National

National


Mendicino open to working with MPs to ‘improve’ much criticized cybersecurity bill

OTTAWA — The federal public safety minister says he is prepared to work with other parliamentarians to revise the Liberal government’s cybersecurity bill after civil society groups and opposition MPs raised transparency and accountability concerns. While he is open to changes, Marco Mendicino said in a recent interview the bill that was introduced last year […]

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RCMP too short staffed to follow up on tips from Fintrac?

OTTAWA — The RCMP says many tips from Canada’s financial intelligence agency about possible crimes “may not get investigated” due to a lack of policing resources and conflicting priorities. The Mounties make the candid admission in a briefing note prepared for Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino on the working relationship between the national police force […]

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Ottawa pressed RCMP Heritage Centre for more outreach as part of expansion goal

OTTAWA — The head of the RCMP Heritage Centre in Saskatchewan says that after it completed a round of consultations on how it can transform into a national museum, the ball is now in Ottawa’s court. “We really needed to hear from Canadians,” said Tara Robinson, the CEO of the Regina-based museum focused on the […]

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Alberta government won’t release data on snowpack contamination from coal mines

EDMONTON — The Alberta government is refusing to release information on toxic contaminants in snowpacks downwind from mountaintop removal coal mines. The data was collected by two senior provincial government scientists who conducted research into the impact of windblown dust from mines in British Columbia on a pristine Alberta alpine lake. They recently published a […]

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Whistleblower group criticizes federal review of wrongdoing disclosure regime

OTTAWA — An advocacy group for those who reveal wrongdoing says it cannot support a new task force looking at the federal whistleblowing regime because it lacks someone with “lived experience” as an actual whistleblower. In a letter to Treasury Board President Mona Fortier, Whistleblowing Canada Research Society president Pamela Forward calls the absence a […]

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Canadians gleaned naval intelligence from Russian defector, newly released files show

OTTAWA — The young Russian seaman who turned up exhausted and bleeding on the British Columbia shore struck a Canadian intelligence official as well mannered, sincere and athletic, built like Tarzan of the movies. Less than two years later, defector Sergei Kourdakov would die in a California motel room — apparently by accidentally shooting himself — after […]

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Feds opt to focus on making access to info law work better amid calls for reforms

OTTAWA — The federal government says departments will focus on making the access-to-information system work better amid calls for fundamental changes to the transparency law. The Access to Information Act allows people to request government documents, from internal emails to expense reports for a $5 fee, but it is widely considered to be outdated and poorly administered. The law […]

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Documents appearing to come from government sent to Muslim charity were forged: RCMP

OTTAWA — The RCMP confirmed Tuesday that documents sent to the Muslim Association of Canada that appeared to be internal records of the Canada Revenue Agency and the Mounties are forgeries. The Globe and Mail reported last week that the association had been sent records, which the newspaper determined to be fake, that implied both […]

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Royal couple’s three day visit to Canada for Platinum Jubilee cost at least $1M

OTTAWA — Canadian taxpayers spent at least $1 million hosting King Charles III, who was the Prince of Wales at the time, when he visited Canada earlier this year. The RCMP provided a breakdown of the nearly $450,000 in costs it incurred for his three-day visit in May, accompanied by Queen Consort Camilla, who was then the […]

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N.W.T. announces latest case of private health information mishandled

YELLOWKNIFE — A privacy breach affecting people who stayed at a COVID-19 isolation centre is the latest in a long line of cases of health information being mishandled in the Northwest Territories. Late last week, the N.W.T. Department of Health and Social Services issued notice of the “low-risk” breach involving about 2,000 COVID-19 isolation forms, […]

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Sobeys parent company Empire says cyberattack expected to cost $25M after insurance

Sobeys parent company Empire Co. Ltd. has shared new details on a cyberattack that shut down its pharmacy services and other in-store functions last month. The security breach in early November left customers unable to fill prescriptions for four days, while other in-store functions like self-checkout machines, gift card use and the redemption of loyalty […]

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Will Indigenous sovereignty be on the agenda at COP15?

Msit No’kmaq, Wahkohtawin, Nindinawemaganidog — all loosely translate into the phrase “all my relations,” which is defined by a kinship between beings in the natural world and Mother Earth. It’s a phrase that asserts the symbiotic relationship between Indigenous nations and their lands. Now, as the world prepares to converge on Montreal for the United […]

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