2025 Code of Silence Federal Award Winner
June 16, 2026
Canada’s federal government …back-to-back
Canada’s federal government has once again been selected as this year’s recipient of the federal Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievements in Government Secrecy after statistics showed federal institutions delivered the worst on-time performance ever for timely response to access to information requests in 2024-2025.
According to the Treasury Board Secretariat’s annual Access to Information and Privacy statistical report, more than 35 per cent of all requests were delivered after legislated deadlines during Ottawa’s 2024-2025 fiscal year. That is the lowest rate of completion based on published government-wide statistics.
“These statistics, which are used to assess the Government of Canada’s own performance, paint an absolutely abysmal picture about the current state of access to information in Canada,” said Brent Jolly, president of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ).
“Despite pouring record amounts of money into the system, and countless promises of reform, the system continues to decline.”
The percentage of requests responded to within legislated timelines has dropped precipitously over the past decade. In 2014-2015, for example, about 82 per cent of requests received responses on time. By 2023-2024, about 70 per cent of requests received responses in line with legislated timelines.
Last year, The Globe and Mail reported that the federal government had launched another internal review of its access to information law. The last review of the law began in 2020. That review took longer than promised to complete and delivered no recommendations for improvement or reform.
“Access delayed is access denied,” Jolly said.
In addition to recognizing the federal government’s disreputable progress on access to information, this year’s Code of Silence Award jury also bestowed dis-honourable mention on two other federal agencies.
Library and Archives Canada is being recognized after it declined to release a 40-year-old list of suspected Nazis admitted to Canada after the Second World War. The agency refused to release the list of 700 names, claiming it could interfere with international relations.
The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages was also awarded a dis-honourable mention after a ruling effectively shut down transparency projects at both the National Capital Commission and the CBC.
The commissioner ruled that the proactive posting of documents must include translations into the other official language, thereby halting the much-needed public sharing of records released under the access to information law.
The Code of Silence Awards are presented annually by the CAJ, the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University (CFE), and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE). The awards call public attention to government or publicly-funded agencies that work hard to hide information to which the public has a right to under access to information legislation.
Last year, Canada’s federal government was recognized as the federal Code of Silence winner for its continued efforts to fight Indigenous groups seeking access to records about residential schools.
The remaining 2025 Code of Silence Awards will be handed out bi-weekly. This year’s winner in the provincial category can be viewed here.
