Toby Mendel has spent much of his career studying freedom of information laws; he's even published two books about them.

So when he describes Bermuda's proposed public access to information (PATI) bill as "by and large, a pretty good draft," it's probably safe to assume he knows what he's talking about.

He scrutinised the Island's draft legislation at the end of last year while working for global human rights watchdog Article 19 — and publicly called for it to be made retroactive, as did many other commentators.

Premier Ewart Brown took the feedback on board and has now promised that the law — due to be tabled in Parliament this year — will cover records "right back to the Sea Venture".

"The bill, as drafted, is a good law," Mr. Mendel told The Royal Gazette. "The main Achilles heel was that the law was non-retroactive. That would very much neuter it."

The Canadian lawyer is about to open his own non-governmental organisation in Halifax, called the Centre for Law and Democracy, which will focus on democratic rights, including access to information.

He was brought to the Island last week by the Coalition for Community Activism in Bermuda to talk about why FOI laws matter and how they work around the world. "It's a fundamental, inalienable human right," he said. "And Bermuda is required under international law to adopt this.

"But it's something which only recently has come to be recognised globally. It's something which has very much come of age in the last 20 years.

"If you go back to 1990, you had 13 countries around the world with access to information laws. The number is now 90 or something like that. We have seen a massive growth in the number of laws and Bermuda is about, or hopefully about, to become part of that community of 90-plus countries that have a right to information law."

He said his meetings on the Island, as well as the 530 submissions to Cabinet on the draft law, gave him the "strong sense" that people here really want more transparency. "The fact that there were so many submissions — that's truly impressive in a country of this size with an issue that is relatively niche. That's really quite remarkable. I very much doubt that there were 500 submissions in the UK [when it released its FOI law]."

He is not too worried about the inclusion in the draft bill of a provision which would let the Minister responsible for the law exclude public authorities without MPs' approval — a criticism this newspaper included in its submission on the bill.

"I don't think it's such a big bogeyman," said Mr. Mendel. "It doesn't seem to me, by any means, to be the biggest problem with the law. If it gets to the point where the Minister is so willing to abuse it that he will remove bodies, then you have a serious problem anyway. You have to hope it goes in a different direction from that."

More important, according to him, is to get a good Information Commissioner appointed, who will be neither too aggressive or too restrained when dealing with appeals against refusals to release information.

And he thinks the Island should look to have a separate whistle-blower law to protect civil servants who release records in good faith — or a least a provision in the PATI act.

"This law provides general protection for the staff of the Commissioner," he said. "Extend that to everyone. What we need is to give them [civil servants] the confidence to make the right decisions."

Research for his books required Mr. Mendel to study 25 FOI laws and he reckons he's analysed about another 40 drafts. He has visited plenty of countries where FOI has been adopted — and some where the process has stalled.

He believes Bermuda should focus on getting the law through Parliament — and then worry about the details.

"In a way, the most important thing is to get it adopted," said Mr. Mendel. "It becomes what you make it. I'm a lawyer and I always push to get the best law possible. But the most important thing is to get is passed.

"We have seen many cases of countries which have come close to the point and then just not made the final step, sometimes for quite a long time."

Once adopted, he said the biggest hurdle would be overcoming the culture of secrecy which prevails here, as in many other countries, especially those with post-colonial governments.

"People who have been used to operating in secrecy and who have always done that find it difficult to change. Civil servants have the power to cause a lot of problems."

But he said civil servants would have to adapt if people insist on using the law. "It's your right and government has to respect that."

He has seen FOI laws get passed in other small island countries and is convinced it can work here. "You have a challenge in that your society is so small and everybody knows everybody.

"Using FOI can be seen sometimes as a hostile action, especially in a culture where people feel they should let government look after the business. But your systems are smaller. Putting records into electronic form is going to be a little bit easier here than in a place like India."

Mr. Mendel was asked to look at Bermuda's draft law by Opposition MP John Barritt, whom he met at a conference in Guyana.

"There's a lot of activity around the world on this issue and we can't engage everywhere," he said. "But I suppose I felt that we might have some resonance here. It's a small little country and I know the Caymans had adopted quite a progressive law and I thought it might have some impact here."

l Mr. Mendel's FOI books are available online for free at:

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=26159&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html, and

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=28958&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html.