Managed Message: The Culture of Secrecy in Ottawa

There is a lot we do not see or hear about that takes place in the day-to-day operations of the government. We, as the general public, unless actively involved in conspiracy theory and hacking, receive our general information from the media and maybe a few other sources. As such, the information we often receive is the sensationalized stories of outlandish behaviour on the part of the federal government. We hear about how Harper was paying an image consultant (I’ll refrain from any comment as to why this might be). And, of course, there was the Sponsorship Scandal which was brought to the forefront of the public eye when the Globe and Mail, making use of the Access to Information Act, asked for invoices vis-à-vis the apparent payment to an advertising firm, Groupaction Marketing.

Thanks, in part, to such established legislature as the Access to Information Act, the public has the right to request and view any information produced by the governing body that is in the retention of the federal government and subsequently the National Archives of Canada. Thus, the Globe and Mail opened up the proverbial can of worms when they asked for the invoices which led to the Auditor-General’s inquiry into the payments… well, you know the rest.

Sure, the media can often lack a poignant focus. Governing bodies have been embedded in a culture of secrecy for centuries now to avoid members of the media gaining access to information that may paint those in office in a bad light. However sensationalized a story may be, though, just scratching the surface can often result in further inquiry. It’s this deeper scrutiny that many talented journalists do that leads to the more important issues.

However, although such tools as the Access to Information Act, the openness of the Archives as a public domain, and the Accountability Act attempt to create a transparent and accountable government, the reality is we only see what is produced, and even then, what is produced is often only torn away from kicking and screaming public servants. Some would argue that this is a direct result of the attempt to make government more transparent – servants fear that they are losing the anonymity that is involved in operations of governance. Regardless, what is happening is a depreciating respect for the Archives as the national retainer of the collective memory of governance and a growing resistance from the federal government to give more power to the people. By this I mean: the more transparent and accountable the government is, the more knowledgeable we as an electorate become and therefore the more power we wield in deciding who will represent us and how we will be represented.

The federal government, with its myriad of departments and agencies, in the ever-growing world of e-government, is lacking the proper information management to document and manage the day-to-day operations of governance. In the higher departments and especially at the cabinet level, there is an increasing use of oral decision making and the use of personal email accounts to avoid paper trails of decisions and operations that could be potentially viewed by any member of the public. Resisting the Archives, which can potentially house information that may be used to evidence poor decisions made by the government, those in control of the creation of records are deeming these documents sensitive, regardless of its merit, or are simply not documenting actions and decisions to avoid the stain of bad governance.

This is not the ranting of a conspiracy theorist nor am I describing the emergence of a dictatorship on Parliament Hill. However, the withholding of information based on faulty or skewed interpretations of ‘sensitive’ materials or the simple absence of documentation threatens public security, health, the environment and the values and fundamentals of our social fabric as a democratic nation. Stronger information management led by the Archivist of Canada can result in the efficient and effective management of the records produced everyday. Tools such as the Access to Information Act provide us with evidence of the actions taking place within government and theoretically, when documents are missing, note is taken (re: Sponsorship Scandal). We must, as a society, ensure that those in power are creating records rather than avoiding them for fear of public scrutiny. Only a transparent government can truly reflect the ideals of our nation.

This involves a strong faith in the role of the professional archivist. At the national level, the archivist appraises the information coming from the federal government. What is kept will reflect the national memory. If the creator – the federal government – is manipulating or simply not creating information, they are producing a managed message that can have detrimental effects on the history and social memory of Canada.

References and further reading:
Speeches by Ian E. Wilson, Librarian and Archivist of Canada: http://www.collectionscanada.ca/about-us/012-210-e.html

Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada, Annual Reports: http://www.infocom.gc.ca/reports/default-e.asp

Office of the Auditor General: http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/domino/other.nsf/html/200406sp01_e.html

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/04/28/account-060428.html
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=65a7e594-a1c7-4990-8087-ade6e0067d6b
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/politics/story.html?id=cf2b9830-7185-4036-bf8e-f164fca973ca&k=7741