation.”

And so it would be — if we still used typewriters to get things done.

Access to information is a basic requirement for a healthy democracy. We need to know what our government does on our behalf, so that we can hold it accountable. The proactive disclosure touted in the Open Government plan is good, but it isn’t enough.

We need a way to get at the information the government doesn’t want to share — and for that, we need an Access to Information Act with teeth.

Devon Black is studying law at the University of Victoria. In addition to writing for iPolitics, Devon has worked for the Canadian International Development Agency, Leadership Africa USA and RamRais & Partners.

The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.