This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, October 25th.   We’ll start with a group of local journalism initiative stories that show how this initiative is regularly employing access and requests for information in their reporting.   We’ll follow that up with national reports that intersect access and privacy, including continuing fallout from the damning federal auditors report that includes identification […]

On Tuesday morning, interim NDP leader Don Davies stood up in the House of Commons to deliver on a party promise — introducing legislation that would end unpaid work by flight attendants. According to the Canadian Union of Public Employees, or CUPE, North American flight attendants are usually paid only while in the air. The […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump ’s pick to lead a federal watchdog agency withdrew from consideration Tuesday evening, after his offensive text messages were made public and GOP senators revolted. Paul Ingrassia, who was nominated to lead the Office of Special Counsel, had been scheduled to have his confirmation hearing this week. On Monday, […]

Organizers behind a plan to establish North America’s first coastal refuge for captive whales say the Nova Scotia government has granted them approval to start construction on the province’s eastern shore. The U.S.-based Whale Sanctuary Project announced Tuesday that Premier Tim Houston’s cabinet had granted the organization a 20-year lease for 83 hectares of Crown […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s pick to lead an office charged with protecting federal whistleblowers appeared to be in jeopardy on Tuesday after Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he hoped the White House would withdraw the nomination. The growing opposition to Paul Ingrassia comes after a Politico report of a text chat that […]

Canadian ocean research is among the scientific fields that could be vulnerable to foreign espionage, theft or misuse because people overlook its value to adversaries, says a report commissioned by the federal government.  The Council of Canadian Academies report says the risks associated with ocean studies have received far less attention in policies and guidelines […]

The federal auditor found “significant gaps” in the government’s cybersecurity services, monitoring efforts and responses to active attacks on information systems. In a report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, Auditor General Karen Hogan said the federal government must continually bolster its defences as cyberattacks become more sophisticated, pervasive and harmful. In separate reports released Tuesday, […]

The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations chided the federal government Monday for failing to deliver on its promise to introduce legislation to declare First Nations policing an essential service. Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak told MPs on the House of Commons Indigenous affairs committee that the failure of governments to equally fund First Nations […]

CBC/Radio-Canada has filed an application in Federal Court to fight an order directing it to disclose subscriber numbers for its Gem streaming service. The information commissioner ordered CBC to make available the number of paid subscribers to Gem following an access-to-information request for the data. CBC/Radio-Canada president Marie-Philippe Bouchard told The Canadian Press the subscriber […]

The Manitoba government has been taking longer to respond to freedom of information requests and collecting more money from people filing them, newly released figures show. Government departments and agencies fulfilled more than 1,200 freedom of information requests in the fiscal year that ended in March, said the government’s annual report on its freedom of […]

A report into allegations of corruption in Alberta Health Services contracts says it was widely known two employees were in conflicts of interest, but no steps were taken by senior officials. Former Manitoba judge Raymond Wyant writes in his report, released Friday, that he found no evidence of wrongful interference from Premier Danielle Smith, her […]

The RCMP has agreed to release new information about the disappearance of two children from their home in rural Nova Scotia, including accounts from witnesses who said they heard a vehicle going back and forth nearby, a few hours before the kids were reported missing. Malehya Brooks-Murray reported her children, six-year-old Lilly and four-year-old Jack […]