Toronto, May 8, 2024 /CNW/ – Canada's The Department of Defense has been selected as the 2023 recipient of the Federal Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrets. This is in recognition of the fact that it took three years to obtain an access request from a government agency. Ottawa Researchers asked about the cost of Canada's controversial plan to build new warships.
parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux We have estimated the cost to taxpayers of a shipbuilding contract that will see 15 new warships built for the Royal Canadian Navy. Canadian surface combatant programwill be about $84 billion. According to the data cited in January 2024 Story published by citizen of ottawa, The project is currently behind schedule and has incurred significant cost overruns.
“Even though this project is still in dry dock at Irving Shipyard, it already feels like a sunk project in terms of accountability and transparency,” he said. brent jollyPresident of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ).
“Misleading journalists and returning 1,700 pages of censored documents to researchers who asked simple questions is Kafkaesque and indefensible. It shows an egregious level of disrespect for the right to know what is going on.”
As the Citizen article points out, Public Services and Procurement Canada says that companies interested in maintenance work on the Canadian Surface Combatant Program cannot speak to journalists and instead refer all inquiries to the department. I was instructed to do so. The directive was changed after the Citizen newspaper began reporting on so-called “gag orders.”
In addition to issues with the lack of basic information disclosure related to Canada's surface combatant program, Code of Silence Award judges cited the Pentagon's penchant for secrecy, giving it another interesting entry. Also noticed.
The filing details how it took the department three years to complete a request for information under the Access to Information Act regarding a “hoax memo” that sparked public fears that wolves were being released into the woods near Annapolis. was focused. Valley, New South Wales2020.
A CBC News article about the release of the 1,500-page document states:Leaked “Wolf Letter'' embarrasses military, revealed by internal email. ”
This year's jury also hopes to award a dishonorable mention to the federal Cabinet Office for working with the Australian government to secretly violate the 2003 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
According to a report from british guardian, ministerial records show that the Australian government sought to water down the wording of the declaration from “self-determination” to “self-management”. Amendments were similarly advanced without consultation with Indigenous peoples.
“It's a shame that Canadians have to rely on documents held by other countries to understand what decisions our government has made regarding important files, such as the First Nations file,” Joly said. It's an international embarrassment.”
“when Canada The abandonment of active disclosure of Cabinet records in the 1980s sent us back to the Stone Age in terms of transparency. This was a thoughtless decision at the time and continues to violate our collective right to know every day. ”
The Code of Silence Award is held every year. C.A.J.Free Expression Center Toronto Capital University (CFE), and Canadian Journalists for Freedom of Expression (CJFE). This award calls the public's attention to governments or public funding agencies that are working hard to conceal information that the public has a right to access under the Information Act.
last year, Canada Border Services Agency As a federal winner for failing to disclose basic information about how the cost to taxpayers of the controversial ArriveCan app ballooned beyond the numbers disclosed in the original public cost estimate. Admitted.
The remaining 2023 Code of Silence Awards will be distributed biweekly. This year's provincial winners will be announced the following day. May 22nd.
CAJ is Canada's It is the nation's largest professional organization for journalists of all media and represents members across the country. CAJ's primary role is to provide quality professional development to its members and support public interest activities.
Source Canadian Journalists Association
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