B.C.’s minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship hopes to start working with the federal government toward a strategy to prevent train-wildlife collisions in the new year. “It’s really concerning,” Randene Neill said in an interview with The Narwhal this week. “I wasn’t aware that the numbers are that high.” Neill’s comments follow The Narwhal’s […]

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Social media platforms must report monthly how many children’s accounts they close once Australia begins enforcing its 16-year age limit next week, a minister said Wednesday. Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X and YouTube would face fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) from Dec. 10 […]

St. Ann’s – The Cabot Trail Writers Festival is announcing a new contest and online program which aims to help foster the next generation of writers on Cape Breton Island and the deadline to apply is Dec. 17. The program is called Raise Our Voices and any youth, between ages 12 and 18 as of […]

Canadians affected by a 23andMe data security breach two years ago have reached a proposed class-action settlement with the genetic testing company for approximately $4.49 million. Canada’s privacy watchdog said in June the personal data of almost seven million people, including nearly 320,000 in Canada, was compromised by hackers over a five-month period beginning in […]

The premier of Nova Scotia is calling for an investigation into how a major power utility has handled a cyberattack, saying residents should not be responsible for paying for Nova Scotia Power’s failures. Tim Houston wrote to the chair of the Nova Scotia Energy Board, saying he wants the regulator to look into the way […]

The Oakland Police Department has declined to provide the public with access to police body camera videos that would show what happened on Oct. 18, the morning former Oakland Raiders running back Doug Martin died while in the custody of several OPD officers. In response to a public records request by The Oaklandside, the department […]

Police in two B.C. cities are warning area residents after a number of cases where fraudsters are texting potential victims telling them they need to pay their fines for speeding tickets. RCMP say a number of people in Kelowna have reported receiving the texts, where they are asked to provide personal information such as date […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration warned on Tuesday that it will withhold money for administering SNAP food aid in most Democratic-controlled states starting next week unless those states provide information about people receiving the assistance. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday that the action is looming because those states […]

FIPA is sharing a preliminary report of our efforts to study freedom of information (FOI) in BC.  Since late 2022, FIPA has been engaged on a research project that uses documents obtained through FOI requests to piece together how FOI requests are processed. We collected data from every public body subject to both the Freedom of Information Act and Protection […]

Gaps in federal funding and authority expose many First Nations and Inuit Elders in Canada to inadequate long-term care, forcing them to leave their home communities, language and culture, documents show.  The document obtained by Canada’s National Observer through an Access to Information and Privacy request shows that limited funding, unclear responsibilities and gaps between […]

Alberta’s privacy watchdog is raising concerns about the government’s plan to add health-care numbers to driver’s licences and other forms of identification. Information and privacy commissioner Diane McLeod said it would increase the risk of fraud as the numbers could be obtained outside of health-care settings. “Personal health numbers of Canadians are a sought-after commodity […]

The information below links to the requests made, the public bodies who received them, and the release package FIPA received in response. Broader Public Sector 2024 BC Broader Public Sector Requests Core Government 2024 BC Core Government Requests Note: The data for this work is based on research conducted for FIPA’s larger project Access Regimes: Social […]