Canada’s information watchdog is launching an investigation into the “muzzling” of government scientists, a wide-reaching probe that will cover six different federal departments.

The University of Victoria Environmental Law Centre and the non-partisan Democracy Watch had asked Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault to examine “systematic efforts by the government of Canada to obstruct the right of the media — and through them, the Canadian public — to timely access to government scientists.”

Their request specifically named Environment Canada, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Natural Resources Canada, the National Research Council and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Legault’s office wrote last Friday to approve the investigation under the Access to Information Act — and to add another department to the complaint, the Treasury Board Secretariat.

“It’s clear that this will be a systemic investigation, which makes it very unique and important,” said Chris Tollefson, executive director of the law centre.

The bulk of complaints sent before the federal information commissioner relate to individual record requests, Tollefson added.

Probes framed as broadly as this are much rarer.

The original request was accompanied by a 128-page report written by law student Clayton Greenwood detailing numerous incidents when the media has been thwarted when trying to speak to Canadian government scientists about their work.

In one high-profile case from 2011, fisheries scientist Kristi Miller published a study in the journal Nature on salmon population decline in the Fraser River, a highly politicized topic in British Columbia. She was not granted approval to give interviews on the subject until eight months later, which bureaucrats justified by saying Miller was to testify at a commission into the salmon decline.

After that incident and another involving ozone research by Environment Canada scientist David Tarasick, Nature published an editorial claiming that the Canadian government had moved backwards when it came to scientists’ freedom to speak with the press.

The role of the commissioner is to provide “arms-length oversight” of the government’s access-to-information policies. The office cannot make orders, but can refer unresolved disputes to federal court.

“The office is set up to spotlight issues of concern around the administration and compliance with the law, so I expect that at the end of the day, she will make findings and shine her spotlight where it’s appropriate,” Tollefson said.

A spokesperson for Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology, provided this statement on Monday:

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“Government scientists and experts are readily available to share their research with the media and the public. Last year, Environment Canada participated in more than 1,300 media interviews, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada issued nearly 1,000 scientific publications, and Natural Resources Canada published nearly 500 studies.”

Besides Nature, other international media outlets have also drawn attention to the controversy, including The Economist magazine and the Guardian newspaper. The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, the union that represents most federal scientists, has condemned the restrictions placed on their members.