BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
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Libraries meeting changing community needs despite funding woes
When Kristel Fleuren-Hunter was growing up in Antigonish, she remembers the bookmobile – a library on wheels – coming to the school and her and the other children picking out books for the classroom. As she got older, she borrowed Nancy Drew books from her small local library. Trecia Schell remembers singing “skinnamarinky dinky dink”…
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Élections Québec asked government to change French-language laws in 2023
Élections Québec knew it would not be allowed to send voter information in English over a year before the election campaign, The Canadian Press has learned. The provincial election authority had tried to pressure the government to amend its language legislation — and even provided proposed wording of an amendment — but the government refused,…
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Back to School Brings More Than Just the 3Rs
With millions of Canadian children and youth returning to school, public health officials are urging families to get their shots for vaccine-preventable illnesses, including COVID, RSV, flu and measles. Besides seasonal vaccines, experts stress Canadians need to stay up to date on their routine shots as well. Canada lost its official measles elimination status last…
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Supreme Court lifts a cloud over midterms, letting mail ballots flow as normal to voters
Even with voting already underway, uncertainty about what might come next had been hovering over preparations for this year’s midterm elections. The U.S. Supreme Court lifted much of that uncertainty late Monday when it rejected President Donald Trump’s push to have the U.S. Postal Service play a central role in deciding who would be able…
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Supreme Court rejects Trump mail ballot restrictions ahead of midterms
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected President Donald Trump’s bid to restrict mail ballots for the midterm elections, capping a flurry of last-minute legal action with voting already underway. The decision allows states to continue sending out mail ballots under the same processes they’ve used for years and have accounted for nearly…
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Federal charges announced in Texas are part of broader Trump focus on noncitizen voting
Seven people in Texas who are not U.S. citizens have been charged with illegally voting in federal elections or falsely claiming citizenship, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas announced Tuesday as part of a broader Trump administration focus on noncitizen voting. District Attorney Ryan Raybould said investigators determined the alleged conduct was…
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Trump’s push to restrict mail ballots has failed. Other efforts to reshape the midterms are ongoing
NEW YORK (AP) — The Supreme Court this week closed the chapter on one of President Donald Trump’s boldest efforts to reshape November’s elections — a plan that would have demanded a dramatic overhaul of the nation’s mail voting processes on what most election officials agreed was an impossibly short timeline. But the case was…
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Iran war has cost the US more than $38B, budget office says
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. war against Iran has cost the Department of Defense more than $38 billion through Aug. 1, and will continue costing up to $3 billion a month or more depending on the intensity of the conflict, according to an assessment released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. CBO said the…
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Don’t ignore access to information request, University of Saskatchewan told
In July, the University of Saskatchewan received an access to information (ATI) request to release recent purchasing records, which it deemed “frivolous” and asked the province’s information and privacy commissioner to dismiss. Commissioner Grace Hession David, however, ruled that the university’s refusal would deny that applicant’s access to information rights, according to a decision published…
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N.B. mayors get training on roles, responsibilities
About 74 of New Brunswick’s mayors and deputy mayors were part of a new training program hosted by the Union of Municipalities of New Brunswick (UMNB) — called Mayor’s School. President Brittany Merrifield said the organization came up with the idea to help better explain the role of the mayor. “We have to run the…
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Japanese utility execs resign over falsified quake safety data for 2 nuclear reactors
TOKYO (AP) — The president of Chubu Electric Power Co., Japan’s third-largest utility, said Monday that he and the chairperson are resigning to take responsibility over the company’s yearslong manipulation of earthquake safety data for two nuclear reactors and that the operator will withdraw applications to restart them. Japan has been gradually restarting some of…