By 1982, twelve countries, including France, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the U.S. (1966), had enacted modern ATI legislation.
In 1998, the government would append a clause to the Access Act, making it a federal offence to destroy, falsify, or conceal public documents.
[2] In August 2000, the Ministry of Justice and the president of the Treasury Board launched a task force to review the Access Act.
Université de Moncton professor Donald Savoie’s 2003 book, Breaking the Bargain, argues that in Canada there is a reluctance to put anything in writing, including e-mail, that might find its way into public discourse.
[4] In April 2005, the Justice Minister Irwin Cotler introduced a discussion paper entitled A Comprehensive Framework for Access to Information Reform.
"[7] In September 2008, a 393-page report sponsored by several Canadian newspaper groups, compared Canada's Access to Information Act to the FOI laws of the provinces and of 68 other nations titled: Fallen Behind: Canada's Access to Information Act in the World Context.
Library and Archives Canada has been criticized for requiring waiting periods of as much as 80 years to access some files.