A scientist works in a laboratory. (REUTERS/Andrea Comas)

OTTAWA - Two advocacy groups are urging the Information Commissioner of Canada to make some noise about what it calls the government's "muzzling" of federal scientists.

Democracy Watch and the Environmental Law Centre at the University of Victoria have jointly asked Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault to launch an investigation into the "federal government's policies and actions to obstruct the right of the public and the media to speak to government scientists."

Attached to the letter was a 128-page document detailing the nature of the complaint.