Quietly on 15 December 2025, Library and Archives Canada stopped collecting the $5 fee for formal Access to Information requests.
LAC has updated its website to reflect this change. LAC is updating its web form to reflect this new situation, which will be launched soon.
In the meantime, LAC directs clients to the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) ATIP Online Platform, which serves many departments and includes a fee request. If a client is requesting information from LAC, however, TBS does not require payment. If a client sends LAC a direct request for information and includes payment, it is returned to the client.
Eliminating even small fees typically leads to a surge in demand due to psychological effects like heightened positive affect and reduced barriers to entry. This pattern holds across health care, consumer goods, and digital services, driven by the psychological “zero-price effect,” in which free options attract disproportionately higher uptake.
This comes at a time when Library and Archives Canada is reducing staffing in the Access to Information Division to meet budget cuts. Perhaps LAC is planning more aggressive digitization, along with reducing ATIP scrutiny of WW2 service files.
Take a look at the article in the Monday, March 9 edition of the Globe & Mail newspaper. “Planned cuts at national library and archives threaten to worsen access issues”.
Subtitle: Secret Canada, written by Bill curry, Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief: Ottawa.
Ok, so make information more easily available, yet cut the jobs of those doing the work 🙄 No words.
I submit ATIP-IRCC requests on a regular basis through my work and continue to be charged for files of individuals deceased over 20 years. The wait time to receive the immigration files has increased to 6+ months . When I have inquired regarding the status of my requests, I have been told they are now too busy to respond. This is probably true but I also know they have lost requests in the past. In addition, when the wrong files have been sent, an inquiry into the situation has taken several additional months and countless forms and emails. I would rather pay more for the files so that staff could be hired to send them in a timely manner.
The amount of requests being sent to IRCC have increased significantly since the passing of Bill C-3. I wouldn’t be surprised if you would have to wait closer to a year for certain requests now, especially with the recent budget (staff) reductions.
I’d rather see the fee increase a little to maintain or improve access. Seems like a strange time to eliminate it when they are cutting back on staff.