Access to Information

Topic: Access to Information


Internal federal public service report details racism in the Privy Council Office

An internal report from the federal public service released Monday says Black and racialized Privy Council Office employees experience racism and discrimination in the workplace. “Black and racialized employees — through dozens of examples of racial stereotyping, microaggressions, and verbal violence — described a workplace culture where such behaviour is regularly practised and normalized, including […]

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TC Energy executives celebrate ‘ground game’ for Ontario pumped storage project

On March 26, the Owen Sound city council meeting was packed with residents as elected officials discussed whether to support one of TC Energy’s biggest clean energy projects. The Calgary-based energy giant has proposed a pumped storage project in Meaford, Ont., on the shores of Georgian Bay — a man-made reservoir built on the Niagara […]

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Privy Council to continue anti-racism efforts, clerk says after report release

The head of the federal public service says he is personally committed to “continuous action” to address racism and discrimination in the workplace, following the public release of an internal report that details employees’ troubling experiences on the job.  Privy Council clerk John Hannaford says the department has put a number of initiatives in place, […]

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With DUI-related ejection from Army, deputy who killed Massey should have raised flags, experts say

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois sheriff’s deputy charged in the shooting death of Sonya Massey was kicked out of the Army for the first of two drunken driving convictions in which he had a weapon in his car, authorities said, but that didn’t stop multiple law enforcement agencies from giving him a badge.  Before […]

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St. Catharines pauses heavy-handed B&B crackdown; FOI documents show meetings between Mayor Siscoe and hotel industry lobbyists

After public backlash and media scrutiny, St. Catharines council on Monday night paused the previous enforcement of a bylaw to license bed and breakfasts.  The controversial bylaw was implemented in April of last year and required all bed and breakfasts to obtain a license in order to operate within city limits.   It was the first […]

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Government chatbots? It’s one possibility under Ottawa’s new AI strategy

Delayed air passengers, disgruntled phone customers and even hungry people craving a slice of pizza increasingly find their pleas to private companies being answered by artificial intelligence. Soon Canadians who need to reach out to the federal government could also find themselves talking to an employee who’s been helped by non-human assistants.  Ottawa is working […]

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A mysterious pile of bones could hold evidence of Japanese war crimes, activists say

TOKYO (AP) — Depending on who you ask, the bones that have been sitting in a Tokyo repository for decades could be either leftovers from early 20th century anatomy classes, or the unburied and unidentified victims of one of the country’s most notorious war crimes. A group of activists, historians and other experts who want […]

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Fight for Farmland has FOI requests denied; one farm and three homes now sold in affected area

The Region of Waterloo’s attempted acquisition of 770 acres of prime farmland has reached a new level of frustration for those battling against it. Fight for Farmland, the grassroots group behind the push for more transparency, has come up empty following 21 freedom of information (FOI) requests to the Region. Eighteen of them were completely […]

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Secret DEA files show agents joked about rape in a WhatsApp chat. Then one of them was accused of it

MIAMI (AP) — In a WhatsApp chat that quickly devolved into depravity, a group of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents boasted about their “world debauchery tour” of “boozing and whoring” on the government’s dime. They swapped lurid images of their latest sexual conquests. And at one point they even joked about “forcible anal rape.” Within […]

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Unclaimed bodies are piling up in Newfoundland. A funeral director blames government.

Unclaimed bodies are piling up in Newfoundland, and a funeral director says they likely belong to people whose loved ones couldn’t get enough government help to pay for a funeral.  Emails obtained by the provincial NDP show the number of unclaimed bodies kept in temporary freezer units at the province’s largest hospital more than doubled […]

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Ombudsperson’s report says BC prisons fail to meet inspection standards

None of the 10 correctional facilities run by Corrections BC is fully compliant with Corrections Act or international standards outlined in the Nelson Mandela Rules (NMRs), according to the BC Ombudsperson’s 2024 Under Inspection Update report. The 10 adult correctional centres in B.C. house an average of 1,800 individuals at secure, medium and open security […]

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GN answers Clyde River ‘SOS’ over lack of staff, unnecessary purchases

Unpaid employees, an expired union contract and municipal leadership that was “missing in action” led Clyde River to ask the Government of Nunavut to appoint a supervisor to help manage its operations. Emails between the hamlet and Nunavut’s Department of Community and Government Services in 2023 show the municipality’s operations were struggling. Nunatsiaq News obtained […]

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