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TI-Canada's Comments on Open Government Strategy

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The Open Government Team within the Government of Canada announced their latest step in the creation of a National Action Plan. This latest step involves gathering feedback and reactions on five draft commitments that are intended to make up the National Action Plan, including:  

  • Climate change and sustainable growth; 

  • Combatting disinformation and safeguarding elections; 

  • Financial and corporate transparency; 

  • Justice; and 

  • Open data for results 

As part of this step, Transparency International Canada provided comments specific to the Justice draft commitment (see below). TI-Canada's comments fall under the draft commitment's respective milestones and indicators. These comments were drawn from recommendations from Transparency International’s global “Exporting Corruption 2020” report, which highlights actionable steps for improving transparency in Canada’s justice system.

If you are interested in providing your feedback, click here to access the draft commitment and provide your comments by July 19th. The Open Government Team will continue soliciting public feedback for the remaining draft commitments until August 20th.

Transparency International Canada Comments on Open Government: Justice Draft - Commitments

Milestone #3: Advancing legal literacy and empowerment 

3.6 Communications activities to support legal literacy  

TI-Canada's Comment: The 2020 “Exporting Corruption” report from Transparency International recommends increasing transparency about how prosecutors evaluate the public-interest criteria when assessing whether it is appropriate to invite an organisation to negotiate a remediation agreement. Communication activities should include educating Canadians on what measures are being taken to evaluate public-interest criteria in the justice system. 

Milestone #4: Fostering Partnerships and Collaboration to Advance Access to Justice 

4.1 Work in concert with provincial and territorial partners (ongoing) 

TI-Canada's Comment: Anti-corruption advocates have recommended providing more resources to police departments dedicated to combatting corruption. Justice Canada and the RCMP should strongly consider incorporating anti-corruption strategies into its partnerships to advance access to justice.  

Milestone #5: A multi-year roadmap for Open Government at the RCMP 

5.2 Establish an Open Government Office with resources dedicated to openness and transparency across the RCMP 

TI-Canada's Comment: The 2020 “Exporting Corruption” report from Transparency International recommends increasing transparency of court decisions in Canada, preferably via a central agency. Justice Canada and the RCMP should develop this roadmap with a clear vision for providing data on legal measures addressing corporate corruption.  

5.3 Establish an RCMP Open Government Working Group comprised of key stakeholders across the RCMP to identify and release data and information as well as advance a culture of openness, transparency and accountability based on open government principles and practices (ongoing) 

TI-Canada's Comment: Global transparency watchdogs have recommended Canada create a publicly accessible centralised register of beneficial ownership information. The RCMP and Justice Canada should strongly consider integrating Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (the potential operators of this registry) into this working group.