BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
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Salmon group says aquaculture companies stashing garbage along Newfoundland coast
An eastern Canadian conservation group is calling for a moratorium on aquaculture expansion in Newfoundland and Labrador, alleging fish-farming companies are stashing plastic garbage along the province’s remote southern coastline. In a report summary released Tuesday, the Atlantic Salmon Federation said satellite images suggest aquaculture companies appear to have left broken cages, rope and other…
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NDP government spent $94,000 promoting school nutrition program expansion
The Kinew government spent more money promoting its universal school meal program this year than it did feeding students in some small divisions. At the start of the 2024-25 school year, the province spent $94,617.50 on advertisements related to the expansion of breakfast, lunch and snack offerings in kindergarten-to-Grade 12 buildings. The campaign — details…
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Oil giant broke deal to deactivate thousands of pipelines and faced no penalty, documents reveal
This investigation is a collaboration between The Narwhal and the Investigative Journalism Foundation. One of Canada’s largest oil and gas companies violated a deal it struck with B.C.’s energy regulator to address thousands of inactive pipelines in the province — and faced no financial penalties for doing so. Internal government documents obtained by The Narwhal…
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Warden ousted as FBI again searches California federal women’s prison plagued by sexual abuse
The warden of a troubled federal women’s prison in California has been ousted months into his tenure as FBI agents on Monday hauled boxes of evidence from the facility in an apparent escalation of a yearslong investigation that put a former warden and other employees behind bars for sexually abusing inmates. Government lawyers said in…
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Hamilton cyberattack shows municipalities need to shore up digital defences: expert
A recent ransomware attack that knocked out several online services in one of Ontario’s largest cities has brought into sharp focus the need for municipalities to have a plan to respond to what’s become an unavoidable – and increasingly sophisticated – threat, a top cybersecurity expert said. The breach in Hamilton is the latest example…
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New Jersey lawmakers fast track bill that could restrict records access under open records law
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey lawmakers voted Monday to advance a measure that could make it easier for government agencies to withhold documents under the state’s open records law, casting it as a modernizing bill that would cut back on profiteering businesses. Committees in the Democratic-led Senate and Assembly approved the fast-tracked legislation that…
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Nationwide review finds patchwork, ‘broken’ systems for resolving open records disputes
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Dana Holladay-Hollifield has worked as a nurse in Alabama for years, but never was her pay as low as it was at Huntsville Hospital. She wondered what executives at the not-for-profit facility made, so she filed a public records request to find out. The hospital is governed by a public board,…
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States have hodgepodge of cumbersome rules for enforcing sunshine laws
PHOENIX (AP) — A nationwide review of procedures by The Associated Press and CNHI News revealed a patchwork of complicated systems for resolving open government disputes that often put the burden of enforcing transparency laws on private citizens. The review, timed to Sunshine Week, found that fewer than a third of states have offices that…
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With AI, workplace surveillance has ‘skyrocketed’—leaving Canadian laws behind
Technology that tracks your location at work and the time you’re spending in the bathroom. A program that takes random screenshots of your laptop screen. A monitoring system that detects your mood during your shift. These are just some ways employee surveillance technology — now turbocharged, thanks to the explosive growth of artificial intelligence —…
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Officers weren’t told of threats to harm police, says RCMP ‘Freedom Convoy’ report`
An internal RCMP review of the force’s response to “Freedom Convoy” protests found that some officers at the scene of an Alberta blockade were unaware of threats to harm police until after the episode ended. The review report also describes “chaotic” efforts in early 2022 to mobilize officers in Ottawa, a lack of proper equipment,…
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OpenAI has ‘full confidence’ in CEO Sam Altman after investigation, reinstates him to board
OpenAI is reinstating CEO Sam Altman to its board of directors and said it has “full confidence” in his leadership after the conclusion of an outside investigation into the company’s turmoil. The ChatGPT maker tapped the law firm WilmerHale to look into what led the company to abruptly fire Altman in November, only to rehire…