QUOTES

"I believe that a guarantee of public access to government  information is indispensable in the long run for any democratic society.... if officials make public only what they want citizens to know, then publicity becomes a sham and accountability meaningless." - Sissela Bok, Swedish philosopher, 1982
 

 "The overarching purpose of access to information legislation ... is to facilitate democracy. It does so in two related ways. It helps to ensure first, that citizens have the information required to participate meaningfully in the democratic process, and secondly, that politicians and bureaucrats remain accountable to the citizenry." -  Gerard LaForest, former Supreme Court of Canada Justice, in Dagg vs. Canada (1997)

"For the most part, officials love secrecy because it is a tool of power and control, not because the information they hold is particularly sensitive by nature."   - John Reid, 1999