How the RCMP’s response to a Democracy Watch FOI highlights the law’s lack of accountability

Earlier this week, a firestorm erupted on social media when citizen advocacy group Democracy Watch announced that it had confirmation the RCMP was actively investigating allegations connected to the SNC-Lavalin scandal. 

Democracy Watch’s evidence came via an access to information request it had filed with the federal police agency last summer for documents connected to allegations that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office had pressured then-justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to intervene in the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, the Montreal engineering and construction firm.

In May, the RCMP denied Democracy Watch’s access request, stating that “this matter is currently under investigation.” (Records connected to ongoing police investigations are exempt from disclosure.) 

But this wasn’t true. After Democracy Watch’s tweet, numerous news outlets picked up the story and reached out to the RCMP for comment, which prompted them to respond.

In a statement to The Globe and Mail, the RCMP said they had conducted an assessment of the allegations and determined “there was insufficient evidence to substantiate a criminal offence.” The file was closed in January. The RCMP’s response to Democracy Watch was sent out four months later. 

In their statement to The Globe, the RCMP acknowledged that their reliance on the active investigation exemption was “was incorrect, and based on the information available to the ATIP Branch at that time.” The police agency promised to release a new package of records for Democracy Watch within 90 days.

Duff Conacher, the co-founder of the advocacy group, called this delay unacceptable and demanded the RCMP release the records as quickly as possible. Mr. Conacher says the case highlights the need to impose penalties for public institutions that violate federal access laws through delays or inappropriately withholding information.

“Right now, there’s a higher chance of getting caught and being held accountable for violating the parking restrictions across Canada – and you’ll pay a higher penalty for doing that – than for violating government transparency laws,” he said.

Mr. Conacher added that Democracy Watch plans to file ATIPs with the RCMP to understand how something like this could have happened. 

“Everyone knows that these letters don’t go out without a multi-step review and approval process.”

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