The finding comes after a 21-month investigation that examined how the 27 Government of Alberta public bodies are processing access to information requests

The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, Diane McLeod, has issued a report regarding a systemic investigation into the Government of Alberta’s processing of and response to access to information requests. The investigation, launched in August 2023 by the Information and Privacy Commissioner, found that the government has adopted practices and interpretations that are non-compliant with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP Act).

The investigation was in response to a series of access requests refused by all Government of Alberta departments, which are public bodies under the FOIP Act, including requests made by the Globe and Mail, as described in the newspaper’s series of Secret Canada articles.

“This investigation specifically looked into whether the Government of Alberta public bodies’ practice of refusing access requests citing sections 7 and 10(2) of the FOIP Act was appropriate,” said McLeod. “My investigation found that these public bodies are not permitted by sections 7 and 10(2) to refuse access requests and that they contravened their duties to assist under section 10(1) in processing these requests.”

In her report, McLeod gives examples of how the government departments contravened their duties. These non-compliant actions included requiring applicants to limit the number of topics in an access request to one; placing limitations on the timeframe of the search for records; requiring applicants to split requests containing multiple topics into multiple requests; and requiring applicants to structure requests in a way that allowed the requests to be completed within 30 days.

“My report makes a number of recommendations to remedy the non-compliance with the FOIP Act,” said McLeod. “Although it is anticipated that the FOIP Act will be repealed very soon and replaced with the Access to Information Act, my findings and recommendations in this report are in large part still valid under the new legislation. This is because the relevant provisions of the new Act are the same or substantially similar to the provisions of the FOIP Act. For that reason, I expect government public bodies to apply my findings and recommendations to their practices under both the existing and the new legislation.”

On May 8, 2025, the investigation report was sent to heads of the 27 public bodies involved in this investigation.

The report can be viewed on the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) website here.

Through the OIPC, the Information and Privacy Commissioner performs the responsibilities set out in Alberta’s three access to information and privacy laws, the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Health Information Act, and the Personal Information Protection Act.  The Commissioner operates independently of government.