A committee reviewing the B.C. Freedom of Information Act is hearing plenty of complaints. (CBC)

Critics are airing complaints of provincial government secrecy and stonewalling at hearings this week looking into B.C.'s Freedom of Information Act.

"I want to speak to you about a culture of secrecy and a culture of denial," anti-abortion activist Ted Gerk said at the hearing Wednesday.

Despite repeated attempts, he could not get information about the number of abortions performed in B.C. hospitals, Gerk said.

Gerk alleged that the former B.C. NDP government purposely built impediments into the act in 2001 to prevent abortion information from being released.

"I can know that my local hospital is providing abortion services, but I’m not allowed to know how many," he said.

Other user groups attending the two days of hearings suggested the original intent of the act was being eroded.

Fees increasing

One tactic by government bodies is the use of high fee estimates to stonewall requests for information, according to Morgan Blakley, a student at the Environmental Law Centre at the University of Victoria.

"There needs to be mandatory language put in place to stop any real or apparent use of fees to inhibit access to important records," Blakley told the committee.

"While the current regulations provide a framework for fee estimates, the discretionary language in the legislation gives public bodies too much room to use fees to stop access to public documents."

Blakley told the committee one group was assessed a fee of more than $172,000 for documents.

The fees were eventually dropped, but Blakley said high estimates like those were acting as a powerful deterrent to individuals or groups seeking information.

His figures showed general requests for information dropped by more than 50 per cent from 1996 to 2008, he said.