Jeffrey Vermeire, right, rides a Toronto streetcar with his family in September 2025. Vermeire says his proof-of-citizenship application was referred to IRCC’s Program Support unit and has remained unresolved for more than a year. Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Vermeire.Jeffrey Vermeire, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter For more than a year, Jeffrey Vermeire has waited for Immigration, […]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Jim Mustian reported and co-wrote an Associated Press story that revealed the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration permitted hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to be distributed in New Mexico as part of an effort to build bigger federal prosecutions. Mustian, along with AP journalist Joshua Goodman, reviewed hundreds of internal DEA […]

Muslim groups and Culture Minister Marc Miller are decrying an alleged attack on an imam of a mosque in Victoria on Thursday night. Miller said in a tweet that the reported assault is “appalling and vile” and that such violence and Islamophobia have no place in Canada. The BC Muslim Association said in a statement […]

The European flag and the United Jack flag are held by Anti Brexit campaigners walking past Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square towards Britain’s parliament in London, Saturday March 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)Kirsty Wigglesworth Ten years ago this week, the United Kingdom voted to quit the European Union, setting off years of political turmoil and […]

Information commissioner Caroline Maynard says a federal proposal to narrow the scope of the Access to Information Act is a move in the wrong direction that could exclude “entire swaths of government-held records” from public scrutiny. Maynard makes the blunt warning in a newly published submission to the Treasury Board Secretariat’s latest review of the […]

A bill winding its way through Sacramento right now would make some of the biggest changes in decades to the California Public Records Act — the 58-year-old state law that guarantees everyone has access to government documents and data. Proponents argue AB 1821 is necessary to help local governments weather a deluge of burdensome requests […]

A large, dark wound protrudes from the side of the deer’s head, stretching from the base of its antler toward its ear. The animal’s big, dark eyes reflect a weary helplessness.  That’s the hauntingly “heartbreaking” image that stared back at animal rights lawyer Kaitlyn Mitchell from her computer screen after a Marineland employee reached out […]

FIPA report calls for a new way to understand whether B.C.’s freedom of information system is working.  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Victoria, B.C. 2026.06.18 — The B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) is releasing Drawing Access Together, a report based on over three years of research into the province’s freedom of information (FOI) systems.   The report finds that most public bodies do not maintain documented standards […]

The lawyer for former Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek is arguing police have no reason to hold onto her phone any longer as they investigate her and others for municipal corruption. “An admission that there is no timeline, that there’s no capability, there’s not specific step plan for this phone within the year is the opposite […]

MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — Fifteen countries from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Caribbean, and the Pacific adopted a declaration on Wednesday to step up efforts to combat illegal fishing, a practice that experts say costs the world economy up to $50 billion annually. The Mombasa Declaration, named after the Kenyan city hosting the 11th Our Ocean […]

Police in some of Quebec’s largest metropolitan regions have handed out thousands of fines over the past six years to citizens for allegedly hurling insults at officers or other municipal officials, according to internal data obtained by The Canadian Press.  Quebec City police have largely driven these numbers, issuing 11,092 fines between April 1, 2020, […]

June 15, 2026 – The BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) thanks the Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada for the opportunity to make submission for the 2025 Access to Information Act Review.   The following submission was drafted by FIPA and submitted to the Treasury Board Secretariat.   We want to thank our 2026 UVic Law Co-op Legal Researcher, Pascale Grenier, […]