Canada's Access to Information Act was enacted in 1983 under the Pierre Trudeau government to establish public access to government documents. In addition to the federal act, each province has also passed individual freedom of information laws to govern provincial and local level agencies.

International Right to Know Day was September 28. In keeping with the right to know spirit, we are presenting a four part series on freedom of information acts passed worldwide. We start with an overview on the US Freedom of Information Act.

Enacted in 1988, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining (WARN) Act mandates that employers meeting certain criteria give advance notice of layoffs and plant closures. Since the WARN Act was first passed, many states have passed their own, state-specific versions of the WARN Act. Recently, many newspapers have taken topline WARN Act data and used it to create searchable databases.

Because public transit is taxpayer funded, these companies are subject to state public records laws. Relevant to companies vying for contracts or riders who want to understand why fares are increasing, these records can provide insight into how public transit is operated.

Each county in the United States has a Clerk-Recorder's office or equivalent. These offices provide marriage licensing and notary services, as well as maintain archives of public records. Here's a short video of Mike Rice at the Alameda County Clerk-Recorder's office discussing how to navigate your way around the office's in-house index systems.

Today, the Sunlight Foundation released TransparencyData.com which compiles federal data from OpenSecrets and state data from FollowTheMoney.org into a comprehensive and user-friendly search interface for researchers and journalists. Transparency Data currently provides access to state and federal campaign contributions, and will offer lobbying data within several weeks.

While the majority of public records begin as government documents, there are instances when private records are backed into the public record via court filings.

The US House of Representatives recently uploaded the latest quarterly Statement of Disbursements to its website, marking the first time these public records have been made available online. These reports detail how Members spent their Member's Representational Allowance over the past quarter.

Building permits and building inspection records are useful public documents in various situations, including determining if a property owner has flouted local building codes, a landlord has not kept his property up to code or a company has illegally maintained waste or chemicals on their property.

Property tax assessment and payment records are useful documents for understanding a property owner’s financial situation and learning details of a particular property.

Mortgages are legal documents that evidence a lender’s rights to a property in exchange for a loan. Mortgages are a useful resource for learning how wealthy someone is, understanding a borrower’s future financial stability, and determining if a loan was obtained under questionable circumstances.

The primary instrument in all property transactions is the deed. Property deeds are recorded documents legally denoting the transfer of land from one party to another. The parties listed on a deed are either grantors (sellers) or grantees (purchasers).