SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The territory remains one of four jurisdictions across the country that still limits citizen access to records created using taxpayer dollars by municipalities, despite more than a decade of calls to reform the law.

The 33 community governments aren't covered by the territorial Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act which gives anyone the ability to request documents, e-mails or other records.

The territorial legislation sets out that government records are inherently public with exemptions to protect personal information or security. Yukon, Nunavut and Prince Edward Island are the other jurisdictions that still restrict access to municipal records.

Information and Privacy Commissioner Elaine Keenan Bengts and the legislative assembly's Standing Committee on Government Operations have repeatedly recommended the GNWT review the legislation passed in 1994 to take into account new privacy concerns, new technology and expanding it to cover municipalities.

"It is frustrating, to say the least, when year after year, these recommendations remain largely unaddressed," Keenan Bengts stated in her 2010-2011 annual report.

On the municipal aspect, she said "This is one of the recommendations I think I've made every year since I took office (in 1997)."

Mayor Mark Heyck said he's in favour of the law expanding to cover the city.

"Certainly we're keen and interested to see the principle of access to information applied," he said in an interview earlier this year.

The mayor said the city already posts lots of records residents might commonly seek on its website.

"I would say it's quite open," Heyck said. "I rarely hear of times when requests for documentation are turned away."

But the legislation can be used to uncover records governments don't self-disclose. Want to know what's being written in e-mails among staff about delays or the cost of a city project? File a request with a small fee in most provinces and about a month later, the records deemed releasable, embarrassing or not, would be provided.

Tom Henheffer, executive director for the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, said it's not acceptable to have a level of government not covered. The group he represents advocates for improved access to information and for free expression.

"Every level of government needs to be covered by access to information laws because it's the only way to hold government accountable, to ensure that there isn't corruption," Henheffer said. "Sunlight is the only antidote to corruption and access to information laws are the way to ensure that sunlight can reach into government at every level."

The territorial law forces the GNWT to respond within 30 days, though there's provisions allowing for "reasonable" extensions. The GNWT received 810 access requests in the 2012-2013 fiscal year, the last year data on the number of requests filed was available.

The territory is among the most expensive jurisdictions to simply file an access request, at $25 each. Additional charges could be levied depending on the work the department processing the request has to carry out. Several provinces have made requests free to file, including both the provinces of New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.

It costs $5 to file a request with the federal government under national legislation.

Last year, community governments across the territory were asked by the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs to respond to questions about potentially coming under the access law, referred to as ATIPP.

After being denied copies of the responses by the GNWT, Northern News Services used the law to request the replies, at a cost of $25. It took the department 78 days to supply 17 pages.

Despite community governments and the GNWT being public institutions, department spokesman David Maguire said the GNWT had to first consult with those that responded to see if they'd be OK with the information being released.

Only six of 33 communities responded initially to the GNWT survey. Yellowknife was not among them. The documents released show concerns about the cost to communities of responding to requests and added workload it could create in offices with a small staff.

As well, some communities reported they didn't have an easily searchable file system, which would make potential requests for information harder to fulfill.

In 2007, according to a document sent to local governments last year, an analysis by the department indicated community governments would be faced with "significant challenges relating to cost, capacity and administration."

Because of the low response rate to the initial survey, the department carried out personal interviews with senior community government staff to get more responses. That input was expected to be included in a report prior to the November election.

Tom Williams, the deputy minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, said in an interview the holdup to expanding the legislation has been the challenges communities could face.

"I think everyone does recognize the importance of transparency," Williams said.

He suggested any move to expand the law could see a phased approach, such as having the city come under the law first and then expanding out to regional centres before the rest of the communities.

Training would be provided to staff responsible for dealing with access requests if the law were to expand, he said.

In 2012, the province of New Brunswick's right to information law expanded to cover municipalities, universities and local boards.

Judy Wilson-Shee, the mayor of New Maryland, was one of those who expressed fears that year of the workload the legislation could create for the small staff in the office.

In an interview with Yellowknifer this year, she said her fears were justified by a request from a law firm the village of about 4,200 people received late in 2014. The request required many hours of work by a village employee reviewing more than 2,200 pages of records and cost the village more than $3,000 in legal fees because of potential litigation, she said.

She's not opposed to the idea of openness the legislation brings.

"Our main concern is the cost," Wilson-Shee said. "If this went on on a monthly basis it would drain us. It's very time-consuming and we are not compensated in any way."

The Liberal government in that province is now eying the possibility of charging fees for information requests to dissuade "frivolous" requests that have reportedly been filed.