This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, October 25th.   We’ll start with a group of local journalism initiative stories that show how this initiative is regularly employing access and requests for information in their reporting.   We’ll follow that up with national reports that intersect access and privacy, including continuing fallout from the damning federal auditors report that includes identification […]

In the weeks before a deadly attack at a Vancouver Filipino festival, suspect Adam Kai-Ji Lo asked to have his antipsychotic medication reduced, even as his mental health was deteriorating, a B.C. Supreme Court lawsuit says.  The proposed class-action civil suit filed Thursday by a survivor of the attack says Lo’s psychiatrist was concerned during […]

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Friday said Meta and TitTok had breached their transparency obligations after an investigation that could result in billions of dollars in fines. The inquiry found both companies had violated the Digital Services Act, the EU’s trailblazing digital rule book that imposes a set of strict requirements designed to […]

The European Union’s democracy commissioner said he won’t “lecture” Canada or any other country as the EU pushes ahead on regulating tech platforms and artificial intelligence. Michael McGrath, the EU commissioner for democracy, justice, the rule of law and consumer protection, is visiting Canada, as the Liberal government pursues an AI policy that puts less […]

Editor’s note: This story is a collaboration between the Investigative Journalism Foundation and The Narwhal.A Canadian oil and gas firm successfully pressed Canada’s spy agency to start sharing government intelligence with the country’s wealthiest companies, something advocates say will protect critical infrastructure but that critics worry could infringe on civil rights.  TC Energy, a major […]

Alberta’s forthcoming passenger rail master plan could open the door to a company’s “hyperloop” proposal — despite a federal study that found the technology is shrouded in uncertainty and unlikely to be viable this decade. All the hype around hyperloop technology started in 2013 when celebrity investor Elon Musk proposed the concept of using electric […]

Quebec residents paid more than $10 million out of pocket to receive health care in other provinces last year.  Unlike other provinces, Quebec has opted not to adopt reciprocal billing agreements with other jurisdictions for most medical services.  That means Quebecers travelling outside the province have to pay for health care upfront and then submit […]

Manitoba children have been hit by vehicles 36 times this year.  Seven of them were in September, as kids made their way back to school after the summer break.  Manitoba Public Insurance’s latest analysis of road incidents also reveals there have been dozens of collisions involving school buses in 2025.  The numbers represent “close calls, […]

Clippy, the animated paper clip that annoyed Microsoft Office users nearly three decades ago, might have just been ahead of its time. Microsoft introduced a new artificial intelligence character called Mico (pronounced MEE’koh) on Thursday, a floating cartoon face shaped like a blob or flame that will embody the software giant’s Copilot virtual assistant and […]

On Tuesday morning, interim NDP leader Don Davies stood up in the House of Commons to deliver on a party promise — introducing legislation that would end unpaid work by flight attendants. According to the Canadian Union of Public Employees, or CUPE, North American flight attendants are usually paid only while in the air. The […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump ’s pick to lead a federal watchdog agency withdrew from consideration Tuesday evening, after his offensive text messages were made public and GOP senators revolted. Paul Ingrassia, who was nominated to lead the Office of Special Counsel, had been scheduled to have his confirmation hearing this week. On Monday, […]

Organizers behind a plan to establish North America’s first coastal refuge for captive whales say the Nova Scotia government has granted them approval to start construction on the province’s eastern shore. The U.S.-based Whale Sanctuary Project announced Tuesday that Premier Tim Houston’s cabinet had granted the organization a 20-year lease for 83 hectares of Crown […]