RTKNS AGM President's Report 2008

Annual General Meeting

Right to Know Coalition of Nova Scotia

(July 15, 2008)

President's Report

Since our last general meeting we have confirmed what we expected. It is not an easy task to get our Nova Scotian citizens interested in encouraging government openness and accountability through the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. At the same time our Board agrees it is a task worth pursuing.

Politicians and others express their concern about the lack of civic engagement across the country. Our RTK coalition recognizes there are many causes but what surprises us is that we appear to be alone in identifying government secrecy and lack of accountability as one of those causes and a major one at that. We have pressed that point in public addresses, meetings with politicians and citizen groups and on our website.

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We have had a significant achievement over the past year thanks to our Secretary Treasurer Brian Awad, a Halifax lawyer. In my last report I told you we had decided to seek the permission of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia to intervene in a freedom of information case involving one of the province's major regional development authorities. The South West Regional Development Authority rejected an application for records and told the applicant that the Authority was not subject to the Nova Scotia Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The coalition took a different view and asked for an opportunity to express this view in Court. During the hearing the Judge recognized that our coalition was an expert on the subject we wanted to address in our request for intervention. We were granted the Court's permission. We are not taking sides in the case itself.

The case will be heard on August 7, 2008. Brian will again represent our coalition. I believe we have reason to be confident we will make our case successfully.

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We are severely limited in what we would like to do throughout the province by a lack of funds. We have not been able to attract stable funding. The coalition needs to find someone with expertise in that area to join us. Until then we will be unable to accept invitations like the one I received as President of RTKNS to participate in a Public Policy Forum Workshop on modernizing access to information legislation in Ottawa in June.

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We are fortunate to have several volunteers giving their time to the cause. Indranil Dutta looks after the books, and Joanna Porter helps with events organization. Particular thanks goes to Greg Pemberton for his wonderful work on the website. It is all his.

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The Coalition held a second Right to Know Week forum in September. A guesstimate of 200 people turned out to hear the Deputy Halifax Police Chief speak on access to police records; three King's College Journalism students interview politicians on their views of our freedom of information legislation; and a debate between journalist/author Stephen Kimber and a former deputy minister of justice, Doug Keefe.

In May 2008, I joined the federal information commissioner to speak to a gathering of Nova Scotia public servants about their responsibilities under access legislation.

Also in May, at the annual Atlantic Journalism meeting, I joined a panel discussion on freedom of information with Peter Haggert, the Editor of the Daily Gleaner in Fredericton, NB; Jacques Poitras of CBC Fredericton, the same Doug Keefe and Linden MacIntyre of the CBC's The Fifth Estate.

I also spoke with a Halifax citizen action committee which wanted to learn more about how to get information from the municipality.

The coalition is now preparing a submission to Nova Scotia Select Committee on Participation in the Democratic Process. This coincides with the province's celebration of 250 years of democracy in Nova Scotia. The select committee's website encouraging citizen participation in the hearings included a letter I had written to the Premier of Nova Scotia expressing the coalition's interest in participating in any efforts to promote "Voter Engagement and Participation."

Throughout the year I was contacted by several dozen people, including journalists, for advice on filing freedom of information applications.

Thank you for your interest.

Darce Fardy

President

Right to Know Coalition of Nova Scotia