Sep 23, 2013

For the eighth year, Manitoba Ombudsman has joined with other information and privacy commissioner offices from across the country in celebrating national Right to Know Week from September 23 to 28, 2013 and international Right to Know Day on September 28. Right to Know acknowledges an individual's democratic right of access to government-held information and promotes the benefits of open, accessible, and transparent government.

Access to information held by our governments can be used to:

• reveal or clarify the basis for government decisions affecting us
• provide us with greater knowledge to address and debate public issues that are important to us,  and
• scrutinize government actions and decisions on the basis of hard information.

All of this allows us to become more active participants in the democratic process.

To celebrate Right to Know Week 2013, Manitoba Ombudsman has released three new videos.

The first - Exercise Your Right to Know - talks about what Right to Know Week is and why it is important. For many years Manitoba Ombudsman has acknowledged Right to Know Week by asking the leaders of Manitoba communities to officially proclaim Right to Know Week. This year, we invited some of those leaders to voice their support. Manitoba Ombudsman would like to thank the mayors of Brandon, Portage la Prairie and Selkirk for their participation.

The other two videos are "how to" videos that focus on accessing information under Manitoba's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and accessing personal health information under The Personal Health Information Act.

All videos are available on Manitoba Ombudsman's website at www.ombudsman.mb.ca and on the ombudsman's YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/manitobaombudsman.

To assist Manitobans in exercising their information rights, Manitoba Ombudsman produced a User's Guide to FIPPA in 2012, available on the ombudsman's website and in print by contacting the office.