Information Commissioner 2025-2026 Annual Report
The Commissioner found that Library and Archives Canada (LAC) demonstrated measurable improvements in access to information compliance during the 2025–2026 fiscal year, driven by increased funding and leadership commitment. Through initiatives such as enhanced training and a streamlined delegation instrument to speed up request processing, LAC successfully reduced its active complaints inventory from a peak of 266 in 2021–2022 down to 101 by March 2026, while dramatically lowering the number of formal orders issued against it from 109 in 2023–2024 to 16 in 2025–2026. Despite these significant overall improvements and a strengthened collaborative relationship with the Office of the Information Commissioner, LAC still faced some legal hurdles, with 16 cases submitted to the Federal Court in 2025–2026 disputing ordered response dates for delay and extension of time complaints.
Recognition
The Canadian Association of Journalists has specifically recognized LAC for a Dishonourable Mention for declining to release a 40-year-old list of 700 suspected Nazis admitted to Canada after the Second World War. It was claimed it could interfere with international relations. The recognition of LAC was as part of the CAJ once again recognizing The Federal Government as a whole in awarding it the Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievements in Government Secrecy. 
Annual Report on Travel, Hospitality and Conference Expenditures
Library and Archives Canada spent $457K on travel, hospitality, and conferences in FY2024-25, down $120K from $577K the prior year. Travel fell the most (-$147K to $413K), driven by the federal Refocusing Government Spending initiative and the end of Federal Pathway funding for MMIWG2S+, with declines across operational travel, stakeholder engagement, and training. Hospitality rose $18K to $31K due to an AI and archives symposium hosted in September 2024, and conference fees increased $9K to $13K from broader staff participation. The report does not identify spending by individual, as in the past.
Guided tour of the LAC Preservation Centre
Friday, 26 June
Yes, speaking of the LAC’s lack of transparency. I requested my grandfather’s military records. He was born in 1891. He served with distinction in WW1 and was made a Commander of the order of St Michael and St George, by the King himself.
He also served in WW2, overseeing hospital ships.
Some of his military record was withheld from me in case of privacy of those still living. Really? Still living?
In addition, my last attempt to make a donation of papers and photographs involved so many back and forth questions in case material needed to be behind a “privacy wall” that i decided to not give the material. I had the feeling it was going to go down a “memory hole”.