I have just submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Ontario government.
This is a first for me.
The origin of the legislation that put FOIs in place goes back many years. It was part of the Accord adopted following the 1985 election when the NDP agreed to support David Peterson’s Liberals for two years.
The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) legislates access to information held by public institutions in Ontario subject to specific requirements to safeguard the personal information of individuals
Adapting to Climate Change
All governments brag about transparency. The current Ontario government is no exception. In fact, Premier Doug Ford, a chronic embellisher, claims there has never been a government as transparent as his.
So, you could say that my FOI request is a test of that assertion. My interest is getting information on Ontario’s climate change plans. With the country burning this summer, people losing their homes, firefighters being killed and extreme weather events now common one has to wonder what government has planned to respond to such conditions in the future. So that is what my FOI request is about. How does the government plan to adapt to climate change?
There is a bit of a story to this.
A group I’m involved with took some initiative. The Ontario Project of SCAN! (Seniors for Climate Action Now) has members knowledgeable about adaptation strategies. They were aware that the Ford government had done some work on this matter.
In fact, the Ford government has put together major reports on the urgent task of anticipating and reducing the impacts of climate change. In November 2019, the Ontario government appointed an Advisory Panel on Climate Change led by Paul Kovacs, a professor at Western University and an expert in the field of disaster risk reduction. The creation of this panel was no secret. It was announced publicly.
In fact, the Ford government has put together major reports on the urgent task of anticipating and reducing the impacts of climate change. In November 2019, the Ontario government appointed an Advisory Panel on Climate Change led by Paul Kovacs, a professor at Western University and an expert in the field of disaster risk reduction. The creation of this panel was no secret. It was announced publicly.
It seems most of the reporting was completed nearly two years ago. But the reports were kept secret until recently. One of them is now available likely because of public pressure.
This past January, Jennifer Penny, one of our members who previously worked as a climate change adaptation researcher, submitted a FOI request to find out what had happened to this reporting.
“Ontarians want to see these reports! But even more, we want to know what the government is doing to protect us,” says SCAN!’s Jennifer Penney.
She got a response of sorts.
FIPPA: “What is the name of the report?”
Jennifer: “We don’t know. It is being kept secret.”
FIPPA: “What was the date of the report?”
Jennifer: “Don’t know that either. It’s a secret.”
Jennifer: “We don’t know. It is being kept secret.”
FIPPA: “What was the date of the report?”
Jennifer: “Don’t know that either. It’s a secret.”
This seems to be how the FOI process works - transparent government in action, much like looking for light through a brick wall.
So, an open letter and petition entitled Release the Report was prepared and circulated. Over a few weeks in the summer more than 1,300 people signed the petition.
Then on a Friday afternoon in late August with no fanfare the Provincial Climate Change Impact Assessment appeared on the Government of Ontario’s website.
Its 530 pages are filled with what the CBC called “grim details about the expected effects of climate change in Ontario.” We’ll have a soaring number of days with extreme heat, more extreme flooding and more frequent wildfires. The agriculture sector faces risks of declining productivity, Climate risks will be highest for Ontario's most vulnerable populations and this will “continue to amplify existing disparities and inequities."
In some ways the report tells us what we already suspected. But such suspicions are confirmed by experts.
The report does "the best job that's been done to date describing the impacts of climate change and extreme weather," Blair Feltmate, head of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo told the CBC.
SCAN! had been looking for two reports. One was released. Imagine our surprise. Turns out there are actually four reports. Three companion reports, including one on Best Adaptation Practices, are still hidden by the government.
Those reports are what I’m asking to see in my FOI request.
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More information on SCAN! can be found at https://seniorsforclimateactionnow.org/
Listen to the story of the hidden reports on All in A Day with
Alan Neal at https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-92-all-in-a-day/clip/16009552-seniors-climate-action
