Access to Information

Topic: Access to Information


Entrepreneur hopes to create a safe space in Inuvik

Inuvik resident Danita Frost-Arey says she wants to address the stigma of substance use by creating a safe space for residents through her business, Frost Studio Solutions. The newly launched company offers workshops and the likes of healing circles to promote harm reduction, as well as “system navigation and advocacy” for individuals. Prior to becoming […]

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Takeaways from The Associated Press’ reporting on prison labor in Alabama

DADEVILLE, Ala. (AP) — No state has a longer, more profit-driven history of contracting prisoners out to private companies than Alabama. With a sprawling labor system that dates back more than 150 years — including the brutal convict leasing era that replaced slavery — it has constructed a template for the commercialization of mass incarceration. […]

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Alabama profits off prisoners who work at McDonald’s but deems them too dangerous for parole

DADEVILLE, Ala. (AP) — A storm was looming when the inmate serving 20 years for armed robbery was assigned to transport fellow prisoners to their jobs at private manufacturers supplying goods to companies like Home Depot and Wayfair. It didn’t matter that Jake Jones once had escaped or that he had failed two drug and […]

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Ontario proposes requiring health staffing agencies to disclose their rates

Ontario is proposing to increase transparency and accountability around health staffing agencies, as hospitals and long-term care homes spend about $1 billion a year to fill shifts with temporary workers at rates far higher than full-time staff are paid. It’s a positive — if small — step toward regulating or lowering the fees of agencies […]

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Innu survivor wants former Labrador residential school building turned into a museum

To get to the post office in North West River, for years Joanna Michel would pass the residential school where she spent eight years in  the 1970s. “It’s a bad reminder of what happened, what took place there,” she  says, sitting in an empty conference room at the Innu Round Table  Secretariat office in Sheshatshiu. […]

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AgKnow funding turned down

A request for funding from AgKnow – the Alberta Farm Mental Health Network – was unanimously denied by the Municipal District of Willow Creek’s Agricultural Service Board (ASB). Meeting Nov. 27, the ASB turned down the request arguing it still didn’t understand AgKnow, despite previously asking them for supporting information on how it fits into […]

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Want to Make Sex Work Safer? Decriminalize It, Study Says

When sex workers are able to form relationships with co-workers, they can boost their odds of accessing support services and decrease their odds of facing workplace sexual or physical violence, according to a new study. The Lower Mainland study, peer-reviewed and published in PLOS One, looked at social cohesion and the ways sex workers support […]

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Port Coquitlam fire-safety retailer failed to comply with information requests; province recommends fine

The province has recommended that a fire-safety equipment retailor in Port Coquitlam be fined for failing to comply with environmental inspectors. On Nov. 27, Dragon Ventures Ltd., was cited for the fine after not producing documentation related to provincially mandated recycling regulations. The company was flagged with two non-compliance warnings following a series of office […]

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Activists sue federal government for images of dead orcas entangled by fishing boats

MIAMI (AP) — Activists sued the federal government Thursday to release images of dead orca whales, sea lions and other marine mammals entangled by commercial fishing boats off the U.S. West Coast. The complaints were filed after the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration failed to fulfill multiple Freedom of Information Act requests filed by […]

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‘Running in fear’: Documents depict chaos, confusion over Reclaiming Canada event

When the organizer of the We Unify Reclaiming Canada event contacted officials about booking the Victoria Conference Centre, he touted invitees from across the political spectrum, including liberal luminaries such as Amal Clooney, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, B.C.’s NDP Premier David Eby, movie stars and more. Jonathan Bower told the sales director of the city-owned […]

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FortisBC pitched to a Sooke Council to keep its products on tap for new builds

Build, and build responsibly. That’s the overall message the province is giving the community of just under 15K that’s projected to have 28K residents by 2045. A hard sell from Fortis, pressure to adopt the Zero Carbon Step Code and a deadline to respond to the province’s housing density mandate are all coming to a […]

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Alberta’s Smith disappointed federal pension plan report offers no estimate of share

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the province has heard back from Canada’s chief actuary on its bid to leave the Canada Pension Plan but says there’s no estimate on how much the province should get. The province has been waiting for months for the review and a figure. Smith said Thursday her government will follow […]

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