Federal archives now available online, even without translation

Photo: Sean Kilpatrick La Presse canadienne Bibliothèque et Archives Canada (BAC), à Ottawa

The federal government is becoming a little more transparent with the publication on the Web of access to information requests made to Library and Archives Canada, overlooking the issue of translation, which seems to prevent other departments from doing the same.

What do the intelligence reports on the Quebec Liberation Front, the plan for former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's official visit to China and instructions for piloting a Chinook helicopter ?

These documents, written in English, are part of the 1013 old requests for access to information that the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) uploaded it to its website this summer. The institution is giving itself until next April to make accessible a total of 2.5 million pages that were requested over the last decade.

With the exception of the National Capital Commission and CBC/Radio-Canada, no other federal institution automatically makes available online the documents it has had to produce in accordance with the Access to Information Act. Yet this is common practice in the Quebec government.

2.5 million This is the number of pages requested through access to information that should be made available on the Web next April by Library and Archives Canada.

“I think it’s a wonderful initiative that advances the public interest, transparency and accountability by government,” says law professor Matt Malone of Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia.

According to the specialist in the access to information system in Canada, federal departments have until now taken refuge behind the argument of respect for official languages ​​in order not to massively disclose the documents they produce. The overwhelming majority of the federal government's internal paperwork is written in English.

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“This undermines support for bilingualism, in my opinion, because this justification creates the perception that language laws are used against transparency”, denounces Mr. Malone.

Evolution on translation

A briefing note obtained by the Globe and Mailin 2022 shows that the Treasury Board Secretariat, the department responsible for the proper functioning of the access to information system, believes that the law requires it to have all these documents translated before publishing them on the Web. Since these are millions of pages, the process would be too costly.

However, at a time when LAC has become the third federal institution to provide access to the content of its archives in their original language, the federal official languages ​​watchdog is no longer as ardently denouncing the practice of proactive disclosure.

Asked about this by Le Devoir for the first time, in July 2023,The Commissioner of Official Languages, Raymond Théberge, had categorically ruled: information on the Internet must always be offered in both official languages. “Individuals have the right to receive services from federal institutions in the official language of their choice. We can therefore expect that the federal institution will provide services and communications in both official languages ​​when it engages in activities that are made available to the general public,” a spokesperson had specified.

Questioned a second time on this principle, a year later, the Office of the Commissioner indicated that it had since opened two investigations concerning the absence of an official language in access to information requests published on the Web, which prevents it from commenting on the matter.

In an email, Library and Archives Canada speaks of a “delicate balance” to be struck between improving access to archives and respecting the original documents. “Ensuring access to government documents is the basis of a modern, functioning democracy and is an integral part of LAC’s mandate. »

Welcome

French-speaking Internet users are not infringed on their rights , even if internal documents or archives are published on the Web in English, believes Pierre Trudel, professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Montreal and specialist in the right to information.

“The most tiring thing is to see the [Official Languages] Act being used as a pretext. In other cases, public servants use the principle of privacy to avoid responding to requests for access to information. Laws designed to defend people's rights are used to maintain the darkness. »

According to Mr. Trudel, institutions could make these documents available and consider translations on a case-by-case basis if requested.

The Information Commissioner of Canada , Caroline Maynard, did not wish to comment on the question of respect for official languages, but specified that she “applauds and encourages” the BAC initiative, which “strengthens the confidence of citizens in their government and reduces the pressure on the information access system”.