News release

Government Commits to More Access to Information

Internal Services (June 2014 - May 2019)

Government continues to improve access to information for Nova Scotians through the launch of a website for submitting requests and reviewing freedom of information.

"Government is committed to being open and transparent," said Internal Services Minister Labi Kousoulis. "This site will help make it easier to request and review information about government."

By visiting, foipop.novascotia.ca, Nova Scotians will be able to submit a request, monitor the progress of the application, receive responses and pay fees online. They will still have the option of paper requests that will continue to be processed.

Nova Scotia is the third province to post Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act requests online.

This new option for Nova Scotians builds on past successes that improved the response time to freedom of information requests from 78 per cent completed within 30 days in 2014 to 84 per cent in 2016.

Government has also increased its efforts to improve transparency by:

  • launching an open data site
  • posting ministerial expenses
  • posting information on forest harvest sites
  • posting information on how many people are waiting for long-term care beds
  • posting new information on the Department of Business accountability website.

Under the new disclosure site, completed Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act requests must meet criteria to be eligible for posting. For example:

  • personal or confidential business information will not be eligible to be released online
  • applicants will receive the response first and seven days later, the response will be posted publicly
  • the type of information posted online will depend on criteria set by Information Access and Privacy Services, novascotia.ca/is/programs-and-services/information-access-and-privacy.asp.