Guides
How to File an Access to Information Request in Canada: Timelines, Fees, and Appeals
Access to information request Canada fees start at $5 and run to $25 per hour after search time, with provinces setting their own timelines and appeal routes.
What to take away
- The federal Access to Information Act sets a $5 application fee, the first five hours of search and preparation free, then $10 per hour, and $0.20 per page for photocopies, as published on Canada.ca.
- Institutions must respond within 30 calendar days, but extensions of 30 days or longer are routine when records are voluminous or need consultation.
- Provincial regimes differ sharply: Ontario charges $5 and sets a 30-day clock, while some provinces charge nothing and set different deadlines. Confirm the province before you file.
- The Information Commissioner of Canada can investigate complaints, but the commissioner cannot order a release. Only the Federal Court can do that.
- Ask what a fee estimate covers and whether the search time is capped before you accept it, because an uncapped estimate is the most common way a request stalls.
Where the federal rules actually bite
The federal Access to Information Act applies to roughly 265 institutions, from departments to Crown corporations. The statute itself is short on procedure and long on exemptions, so the practical questions sit in the regulations and in Treasury Board guidance.
Federal ATIA fees and clock
- $5fixed application fee, cannot be waived
- $10/hrsearch time after first five free hours
- $0.20/pagephotocopying rate
- 30 daysresponse clock from complete request
Fees are the first sticking point. The $5 application fee is fixed and cannot be waived. Search and preparation time is free for the first five hours, then billed at $10 per hour. Photocopying runs at $0.20 per page. If you are requesting your own personal information under the Privacy Act, the rules differ and most fees disappear.
Timelines are the second sticking point. The 30-day clock starts when the institution receives a complete request, not when you mail it. An institution can extend by 30 days or more under section 9, and it must tell you why. A notice that says "consultations required" without naming the body is worth challenging.
How to file a federal request
File through the ATIP Online Request Service at atip-aiprp.apps.gc.ca, or by mail to the institution's access to information coordinator.
- Check that the institution is covered by the federal act.
- Describe the records, not the argument behind them. Give job titles, a date range, and the format you want.
- Submit through the service, or by mail, and keep the file number it returns.
- Pay the $5 application fee when the service asks for it.
- Count the 30 calendar days from the day the institution confirms your request is complete.
- Answer any fee estimate in writing, and narrow scope instead of arguing.
Sample scope wording: "I request all emails, including attachments and calendar invites, between the Director of Programs and the Deputy Minister from 1 January 2025 to 31 March 2025 that mention [topic]. Exclude duplicates and routine administrative correspondence. I prefer electronic copies in PDF."
Questions to ask before you file
The choice here is not a vendor. It is which regime, which institution, and which framing will get you records inside a reasonable time. Ask these of yourself and of the access coordinator.
Pre-filing questions
- Which institution holds the record?
- Federal Act or provincial regime?
- Median completion time for this size?
- Fee estimate before work begins?
- Which exemptions likely apply?
- What section justifies any extension?
- Which regime covers the records you wantthe federal Access to Information Act, the Privacy Act, or a provincial act?
- Is the institution covered by that act at all?
- Can you describe the records closely enough to keep the search narrow?
- What is the shortest date range that still answers your question?
- Who is the access coordinator, and what is their direct contact?
- What fee estimate or delay would make you abandon the request?
Refusals that should end the conversation
Three responses tell you the request is going nowhere in its current shape.
When to walk away
Institution refuses to confirm records exist?
demand the exemption in writing
proceed
- "We cannot confirm or deny whether records exist." That is a refusal under section 10 and it is rarely the last word. Ask for the exemption cited in writing.
- "The fee estimate is $3,000 and we will not narrow it." If the institution refuses to discuss scope, you are buying a fight, not records. Consider a narrower request or a complaint to the Information Commissioner.
- "We do not track completion times." Every institution subject to the Act reports annual statistics to Treasury Board, and the published tables show wide variation between departments. An institution claiming ignorance of its own numbers is stalling.
A request that arrives without a stated scope invites an estimate built on the widest possible reading of your words.
What the agreement must say
When you accept a fee estimate, treat it as a short contract. It should state the hourly rate, the estimated hours, the page count, and the deposit amount. It should also state that no further charges apply without a revised estimate.
What a fee agreement must state
- Hourly rate
- Estimated hours
- Page count
- Deposit amount
- No further charges without revised estimate
Federal institutions may require a deposit of 50 per cent when the estimate exceeds $100. Ask for the estimate in writing by email so the record is clean. If the institution later bills more than the estimate, you can refuse to pay the difference and complain.
Worked example. A search that takes 12 hours carries 7 billable hours, because the first five are free. At $10 per hour that is $70. Photocopying 300 pages at $0.20 adds $60. With the $5 application fee, the estimate comes to $135.
How appeals work in practice
The federal route runs through the Office of the Information Commissioner. You must complain within 60 days of the response, or of the deadline passing. The commissioner investigates, mediates, and can issue findings, but the power to order disclosure rests with the Federal Court under section 41.
The Information Commissioner's online complaint form is at oic-ci.gc.ca. Include the file number, the institution, the date of the response or the missed deadline, and the outcome you want.
Federal vs provincial appeal powers
Federal
- Appeal body
- Information Commissioner
- Can order disclosure
- No, Federal Court
- Complaint window
- 60 days
Ontario
- Appeal body
- IPC
- Can order disclosure
- Yes
- Complaint window
- Varies
British Columbia
- Appeal body
- Commissioner
- Can order disclosure
- Yes
- Complaint window
- Varies
Provincial routes vary. Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner can issue orders that bind institutions. British Columbia's commissioner can also order disclosure. Alberta's commissioner issues orders too. That difference matters when you pick which government to ask.
U.S. federal records bring different appeal mechanics, and how FOIA requests work sets out the exemption categories agencies lean on.
Example: narrowing a stalled request
A reporter asks a federal department for all correspondence about a program over three years. The estimate comes back at $2,400. The reporter rewrites the request to cover six named officials and a four-month window. The new estimate is $180, the records arrive in 41 days, and the central documents are intact.
Comparing the federal and provincial clocks
Application fee
- Federal
- $5
- Ontario
- $5
- British Columbia
- None
- Alberta
- $25 initial fee
- Quebec
- None
Standard response
- Federal
- 30 days
- Ontario
- 30 days
- British Columbia
- 30 business days
- Alberta
- 30 days
- Quebec
- 20 days
Appeal body
- Federal
- Information Commissioner, then Federal Court
- Ontario
- Information and Privacy Commissioner (orders binding)
- British Columbia
- Commissioner (orders binding)
- Alberta
- Commissioner (orders binding)
- Quebec
- Commission d'acces a l'information
Appeal deadline
- Federal
- 60 days
- Ontario
- 30 days
- British Columbia
- 30 business days
- Alberta
- 60 days
- Quebec
- 30 days
Federal fee figures follow the current schedule published on Canada.ca, and the appeal deadlines above are the statutory periods in each act. Confirm the provincial rules before filing. The federal text is at the Access to Information Act, and the Canada.ca access to information page carries the current fee schedule and complaint form.
Readers comparing how different jurisdictions treat disclosure will find the same tension in U.S. privacy rules versus Canadian law, where the two regimes diverge on what counts as personal information.
