Image credit: Investigative Journalism Foundation

By Aaron Schulze

Open By Default

TRU prof spearheads largest public database of internal government records

Mar 5, 2024 | 10:30 AM

KAMLOOPS — An assistant law professor at Thompson Rivers University is leading a project that contains the largest database of internal Canadian government documents ever made publicly accessible.

In a news release issued Tuesday (March 5), the Investigative Journalism Foundation (IJF) says Matt Malone secured a $5,000 Internal Research Fund to start Open By Default.

The IJF says the database contains more than 20,000 documents online that were obtained from access to information requests released by the federal government. Documents on Open By Default can be searched via organization, topics and years released.

“The project’s mission is to empower democracy and bolster high-quality journalism by providing all Canadians with seamless and immediate access to the information that shapes governmental decisions,” the IJF states.

The IJF says Malone and his team aims to expand the Open By Default database to include Canadian jurisdictions that do not proactively publish access to information documents.

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