Access to Information

Topic: Access to Information


What ideas were left on the cutting room floor in passport redesign? We’ll never know

OTTAWA — Garry Keller recalls the first images passport staff brought before the then-Conservative government for consideration during the last major passport overhaul. “We laughed,” Keller recalls. “It looked like a C-minus effort.” The original concepts featured a Canada goose, a beaver and a maple leaf — ideas the government found uninspired and “lowest-common denominator.” […]

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Canadian intelligence flagged Chinese meddling 37 years ago: newly released report

OTTAWA — A newly released document shows intelligence officials have been tracking China’s attempts to meddle in Canadian affairs for more than one-third of a century. The February 1986 intelligence report warned that Beijing was using open political tactics and secret operations to influence and exploit the Chinese diaspora in Canada. It said China was […]

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Manitoba school divisions added to index of `high risk industries’

Manitoba public schools were reprimanded for shoddy electrical work, missing first aid kits and allowing asbestos to become airborne, among unsafe conditions provincial investigators uncovered in 2022-23. Last summer, the department of workplace safety and health added school divisions to its index of “high-risk industries” — a group with significantly higher-than-average employee injury rates. The […]

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Who knew what when? A timeline of the Bernardo case and controversial prison transfer

OTTAWA — The Correctional Service of Canada announced Thursday that a review found Paul Bernardo’s transfer to a medium-security prison from a maximum-security penitentiary was sound and followed proper policies and laws. Public backlash had erupted following its decision to move the convicted murderer and serial rapist, engulfing the Liberal government with questions around its […]

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Nuclear threat from Ukraine war prompts Ottawa to update plans for catastrophe

OTTAWA — Canada is dusting off and updating emergency protocols to deal with fallout from a possible tactical nuclear exchange in Europe or the spread of radiation across the ocean from a Ukrainian power plant explosion. Internal Public Safety Canada notes show the measures include updating a highly secret plan to ensure the federal government […]

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Feds doing ‘broader review’ of social media after banning TikTok from work devices

OTTAWA — After banishing TikTok from the mobile devices of public servants, the federal government is taking a look at possible threats from other social-media applications. The government said in February that TikTok, a wildly popular app for sharing short videos, posed an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security. Federal officials are conducting […]

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Patrick Brown’s ‘reckless’ $11B debt plan would cost taxpayers almost $2K more each year

Regional councillors wasted no time in quashing a motion by Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown which sought to push the Region of Peel $11 billion into debt. The move came as council members labelled the idea “foolish” and “reckless”, while staff suggested it might be illegal. A staff report presented at the July 6 Peel Region […]

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City of Winnipeg orders protesters at landfill to restore access by Monday at noon

WINNIPEG — The City of Winnipeg has ordered protesters who have been blocking access to a landfill in support of a search for the remains of two Indigenous women to leave the area. In an email, the city says it issued an Order to Vacate in accordance with the Emergency Management Bylaw late Friday afternoon […]

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Searching landfill for remains of Indigenous women too complex for police: RCMP

OTTAWA — The former head of the RCMP said in December that police were not equipped to handle the complexities of searching a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of slain Indigenous women — an effort the Manitoba government also now calls too dangerous. Brenda Lucki, who resigned her post as commissioner in March, was involved […]

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Prisons head said process to notify minister of Bernardo transfer was followed: email

OTTAWA — As confusion reigned about who was informed that notorious serial killer Paul Bernardo was being transferred to a medium-security prison, the head of Canada’s federal prison system wrote to Public Safety Canada officials insisting the appropriate notification protocols had been followed. Emails released to The Canadian Press through the Access to Information Act […]

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Corrections head questioned how Mendicino was kept in dark over Bernardo transfer

OTTAWA — Days after Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino shared his outrage on social media over the transfer of notorious serial killer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security prison, the head of Canada’s federal prison system asked the department whether the politician had been told of the move. Anne Kelly, the commissioner of the Correctional Service […]

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Iowa auditor says new law will restrict his office’s access to information

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s auditor may face new challenges in his quest to track taxpayer dollars after a new law takes effect Saturday that allows state agencies to deny his office access to information and bars him from making an appeal in court. State Auditor Rob Sand, the only Democrat in statewide office, […]

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