Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is receiving a permanent funding increase of approximately $20 million per year to strengthen its access-to-information system, which has frequently failed to meet legal response deadlines. The announcement comes after LAC was targeted for cuts under the Carney government's public service spending review.
Details of the Funding and Cuts
LAC is finding most of its savings from the spending review — $13.6 million — from temporary funding originally intended to fix its access to information and privacy (ATIP) unit. The agency is eliminating 161 positions over three years, including 56 permanent employees. The choice to slash ATIP funding raised concerns among opposition MPs during an April 21 meeting of the Commons committee on government operations.
Librarian and Archivist of Canada Leslie Weir told the committee, "We were limited in where else we could reduce. We have already reduced the rest of our operations to an absolute minimum." In 2024-2025, LAC completed only 63% of its formal access requests within legislated timelines.
Backlog and Performance Issues
As the custodian of billions of pages of government documents, LAC faces heavier ATIP demands than most departments, including frequent requests for personal information about military members and public servants. A backlog of requests accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic when workers could not physically access paper records. The backlog currently stands at about 6,000 requests, down from 15,000 at the start of last year.
Scholars, journalists, and other frequent ATIP users often wait months to receive information from LAC. However, LAC believes the new permanent funding, which it learned about in mid-February, will allow it to maintain current performance levels while continuing to reduce the backlog.
Parliamentary Concerns
Conservative MP Kelly Block questioned the agency's confidence: "You're not meeting your targets. But you're confident that you're going to be able to maintain where you're at right now, where you're not meeting your targets?" Bloc Québécois MP Marie-Hélène Gaudreau expressed concern about the cuts, stating, "Our collective memory is precious."
Weir emphasized that LAC has legal mandates beyond ATIP, including ensuring its collection reflects Canadian culture and history. "We have targets we have to meet under the comprehensive expenditure review," she said. "We've made our best efforts to be able to maintain our legislated responsibilities while meeting those targets."
LAC declined to answer whether the new funding would offset any job cuts but confirmed that spending reductions would continue to be implemented.
