Vic Toews, President
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Corporate Communications
L'Esplanade Laurier, 10th Floor, West Tower
300 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Canada K1A 0R5

May 7, 2008

Dear Mr. Toews,

I am writing on behalf of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), a non-profit, non-governmental organization that works to promote and protect press freedom and freedom of expression around the world.

CJFE is dismayed by the Harper government's decision to discontinue operation of the Coordination of Access to Information Requests System (CAIRS) database. The Treasury Board has made statements that the database is not valuable to government departments. We would like to remind the government that this database was not only a vital resource to journalists, but was also an important tool for all Canadians in having access to information about the actions of the government.

The CAIRS database gave the public access to every information request filed with the government. Although originally designed as an internal tracking tool, the database was important in making government information more accessible to the public.

CJFE calls on the Treasury Board to recommit resources to this valuable database and ensure that journalists and all Canadian citizens have access to information about their government

We thank you for your attention and look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Arnold Amber, CJFE President