As a Communist Party member in Calgary in the early 1940s, Frank Hadesbeck performed clerical work at the party office, printed leaflets and sold books. But he also had tasks his party comrades could know nothing about: snooping on mail, copying phone numbers from scratch pads and rummaging through waste baskets. Hadesbeck, known to his […]

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 […]

A report from Alberta’s Auditor General flags loose network controls in three Government of Alberta departments as potential risks for unauthorized access to government data and Albertans’ personal information. In its audit of the province’s consolidated financial statements, the auditor general made recommendations to the Ministries of Technology and Innovation, Children and Family Services (CFS), […]

Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26. Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded […]

Show Notes for Saturday December 21st. Also available through: PodBean, Apple iTunes, YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM. Writing: Shaun Fisk  | Production: Patrick Farnsworth  | Music: Breakmaster Cylinder Send comments to: FIPAOnline @ fipa.bc.ca You can support these efforts by subscribing or donating.   Full Show Links Local Journalism Initiative Stories   Brant Catholic school board elects new chair  https://fipa.bc.ca/brant-catholic-school-board-elects-new-chair/   The Hamilton Spectator – https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-region/brant-catholic-school-board-elects-new-chair/article_238d659e-a143-5b72-bf28-ace3b8e542b9.html   County Council Approves Comprehensive […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]