by Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Oct 20/97) - The introduction of an access to information law last year gave Northerners a better idea of what they are entitled to know, but also specifies what they aren't.

That hasn't been a big problem since the act came into effect last summer, according to access to information and protection of privacy commissioner Elaine Keenan Bengts.

Approximately 100 requests have been made under the act since it was introduced last summer, said Keenan Bengts. Of those, she has reviewed only five or 10, "most of which have resolved themselves," she said.

Requests for information go first to the government body or department with the information. If the applicant is not satisfied with the department's response, a review can be requested.

"In one instance somebody had requested information and they weren't satisfied they had got all the information," said Keenan Bengts.

"So I trotted on down to the department and looked through their files. I suggested to them before I made a decision they may want to look again. The reply the individual got after that was much more thorough."

The list of information that is excepted from public access forms one of the longest part of the act.

"There is a very lengthy and, frankly, somewhat complicated list of what information can and can't be accessed, and what is within the discretion of the minister or the department to release it or not," noted Keenan Bengts.

One body the Information and Protection of Privacy Act gives almost total protection is territorial cabinet.

Under the act, cabinet information contained in agendas, meeting minutes, option papers, and memos remain private for 15 years from the time they are produced.

Cabinet confidences area a parliamentary tradition, but cabinets in different parts of Canada enjoy different levels of protection.

In the Yukon, for example, background information, explanations and analyses upon which cabinet decisions are based become public as soon as the decisions that flow from them are made public or implemented. Otherwise, the time limit is five years.

While the rules applying to cabinet are unlikely to change, the Department of Justice plans to bring more government bodies under the act.

"The plan is to gradually bring them under," said Gerry Sutton, director of planning and policy for the Justice Department. "The most recent plan is to have the health and education boards covered by the act by the summer of '98."

Sutton added there are no plans at this time to apply the act to municipal governments.

Decisions of access to information commissioners in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario are binding on the government.

But in the territories and all other provinces, decisions of the commissioners are in the form of recommendations to the government. If the government chooses not to abide by the recommendations, its decision can be challenged in the NWT Supreme Court.