Canadians can now go online and see one of the first milestones of the new Access to Information Act, which was recently amended to make the federal government more open to the public it serves.
As of July 30, 2019, the titles of more than 2,200 memoranda received by ministers and deputy ministers in June 2019 are posted on the Open Government Portal. The titles are searchable, including by date, organization and keyword. If you happen to see a title that sparks your interest, you can make an access to information request for the original documents.
This is just the start of what will be an ever-expanding database. At the end of every month, you will be able to see the list of titles of memoranda that ministers or deputy ministers received in the previous month.
I invite you to explore the site – the list of thousands of titles is an important resource that provides a window on the pace and scope of activity in the federal government.
It is important to keep in mind that briefing note titles may be partially or fully redacted in accordance with the legislation; for example, if the titles contain information related to national security, personal information, or Cabinet confidences. Learn more about exemptions and exclusions on the Justice Laws Website.
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat is leading this initiative, and we will continue to work with federal departments to refine this online resource for Canadians.
We welcome your feedback on this new initiative as we take these steps towards more open and transparent government.
Ruth Naylor
Executive Director
Ruth Naylor is Executive Director, Information and Privacy Policy Division at Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, responsible for policies and guidance on access to information and privacy protection across the federal government.
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The excellent notice “Guide…
Submitted by Patrice-Emmanu… on January 12, 2020 - 11:17 AM
The excellent notice “Guide for Using Open Source Software” (https://www.canada.ca/en/government/system/digital-government/open-sour… ) was read with interest.
It categorises the European Union Public Licence (EUPL) as a reciprocal licence (which is right) and even as a “strong reciprocal licence”.
Under this point “strong reciprocal licences”, some additional remarks would be welcome:
The theory of “strong reciprocity” is mainly promoted by the FSF, which argues that linking software covered by the GPL or AGPL with other works extends the license coverage to the whole combination. This has been compared with a kind of “viral effect”.
This is not at all the opinion of Lawrence Rosen (author of the OSL) and of the European Commission (author of the EUPL): for those, the covered software can be freely reused or combined with other programs without impacting their licensing conditions. Only the re-distribution of functional modifications to the specific covered software are reciprocal. In addition, the EUPL is compatible with a list of other reciprocal licences. According to the European law, the parts of software code that are needed for linking or for ensuring interoperability benefit from a copyright exception and may be reproduced without restrictions.
Contact: patrice-emmanuel.schmitz@ext.ec.europa.eu