July 5, 2006 marked a year since the Access to Information legislation became applicable to all public sector entities.  It is therefore an appropriate time to reflect on the role of the Jamaica Archives and Records Department (JARD) in the process.

From the time the Government began work on the access (then called ‘freedom’) of information legislation, the Jamaica Archives and Records Department has been involved in the process. The Government Archivist was a member of the Committee, under the chairmanship of Gordon Wells, which was established in 1995 to consider the components of a freedom of information law.  The Committee produced a report entitled Freedom of Information: a road to open government which was tabled in Parliament in June 1996.

 When the decision was taken to proceed with the legislation, the Jamaica Archives, in Ministry Paper # 43 of November 1998 Proposals for Access to Information Act, was given responsibility to guide ministries and departments in preparing for the Act.   In 1999 the Department began the preliminary administrative work to establish the Access to Information Unit which was established as a unit of the Department in September 2002.