BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
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Internal report finds major flaws in program to recruit foreign nurses to Quebec
Foreign nurses recruited to Quebec through a provincial government program faced “major obstacles” upon their arrival, including a lack of housing, child care and transportation, according to an internal report. A rigorous training schedule, culture shock and fear of failure caused severe stress among the recruits, says the report produced by the province’s Immigration Department.…
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23andMe files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as co-founder and CEO Wojcicki resigns
23andMe has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and its co-founder and CEO has resigned as the struggling genetic testing company continues its push to cut costs. The company said Sunday that it will look to sell “substantially all of its assets” through a court-approved reorganization plan. The San Francisco-based company also said Anne Wojcicki…
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Tax season is a prime time for scams. IRS uncertainty could add to the issues this year
NEW YORK (AP) — There’s a lot of information (and money) on the table during tax season. That also makes it a prime time for scams. Year-round, fraudsters may use a handful of common tactics to try to steal your identity, money or other sensitive information. As you prepare your annual tax return, due April…
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Information of 360,000 people affected in Ontario vaccine data breach
TORONTO — The Ontario government says it is notifying about 360,000 people whose personal information was involved in a vaccine database breach more than a year ago. The breach happened on Nov. 16, 2021 and the Ontario Provincial Police charged two people, including an employee of the province’s vaccine contact centre. Since then, the government says it…
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MP asks House ethics committee to put ‘unnecessarily rushed’ lobbying rule changes on hold
MPs recently moved to delay proposed changes to the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct that include reduced cooling-off periods for lobbyists doing political work and more stringent rules for gift-giving. “I felt that the process was unnecessarily rushed by the commissioner… the two weeks’ notice that we were given in the kind of dying weeks of…
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N.L. paying telehealth company more than twice what it pays doctors for consultations
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — The association representing doctors in Newfoundland and Labrador is looking for answers after it discovered the province agreed to pay a private telemedicine company more than double what it pays family doctors for consultations. The Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association found a contract between the provincial government and Fonemed among the…
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EU court: Google must delete inaccurate search info if asked
LONDON (AP) — Google has to delete search results about people in Europe if they can prove that the information is clearly wrong, the European Union’s top court said Thursday. The European Court of Justice ruled that search engines must “dereference information” if the person making the request can demonstrate that the material is “manifestly…
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Media shunning transparency law due to worsening delays, journalist says
OTTAWA — Reporters are abandoning the federal Access to Information Act as a research tool because turnaround times are terrible and getting worse, veteran journalist Dean Beeby told MPs studying the federal law. Beeby was among the media members and researchers who painted a sorry picture of the state of Canada’s access system Wednesday for a House…
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Russian court upholds ex reporter’s 22 year treason sentence
MOSCOW (AP) — A court in the Russian capital on Wednesday rejected an appeal from a former journalist who was convicted of treason and given a 22-year prison sentence following what was widely seen as a politically motivated trial. The appeals court upheld the September sentence handed to Ivan Safronov, who worked as a military…
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Auditor General finds PCs’ Bill 23 could put Ontarians at increased risk of flood disasters
In late August, Brampton residents were tormented by an onslaught of rain leading to extensive property damage and numerous calls to the City and emergency services. As walls of water came down, rivers of brown runoff flowed into low-lying basements, causing widespread damage across parts of the region. Up to 100 millimetres of precipitation fell…
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Argentina eyes $100 billion as US will share banking data
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The U.S. and Argentina agreed on Monday to have their tax agencies automatically share data about citizens’ banking and investments in each other’s countries. The government in Buenos Aires hopes this will lead to an estimated $100 billion that Argentines have tried to shelter in the United States. Financial data…