KNOWLEDGE IS POWER: TRANSPARENCY IS ONLY DECENCY

Guess which one trumps the other in the title above? You got it, when we're talking about government bureaucracies power is miles ahead of decency. The Editorial in today's Waterloo Region Record is titled "Another view: Tell public more about prison deaths". As the first sentence of the Editorial states: "When a person dies behind bars, the government has a clear moral duty to be sensitive and transparent with the loved ones left behind.".

They are however failing to fulfill that duty. Portions of reports mandated by law are being redacted as in blacked out in these reports that are then handed out to the families. One such report blacked out 44 pages of an 88 page report. This is grossly unacceptable.