Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government broke its legal, record-keeping obligations amid its now-reversed decision to open up parts of the protected Greenbelt lands for housing, the province’s information and privacy commissioner has found.  Political staff were using code words to thwart document requests and left a surprisingly small paper trail for such a consequential policy, […]

The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to review a ruling that concluded Facebook broke federal privacy law by failing to adequately inform users of risks to their data when using the popular social media platform. Last September, the Federal Court of Appeal found Facebook, now known as Meta Platforms, did not obtain the meaningful […]

Rallies for endangered species. Protests led by First Nations. A filibuster from the NDP. More than 4,000 amendments tabled by the Liberals. Two committee hearings with Indigenous leaders, legal experts, labour representatives, and more. Despite all of it, Bill 5 passed. On June 5, as Ontarians across the province struggled to breathe through smoke-filled air […]

Canada’s new minister of artificial intelligence said Tuesday he’ll put less emphasis on AI regulation and more on finding ways to harness the technology’s economic benefits. In his first speech since becoming Canada’s first-ever AI minister, Evan Solomon said Canada will move away from “over-indexing on warnings and regulation” to make sure the economy benefits […]

Transparency advocates say a coming federal review of the Access to Information Act should be overseen by an independent panel — not the government — to avoid the pitfalls of the last such exercise. In a letter sent Monday to Prime Minister Mark Carney and Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali, civil society groups, academics and […]

Canada will finally meet its NATO defence spending commitment this year as it confronts an alarming new world of threats, Prime Minister Mark Carney said in Toronto Monday morning. Carney said Canada will rapidly advance its military spending timeline to hit the NATO target of two per cent of national GDP by adding $9 billion […]

The federal privacy watchdog says the RCMP lost a memory key containing personal information about victims, witnesses and informants, and later learned it was being offered for sale by criminals. A detailed report from the office of privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne reveals the RCMP told the watchdog about the breach in March 2022, prompting a […]

A national coalition of civil society groups says the Liberal government’s new border security bill poses a serious risk to liberties and human rights. The Ottawa-based International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group is calling on the government to withdraw the bill and replace it with more targeted legislation on specific border concerns. The coalition brings together […]

Safeguards have been written into the government’s border bill to ensure civil rights and due process are upheld in proposed immigration regulations, Immigration Minister Lena Diab said Wednesday. Critics and advocacy groups are calling the wide-ranging border security legislation a threat to civil liberties in the immigration and asylum system. One proposed change in the […]

Provincial politicians took aim at Nova Scotia Power during a legislative committee meeting this morning, saying the utility owes ratepayers answers after a cybersecurity breach gave thieves access to data belonging to 280,000 customers. The utility’s CEO and other staff were grilled by the public accounts committee about how the breach happened and what the […]

Proposed federal legislation would give authorities new powers to search mail, make it easier for officials to pause or cancel immigration applications and expand the Canadian Coast Guard’s role to include security activities. Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree introduced the Strong Borders Act in the House of Commons on Tuesday. The government says the wide-ranging, […]

Enbridge Gas is warning customers across Ontario to be on alert for a series of scams aimed at stealing personal information and money. The company says fraudsters are using letters, emails, text messages and door-to-door visits to impersonate Enbridge representatives. One recent scam involves fake letters left at homes claiming that Enbridge will be conducting […]