About the Canadian FOI Evidence Commons

The Canadian FOI Evidence Commons preserves and organizes Canadian FOI, ATI, OPQ, ATIP, scientific, legal, policy, and other public-interest records so they can be found, compared, reviewed, and followed up.

Order Paper Questions, Access to Information responses, and other FOI releases can reveal facts, contracts, decisions, omissions, and timelines that are difficult for the public to see in one place. Scientific papers and supporting documents help readers examine the evidence behind public policy questions.

These materials are often scattered across government portals, PDFs, news investigations, independent archives, and local contributor files. This portal gathers them into a simple file-based commons, connects records to reviews and related documents, and keeps public metadata searchable without requiring a database-heavy system.

Starting in version 1.6, access is assigned by user ID rather than selected on the login screen. Roles are cumulative: Public visitor < Signed-in public user < Contributor < Curator < Admin. Each higher role includes the practical powers of the roles below it.

People who want to contribute can use Contact us. A site administrator can then create or update their account. For now, accounts can still use the shared password; the user registry is ready for unique passwords later.

RSS provides a simple way to follow curator-approved additions and public updates without repeatedly checking the website. Select RSS Updates in the footer to subscribe to the combined feed using a feed reader.

Each collection page also provides its own feed: OPQ, ATIP, Other FOI, or Other Documents. Feed entries may include newly approved documents, new or updated reviews, and public metadata updates. Internal records and submissions still marked Uploaded (new) are excluded.

RSS is also the planned update source for the first Android notification application. RSS checks are periodic, so an update may not appear immediately.

The support of the Canadian Critical Care Alliance (CCCA) in preparing and submitting OPQ and ATIP documents, together with the contributions of the many other Canadians who help prepare, submit, preserve, and review public-interest documents, is gratefully acknowledged.