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Worse than Russia: Access to information in Nova Scotia places 66th in world rankings

One expert says the FOIPOP Act needs improvements, but that isn't all: "We need an attitude change within the public sector, in which people would see themselves as servants of the people, working for the people, and being open and transparent with the people."

September 24, 2021 By Joan Baxter Leave a Comment

This, the second of a two-part series about the state of the public’s “right to know” in Nova Scotia, looks at what options are available to those dissatisfied with a Freedom of Information (FOIPOP) result, and how the province’s access to information ranks internationally — spoiler alert: rather poorly — and what should be done […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: access to information, Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP), Arilea Sill, Brad Johns, Centre for Law and Democracy, FOIPOP, Freedom of Information, Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy, Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, French River watershed, Information Access and Privacy (IAP), Information and Privacy Commissioner, Michelle Boudreau, Municipality of the County of Colchester, Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change, Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC), public interest, redactions, Right to Information, Right to Know, Right to Know Week, Supreme Court of Canada, Tim Halman, Tim Houston, Toby Mendel, Tracy Barron, Yarmouth ferry

The “Right to Know” in Nova Scotia often goes right to “no”

It’s almost “Right to Know Week” in Nova Scotia, but that doesn’t mean that access to information in the province is something to celebrate, as a recent freedom of information request illustrates.

September 23, 2021 By Joan Baxter 3 Comments

In this article, Part 1 of a two-part series about the state of the public’s “right to know” in Nova Scotia, the focus is on what happened when the Halifax Examiner submitted a Freedom of Information (FOIPOP) request to the province about whether it would agree to protect the French River watershed — the water […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: access to information, arsenic, Cape Breton Spectator, CBC, Cobequid Hills, Darth DeMont, Department of Energy and Mines, Department of lands and Forestry, Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Don James, Earltown, FOIPOP, Frances Willick, Freedom of Information, Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, French River, French River watershed, Geoscience and Mines Branch, gold, Gordon Wilson, Information Access and Privacy (IAP), Information Access and Privacy Commissioner, International Right to Know Day, Jim Vibert, Mary Campbell, Mi’kmaq Grassroots Grandmothers, Michelle Boudreau, MIchelle Newell, Mike Allen, mineral exploration, mining, Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS), Municipality of the County of Colchester, Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change, NSE, Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC), Right to Know, Right to Know Week, SaltWire, Sarah Kirby, Sean Kirby, Sustainable Northern Nova Scotia (SuNNS), Tatamagouche, Tatamagouche (French River) Source Water Protection Advisory Committee, the Coast, Tim Bousquet, Warwick Mountain Gold, Warwick Mountain Project

Stephen McNeil: Read his lips. Just don’t believe a word he says

Here in Stephen McNeil’s Nova Scotia, we should mark Right to Know Week by lowering the flag to half-mast and lighting a mourning candle in honour of the quaint notion citizens have some fundamental right to know what its government is doing.

September 23, 2018 By Stephen Kimber

Happy “Right to Know Week!” It starts today in case you hadn’t noticed. Why would you? And, oh yes, in case you’re counting, this Friday, Sept. 28, will mark the 16th annual “International Right to Know Day,” a day set aside in 40 countries around the world, including Canada, “to raise global awareness of individuals’...

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Filed Under: Commentary, Featured, News, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: Catherine Tully, Leo Glavine, Right to Know, Stephen McNeil

Government officials are using private email to keep information from you: Morning File, Wednesday, September 28, 2016

September 28, 2016 By Tim Bousquet 7 Comments

News Views Noticed Government On campus In the harbour Footnotes News 1. Right to Know Week This is Right to Know Week, and today is Right to Know Day: Each year on September 28, approximately 40 countries and 60 non-governmental organizations celebrate Right to Know Day. The purpose of Right to Know is to raise […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: access to information, Anne Bertrand, Catherine Tully, Clarence Bennett, Fliss Cramman, Freedom of Information, Jean Laroche, job ad, Karissa Donkin, Merlin Nunn, Michael Gorman, NB Liquor, Premier’s Delivery Unit, Right to Know, Senior Delivery Officer

Action Man™: protecting you from social media! Examineradio, episode #49

February 19, 2016 By Russell Gragg 2 Comments

This week with speak with Tim Heneghan and Paul Conrod, two researchers with the Right to Know Coalition of Nova Scotia. They’ve just completed a report highlighting how awesome Halifax is when it comes to transparency and openness with regard to the sharing of information with the public. Also, the provincial government has scrapped proposed changes […]

Filed Under: City Hall, Commentary, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: beer, Examineradio, Matt Whitman, Maureen MacDonald, Paul Conrod, Pharmacare, podcast, Right to Know, Scott Warnica, Stillwell, Stubborn Goat, Tim Heneghan

PRICED OUT

A collage of various housing options in HRM, including co-ops, apartment buildings, shelters, and tents
PRICED OUT is the Examiner’s investigative reporting project focused on the housing crisis.

You can learn about the project, including how we’re asking readers to direct our reporting, our published articles, and what we’re working on, on the PRICED OUT homepage.

2020 mass murders

Nine images illustrating the locations, maps, and memorials of the mass shootings

All of the Halifax Examiner’s reporting on the mass murders of April 18/19, 2020, and recent articles on the Mass Casualty Commission and newly-released documents.

Updated regularly.

Uncover: Dead Wrong

In 1995, Brenda Way was brutally murdered behind a Dartmouth apartment building. In 1999, Glen Assoun was found guilty of the murder. He served 17 years in prison, but steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 2019, Glen Assoun was fully exonerated.

Halifax Examiner founder and investigative journalist Tim Bousquet has followed the story of Glen Assoun's wrongful conviction for over five years. Now, Bousquet tells that story as host of Season 7 of the CBC podcast series Uncover: Dead Wrong.

Click here to go to listen to the podcast, or search for CBC Uncover on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast aggregator.

The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

A young white woman with dark hair and a purple shirt lies on a large rock at dusk, looking up at the sky and playing her banjolele.

Episode 85 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne, is published.

Logan Robins (writer/director/composer) and Katherine Norris (star/composer) of the Unnatural Disaster Theatre Company are on the show this week ahead of their provincial tour of HIPPOPOSTUMOUS, Robins’ musical exploration of invasive species, colonization, environmentalism, and history. Hear how Pablo Escobar’s personal hippos have invaded and are ruining a section of Colombia, why Robins was intrigued to make a show about it, and all the places you can catch it this July. Plus Norris cracks out the banjolele to perform one of the show’s songs. And the new jam from Beauts!

Listen to the episode here.

Check out some of the past episodes here.

Subscribe to the podcast to get episodes automatically downloaded to your device — there’s a great instructional article here. Email Suzanne for help.

You can reach Tara here.

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