If you want to get information from the NWT government and can’t find another way, you have the option of filing an access to information request. But responses can take time and persistence.
The territory has, in theory at least, taken steps in recent years to make its access to information processes more straightforward, such as centralizing the way those requests are handled.
But the latest data suggests many access to information requests in the NWT take far longer than the general timeframe of 20 business days set out in legislation.
The GNWT’s most recent annual report on access to information, tabled in legislature in the fall of 2025, shows the territory and its associated public bodies (like Aurora College and the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission) between them received 183 access requests in 2024-25.
Of those, 105 were general requests for access to information and 77 were related to personal information – a separate form of request where you can ask for information the GNWT holds specifically about you.
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The time taken to process requests was set out in the same report.
In 62 instances – more than a third of a sample of 170 in the report – people were waiting more than 90 days for their requests to be processed.
Another 40 requests took 31 to 90 days. Only 68 requests were completed within a month.
Some responses needed more time because the request itself was vague, many records needed to be searched or third parties had to be consulted. Those are valid reasons set out in the legislation. But the GNWT said fully 60 percent of access to information responses related to its departments were simply late, with none of the above reasons applicable.
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In 2024-25, 90 percent of requests related to the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and 100 percent of requests related to the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment had late responses.
“Late responses can be attributed to requests growing in complexity, which requires more effort, time and expert knowledge” of the legislation, the territory stated in its report.
The NWT’s information and privacy commissioner, Andrew Fox, has long complained that the territory needs more staff to be able to deliver the service its own legislation demands.
Fox can act as a kind of appeal court for people who are kept waiting for responses from the government. He has the power to get answers from the GNWT about what is causing the delay and he can order the territory to take action.
In his own annual report, Fox said a 60-percent figure for late responses was an increase from 50 percent in 2022. The wait time “appears to be a product of insufficient staffing,” he wrote.
Fox said the experienced staff the GNWT does have in its access and privacy office “are a significant benefit,” adding he was encouraged that the territory appeared set to add positions.
The access and privacy office received funding for two additional full-time positions until March 2026, “amounting to a capacity increase of 40 percent,” a committee of MLAs noted in a separate review of the privacy commissioner’s most recent recommendations for improvement.
That committee has called on the GNWT to set out a timeline for “increasing dedicated resources, including dedicated positions in public bodies, staff training, and implementation of record management systems, in order to ensure that necessary supports are in place.”
