Your Access and Privacy Online News Summary for Saturday, January 31st. This week, artificial intelligence is colliding with privacy, democracy, and public trust — from Google’s move to fold personal data directly into AI-powered search, to renewed federal plans for an online harms bill that could reshape how Canadians — especially children — experience the […]

Four years after a mass shooting in Nova Scotia claimed 22 lives, the RCMP have presented 32 awards to officers and staff for their roles in the manhunt and the public inquiry that followed. The awards, approved by RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme in May, are described in documents obtained under the federal access to information law by author and […]

As other countries move toward banning social media use for some teens, the Liberal government has confirmed it’s working on new legislation to address online harms.  So could Canada follow Australia and implement a social media ban? Here’s what we know:  What are the rules in place now for kids under 13?  Canada has no […]

Advocates of more federal transparency are concerned a federal review of the Access to Information regime will not fix long-standing problems, and that it could even make things worse. The Treasury Board Secretariat announced the government review, which takes place every five years, in a news release last June. For a $5 fee, people can […]

Canada continues to tout itself as a “world leader” in tackling ghost gear’s threats to marine life and coastal communities even though funding for the program dried up in 2024.  Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s (DFO’s) former investments to address abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear, were axed without explanation by the federal Liberals more than […]

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge in Oregon dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit seeking Oregon’s unredacted voter rolls on Monday in another setback to wide-ranging efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to get detailed voter data from states. In a hearing, U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai said he would dismiss the suit and issue […]

A request from Nova Scotia’s power utility to conserve energy is being met with less than favourable reactions online.  Nova Scotia Power posted on social media several times over the weekend, asking customers to conserve energy as extremely cold temperatures hit the province.  In response, comments and reactions to the request did not hold back.  […]

School leaders in Portage la Prairie are recommending the wider use of anonymous tiplines to monitor safety issues and other pressing concerns among students in Manitoba. A recent government-mandated review of safety protocols in kindergarten-to-Grade 12 schools has renewed one rural division’s support for its online reporting system. For the better part of the last […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Guan Heng, who exposed human rights abuses in his native China, has been in U.S. custody since being swept up in an immigration enforcement operation in August. He says he dares not even think about what would happen to him if he were sent back. “I would be prosecuted, I would be […]

A former Winnipeg police officer who sold drugs to colleagues and took a photo of a dead woman has been handed a seven-year prison sentence in a case that rocked the force and had a judge questioning the extent of police corruption.  “Today is a dark day for public confidence in the administration of justice,” […]

Alberta’s Opposition is calling for action and more transparency in the wake of a prolonged mouse infestation at one of Edmonton’s biggest long-term care homes. Covenant Health, along with Assisted Living Minister Jason Nixon, declined requests from The Canadian Press to provide the most recent health inspection report for the Edmonton General Continuing Care Centre, […]

The federal government is working on online harms legislation, Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon said Friday. Solomon told reporters Culture Minister Marc Miller will bring the bill forward. The bill would be separate from privacy legislation Solomon is expected to introduce, and from a justice bill the government tabled last year that includes elements criminalizing […]