Access to Information

Topic: Access to Information


Councillors reject minimums for public meetings

THUNDER BAY – Most city councillors don’t want to be forced to hold public meetings with their constituents. In a 5-8 vote, Coun. Greg Johnsen’s motion to require each councillor to host a minimum of one ward or town hall meeting per year failed to gain the support of his colleagues, particularly at-large councillors. The […]

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B.C., Ottawa deflect responsibility for train-wildlife collisions

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 […]

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Oakland police won’t release body camera video of ex-NFL player Doug Martin’s in-custody death

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 […]

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Trump administration threatens to withhold SNAP management funds from states that don’t share data

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 […]

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Federal gaps leave Indigenous Elders without adequate long-term care

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 […]

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Hans McCarthy wins landmark Forensic Audit, setting new standards for First Nations governance

(ANNews) – Hans McCarthy, grandson of the late Frog Lake Chief Lawrence Francis Quinney, has achieved a landmark court victory in a forensic audit, establishing a new standard for financial transparency and accountability for First Nations across Canada. McCarthy, who currently lives in Pigeon Lake, Alberta says, “I grew up in Frog Lake First Nation. […]

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Manitoba conservation officers, tasked with border duties, haven’t seen much

It’s been 11 months since Manitoba started using conservation officers as extra sets of eyes on the United States border in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims that migrants and drug-smugglers were pouring in from Canada. And it turns out they haven’t seen much at all. “To my knowledge, there was actually no activity […]

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Alberta gets its way in deal with Ottawa

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has long demanded the federal government roll back climate policies, further support its highly polluting fossil fuel sector, and threatened a constitutional unity crisis if she doesn’t get her way.  On Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney blinked.  The two leaders signed a memorandum of understanding that immediately exempts Alberta from clean […]

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Maya, 17, got mental health records by FOI, then killed herself. Her mom wants reform

Maya Cassady was just two months away from graduating high school with honours when she obtained her mental health records through a freedom of information request. Just hours after reading the contents, which included doctors’ ponderings about a diagnosis, the 17-year-old took her own life.  It was March 30, 2023. Since Maya’s death, her mother, […]

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Government push to unseal court records offers clues about what could be in the Epstein files

NEW YORK (AP) — As the Justice Department gets ready to release its files on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, a court battle over sealed documents in Maxwell’s criminal case is offering clues about what could be in those files. Government lawyers asked a judge on Wednesday to allow the […]

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One year since Bill 212 paved the way for environmentally destructive Highway 413

“I can’t see why we have to destroy the Greenbelt when there are thousands of acres within [the] metropolitan area of Toronto, which are empty or brownfields,” Assunta Marcolongo, a long-time member of the grassroots group STOP the 413 NOW, says. On a freezing, rainy morning last week, November 21, 79-year-old Marcolongo travelled an hour-and-a-half […]

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3D-printed guns FBI boss Kash Patel gifted to New Zealand officials were toy-inspired

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Inoperable pistols gifted by FBI Director Kash Patel to senior New Zealand security officials, who had to relinquish them for destruction because they were illegal to possess, were revolvers inspired by toy Nerf guns and popular among 3D-printed weapons hobbyists, documents obtained by The Associated Press show. The AP first […]

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