OTTAWA - It's been said the wheels of justice turn slowly, and a new look at Canada's creaky access-to-information system appears to bear that out.
According to data collected as part of a Liberal question in the House of Commons, Justice Canada is the federal department with the longest-running active access-to-information request -- an unfulfilled inquiry that dates back more than six years.
Under the Access to Information Act passed by Parliament, departments are supposed to respond to requests for government records within 30 days, although in practice long delays have become routine.
Liberal MP David McGuinty placed a question on the House of Commons order paper seeking a list of the five oldest access requests in each government department, agency and commission.
Justice Canada, with two outstanding requests from 2009 including one from Jan. 23 that year, was the lead laggard -- but hardly alone in having a docket of very slow responses.
Environment Canada, Finance, Health, Public Works, Parks Canada and the Privy Council Office -- the bureaucrats who support the Prime Minister's Office and cabinet -- all show active access requests dating back to 2010, more than a year before the last federal election.
