BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
Your Data Your Rights
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Wilmot Family Resource Centre rebrands as Wilmot and Wellesley Resource Centre
After two years of work and thanks to a $65,000 federal grant, the Wilmot Family Resource Centre has officially rebranded as the Wilmot and Wellesley Resource Centre and it launched a new website aimed at improving its internal operations and its communication with the people and communities it serves. According to resource centre executive director…
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Thieves gain access to about 140,000 social insurance numbers in NS Power database
Nova Scotia Power’s CEO says up to 140,000 social insurance numbers could have been stolen by cyber-thieves who recently hacked into the utility’s customer records. Peter Gregg said in an interview Thursday that the privately owned utility collected the numbers from customers to authenticate their identities. “If there are a number of John MacDonalds, it…
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Councillors want information on disturbing rise in St. Catharines homeowners unable to pay soaring tax bills
The revelation that since 2022 an additional 1,180 property owners in St. Catharines are unable to pay their tax bill has prompted at least one member of City Council to take action. Less than two weeks after The Pointer reported a sharp rise in the number of properties in municipal tax arrears, information that had…
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Groups call for more careful consideration of artificial intelligence measures
OTTAWA — Dozens of civil society organizations, experts and academics are calling on the Liberal government to remove proposed measures on artificial intelligence from a federal privacy bill, saying they must be considered separately. The Liberals introduced privacy legislation last year to give Canadians more control over how their personal data is used by commercial…
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Nova Scotia RCMP street check apology needed, says minister who cites own experience
HALIFAX — The RCMP’s promise to apologize for street checks that targeted Black people is being welcomed by the new African Nova Scotian Affairs minister, but she says she is more interested in what it will mean for future police conduct. Twila Grosse says she has first-hand experience: she was pulled over by police during…
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After leaving bipartisan voting information group, Virginia announces new data sharing agreements
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Months after withdrawing from a data-sharing interstate compact to fight voter fraud, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration on Wednesday announced a series of recent steps it has taken to improve the accuracy of the state’s voter rolls. Among them is the launch of new, individual data-sharing agreements with five other states…
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Toronto hospital network appoints chief AI scientist in bid to improve health care
Canada’s largest network of research hospitals has appointed a chief artificial intelligence scientist to harness promising technology that has the potential to speed up diagnoses, improve and personalize patient care and shorten recovery times. Bo Wang, whose expertise at the Toronto-based University Health Network includes machine learning and computational biology, is stepping into the role…
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Canada Post breaking law by gathering info from envelopes, parcels: privacy watchdog
OTTAWA — The federal privacy watchdog says Canada Post is breaking the law by gleaning information from the outsides of envelopes and packages to help build marketing lists that it rents to businesses. The office of privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne says information collected for the marketing program includes data about where individuals live and what…
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Air Canada system briefly breached, customer info and flight ops unaffected
MONTREAL — Canada’s biggest airline says an unauthorized group briefly breached an internal system linked to the personal information and records of some employees. Air Canada says in a statement today that no customer information was accessed in the cyberattack. The Montreal-based company says flight operation systems and public-facing platforms were unaffected. It says it…
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Newfoundland university threw open its doors to Titanic dive operator, emails show
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — A research institute at Newfoundland and Labrador’s Memorial University threw open its “proverbial doors” last year to the company that owned the doomed Titan submersible, less than a year before the vessel suffered a catastrophic implosion while diving to the Titanic shipwreck. Emails obtained by The Canadian Press show officials with…