Access to Information

Topic: Access to Information


Arkansas parole board chair resigns after police personnel file shows he lied about sex with minor

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The chair of Arkansas’ parole board resigned on Friday after personnel records revealed he was fired from a local police department several years ago for lying to investigators about having sex with a minor. Jamol Jones, who Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders named the board’s chair last week, stepped down from […]

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Turning Rideau Cottage into prime minister’s permanent home comes with cost: docs

Turning Rideau Cottage into the permanent residence of the prime minister would have to include creating staff offices and other “residential infrastructure,” an internal government document says.  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been living in the house on the grounds of Rideau Hall, the Governor General’s residence, since he came into office. Making that situation […]

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File No. 40078 Supreme Court of Canada Ruling

Despite a legal intervention from FIPA and others, it is a dark day for accountability in Canada. The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has made its ruling in Attorney General for Ontario v. Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, et al. File No. 40078.   Writing for the majority, Justice Karakatsanis ruled the mandate letters […]

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Supreme Court rules Ford government doesn’t have to disclose mandate letters

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government can keep marching orders to cabinet ministers confidential, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday, marking an end to a long-running legal battle over access to the documents. The CBC had asked – under the province’s freedom-of-information law – for the letters written to ministers after Ford won the 2018 […]

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Who freed Flaco? One year later, celebrity owl’s escape from Central Park Zoo remains a mystery

NEW YORK (AP) — This New York love story begins with a criminal act of sabotage. Under cover of darkness a year ago Friday, someone breached a waist-high fence and slipped into the Central Park Zoo. Once inside, they cut a hole through a steel mesh cage, freeing a majestic Eurasian eagle-owl named Flaco who […]

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Ottawa declassifies more details from Rodal report on Nazi war criminals in Canada

The federal government has released previously classified details from a report that outlines the extent to which Canada provided a safe haven to former Nazis during the Cold War. Ottawa faced renewed calls for greater transparency about the presence of war criminals in Canada after parliamentarians inadvertently gave two standing ovations last fall to a […]

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CBC head Catherine Tait won’t rule out accepting a bonus amid widespread cuts

The president of CBC and Radio-Canada signalled Tuesday that she will recommend bonuses are rolled out to executives this year, despite plans to cut 10 per cent of the national broadcaster’s workforce.  Catherine Tait told the House of Commons heritage committee that it’s ultimately up to the board of directors to determine who gets bonuses, […]

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When a white supremacist threatened an Iraqi DEI coordinator in Maine, he fled the state

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The diversity, equity and inclusion coordinator of public schools in South Portland, Maine, has resigned and left the state, saying he fears for his family’s safety after receiving a threatening letter from a white supremacist. The attack on Mohammed Albehadli, who came to the U.S. a decade ago from Iraq […]

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Public private processes undermine accountability.

Originally Published 2024.01.22 and Updated 2024.01.25 As part of our “FOI a Day” research, we continue to file and examine how public bodies meet their record keeping and disclosure obligations. We have been filing a number of freedom of information requests about freedom of information that continue to deliver important insights.   A recent group […]

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911 calls show fears of residents and friends after a young man got shot entering the wrong home

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A concerned college student asked police if they’d seen his fraternity brother early one Saturday morning after he’d sent the 20-year-old home from a sports bar in an Uber. He hadn’t heard from his friend in the hours since, but the rideshare driver had let him know that the young man […]

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Quebec village sends threatening legal notices to nearly one-tenth of its population

The village of Ste-Pétronille, Que., is used to receiving attention from outsiders. Tourists flock to the hamlet at the tip of picturesque Orleans Island to see its French colonial architecture and enjoy views of the Quebec City skyline across the St. Lawrence River. But since the hiring of its town manager, the allure of Ste-Pétronille […]

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Internal documents suggest Alberta Energy Regulator underestimated oil well liability

Internal documents from Alberta’s energy regulator suggest the province’s environmental liability for hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells could be nearly triple the figure the agency announced earlier this week.  In a report released Wednesday, the Alberta Energy Regulator said the cost of cleaning up the province’s 466,000 wells would be $33.3 billion. […]

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