The Coordination of Access to Information Requests System, also known as CAIRS, was a database of
freedom of information
Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and consume information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. This sometimes includes "scientific, Indigeno ...
requests made to the
federal government of Canada
The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-in- ...
under the ''
Access to Information Act
Access may refer to:
Companies and organizations
* ACCESS (Australia), an Australian youth network
* Access (credit card), a former credit card in the United Kingdom
* Access Co., a Japanese software company
* Access Healthcare, an Indian BPO s ...
''.
It was operated by the
Department of Public Works and Government Services. It was created in 1989 to internally track requests,
and eventually allowed for access to previously filed requests, previously released documents, and then current requests.
By 2008, millions of documents had been made available through CAIRS.
In 2001, Public Works spent
Can$
The Canadian dollar (symbol: $; code: CAD; french: dollar canadien) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, there is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviation Can$ is often suggested by notable style ...
166,000 upgrading the system.
Effective April 1, 2008, the
Treasury Board
The Treasury Board of Canada (french: Conseil du Trésor du Canada) is the Cabinet committee of the Privy Council of Canada which oversees the spending and operation of the Government of Canada and is the principal employer of the core public se ...
has stated that "the requirement to update CAIRS is no longer in effect".
The database was shut down due to high maintenance costs and its inefficiency, as stated by the Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Vic Toews
Victor Toews (; born September 10, 1952) is a Paraguayan-Canadian politician and jurist. Toews is a judge of the Court of King's Bench of Manitoba. He represented Provencher in the House of Commons of Canada from 2000 until his resignation on ...
described the system as a tool used to inhibit freedom of information:
If anyone made a request that was considered sensitive, the request was shipped to the appropriate Liberal minister. At that point the Liberal minister would manage, control or delay the request. That was the purpose of the system. That is a pretty convenient system the Liberals had, but it is not one that the government will continue with.
In response,
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
Leader of the Opposition Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Maurice Dion (born 28 September 1955) is a Canadian diplomat, academic and former politician who has been the Canadian ambassador to France and Monaco since 2022 and special envoy to the European Union since 2017. Dion was Leader of ...
described Harper's government as "the most secretive government in the history of our country."
While the government cited
Alastair Roberts, a
Syracuse University political scientist
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
, as a critic of CAIRS,
Roberts publicly commented that he was not in favour of shutting down the system, saying "They really don't care what I think about CAIRS or any other aspect of ATI
ccess to information..
they did they would have taken my advice about CAIRS a few years ago when I said they ought to switch on the capacity to make the entire thing publicly accessible."
A reproduction of CAIRS was developed and made publicly available by Alasdair Roberts.
Roberts acquired digital "monthly reports" from the Treasury Board of the "requests" made through the CAIRS.
In July 2004, the reports were scanned and subsequently sent to Roberts in PDF format.
The reports were unusable due to the lack of capacity to search the document, therefore rendering Roberts' database ineffective.
Notes
External links
Online Democracy- a database created using monthly CAIRS reports
1989 establishments in Canada
2008 disestablishments in Canada
Federal departments and agencies of Canada
Freedom of information legislation in Canada
Government databases in Canada
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