This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, November 29th.   This week, the national spotlight is squarely on children’s privacy and online safety. Advocates are renewing calls for federal action as harms escalate, from AI-driven manipulation to tragic failures in youth mental health information practices. And as families head into holiday shopping, experts warn that AI-powered toys […]

The University of Winnipeg has begun the search for a new leader after terminating its president. The board of regents, the governing body in charge of operations at U of W, removed Todd Mondor following a meeting Monday night. Mondor began what was supposed to be a five-year term on April 1, 2022. “In the […]

Livingstone Range School Division says student and staff information stored on an old PowerSchool server was accessed in last winter’s cybersecurity breach. The revelation comes as Alberta’s privacy commissioner concludes school authorities across the province failed to meet required security standards. Jeff Perry, associate superintendent of business services at LRSD, confirmed that archived records covering […]

Maya Cassady was just two months away from graduating high school with honours when she obtained her mental health records through a freedom of information request. Just hours after reading the contents, which included doctors’ ponderings about a diagnosis, the 17-year-old took her own life.  It was March 30, 2023. Since Maya’s death, her mother, […]

As parents hunt for gifts that will wow their kids this holiday season, Canadian child development and psychology experts say they should be wary of AI-powered toys because of possible harms, ranging from privacy and security violations to interference with children’s creativity and development. “Early childhood is a time where the developing brain is a […]

The president and chief executive officer of Nova Scotia Power says a Russia-based actor is likely behind a cybersecurity breach that targeted the utility’s customers in April. “This incident was an unprecedented, sophisticated and targeted attack,” Peter Gregg told a committee of the Nova Scotia legislature in prepared remarks on Tuesday. “Based on expert assessments […]

Dangerous driving penalties are set to soon be strengthened in Ontario, as the government has tabled a bill in honour of a father of three who was killed by an alleged dangerous driver. Andrew Cristillo, 35, was killed Aug. 3 in a head-on crash in Whitchurch-Stouffville that also left his wife and their three young […]

In April, with the threat of a transit strike looming over City Hall, Mayor Patrick Brown and his fellow members of council had other priorities.  Just as the head of the transit union was accusing the City and Brown of bargaining in bad faith, the mayor and his supporters on council, secretly approved a $10.9 […]

Faraday Township council heard from Kate Harris, the head librarian and CEO of the North Hastings Public Library at their meeting on Nov. 5, who presented the library’s draft budget for 2026. Harris and CAO Bernice Crocker comment to The Bancroft Times about Harris’ library budget presentation. Harris presented her draft budget for the NHPL […]

The Kinew government is drafting legislative changes to better track schoolchildren and ensure more of them attend classes regularly. Premier Wab Kinew revealed the “Reach Out, Reach Up” initiative is a priority for this session, but few details were included in the Nov. 18 throne speech. The program will address chronic absenteeism in kindergarten-to-Grade 12 […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — A number of Democratic lawmakers are questioning the legality of a U.S. Border Patrol predictive intelligence program that singles out and detains drivers for suspicious travel inside the country. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts sent a letter Monday to Border Patrol’s parent agency calling the license plate reader program an “invasive surveillance […]

The RCMP says a man’s body was recovered from the St. Croix River after he tried to swim away from police officers in St. Stephen. Officers say they approached the man, who had been wanted for an alleged breach of a community sentence order, last Saturday and he fled, later seen struggling in the river, […]