When the Pati Act went into effect in April 2015 — only a quick blink after my appointment four weeks prior — every public authority in Bermuda published an information statement that provided the authority’s remit, activities, organisational chart, categories of records, decision-making documents, and contact information for making a Pati request.

I will never forget the reaction of the public to seeing those information statements after years of government departments operating behind closed doors.

The public’s much anticipated sunshine of public scrutiny had begun.

In many ways, the most powerful impact of the Pati Act has not been its legal framework, as critical as that framework has been.

Rather, it is the powerful cultural change that Pati rights both reflect and encourage.

As Bermudian scholar Kristy Warren has explored, the law itself arose out of the good-governance movement in the 1990s.

Public access to information was promoted with the belief that public accountability would improve the quality of decision-making and delivery of services by public authorities.

At the end of her 2015 article on the emergence of the Pati Act, Dr Warren observed that: “It remains to be seen how resilient such legislation will be in the face of ingrained traditions and legacies of secrecy which are not only reinforced by past practice, but also respond to the demands of modern business and the ingrained antagonisms of party politics.”

Ten years after Pati rights went into effect, the legislation has been resilient — and has grown in strength to challenge the legacies of secrecy.

Bermudians’ and residents’ use of their Pati rights is encouraging a seismic shift in the relationship between those that govern and those that are governed.

But the cultural change, this shift in mindset and practice, has not been equal.

The public now have an unequivocal expectation that the Government and other public authorities will conduct the people’s business and spend the people’s money in an open and accountable manner.

On the people’s side, the ingrained traditions and legacies of secrecy have given way to modern practices of engagement, openness and accountability.

Yet, within government and other public authorities, the change has been slower.

Champions of transparency within public authorities may find themselves isolated or facing criticism.

These brave individuals have been the cornerstones of progress, and lead the way.

In contrast, some within public authorities still question why the public need to know about their activities.

This is a mindset that is no longer compatible with modern leadership and good governance.

After ten years, the question remains how government will adapt to greater openness and public scrutiny, and how accountability will evolve for our small community.

As the cultural change within government is palatable and the public sector evolves, a balance may be achieved between the expectations of the public to be engaged, involved and informed, and the willingness and the capacity of government and other public authorities to embrace transparency as a routine practice.

In the midst of the legal enforcement of the Pati Act and the evolution of cultural change, I am deeply proud of the strong integrity institution my colleagues and I have established in the Information Commissioner’s Office. It has been an honour to serve the public of Bermuda.

Through our collective work, along with the efforts of stakeholders within the public and public authorities, access to public information has become a critical right that supports citizens’ voices and accountability, which citizens now expect.

It is not, and will not, be an easy path ahead. Access to information rights are under threat globally and have been weakened locally.

In 2024, for example, a constitutional amendment in Mexico shut down that country’s independent access to the information regulator after 20 years of its existence.

The 2024 amendments to Bermuda’s Pati Act threaten to disempower parts of our community and reduce accountability, and the ongoing strength of the ICO is not guaranteed.

I encourage my colleagues and stakeholders in the public, and public authorities who value public access to information, to continue to be brave and stick to the wicket in the years ahead.

• Gitanjali Gutierrez was Bermuda’s first Information Commissioner, serving in the independent role from March 2015 to February 2025. This opinion piece first appeared in the2024 annual report of the Information Commissioner’s Office