Province lowers access to information fees

The province Friday announced it is lowering the application fee for Freedom of Information Act requests from $25 to $5, thereby matching the fee for federal access to information requests. Until now, Nova Scotia had among the highest fees in North America.

The high fee was a barrier for many people needing to access their own records, or to request information needed to be an engaged citizen. Even at the high level, 950 applications were filed last year; that number is sure to surge with the lower accessible fee.

This is a huge victory for the Right to Know Coalition of Nova Scotia, which has been working tirelessly to improve implementation of the Freedom of Information Act.

For more information on the importance of a working access to information law, see my article, “Public secrets.”

Related Stories

Expert: Halifax sewage plant decision violates freedom of information laws

The public has a right to see report, says Darce Fardy

How to keep the public out of the public’s business

Public secrets

Freedom of Information law gives you the right to get government information. Good luck accessing that. Here’s the trouble with Nova Scotia’s rules of silence.

Nova Scotia is missing core privacy protections

And other findings from the FOIPOP review officer’s report.

This article appears in Aug 13-19, 2009.