Ottawa's national defence beat got a case study in government transparency this week, after the Royal Canadian Air Force initially refused to release a photo marking a milestone moment in Canada's long-awaited fighter jet procurement — and then journalists got it anyway.
The Photo in Question
The image shows RCAF commander Lt.-Gen. Jamie Speiser-Blanchet signing part of the fuselage of Canada's first F-35 fighter jet — a symbolic, historic gesture marking the country's formal entry into the F-35 program after decades of political back-and-forth. It's exactly the kind of image the public might expect to see splashed across a government press release.
Instead, the military declined to release it.
Access to Information as a Last Resort
The Ottawa Citizen's Defence Watch team, which has long covered Canada's military and procurement files, pursued the image through access to information channels — the formal process by which Canadians can request records held by federal institutions. What followed is a familiar story for journalists who cover the federal government from Ottawa: delays, pushback, and ultimately, disclosure.
The fact that a photo of a commander signing a fuselage — a ceremonial, public-relations-friendly moment — had to be wrestled out of the Department of National Defence through a formal request speaks volumes about how the institution manages its public image.
Why It Matters
Canada's F-35 procurement has been one of the most politically fraught defence files in recent memory. The Liberals scrapped the Conservative-era purchase in 2015, spent years evaluating alternatives, and ultimately returned to the F-35 in 2023 — signing a contract worth up to $19 billion for 88 jets.
With that kind of public money on the line, Canadians have a legitimate interest in seeing how the program is unfolding. A photo of the RCAF commander marking the delivery of the first aircraft isn't classified intelligence — it's a record of a government commitment being fulfilled.
The refusal to release it, and the need to use access to information law to obtain it, raises questions about why the military chose opacity over openness at what should have been a good-news moment.
The Broader Pattern
Defence reporters in Ottawa have long noted a tension between the Canadian Armed Forces' desire to control its narrative and the public's right to know how billions in defence spending is being managed. Access to information requests are routinely used to surface documents, photos, and records that departments would prefer to keep internal.
The F-35 photo episode fits that pattern neatly. It's a reminder that the access to information system, slow and imperfect as it often is, remains one of the few tools available to journalists — and by extension, the public — to pierce institutional opacity.
What's Next
Canada is expecting deliveries of its F-35s in the coming years, with the jets set to replace the aging CF-18 Hornet fleet. Each delivery milestone will likely generate similar questions about transparency and public accountability.
For now, the photo exists — obtained not through a government communications office, but through the determined use of a transparency law designed exactly for moments like this.
Source: Ottawa Citizen, Defence Watch. Analysis by the Ottawa Citizen newsroom.
