Access and Privacy Online

News Summary January 24th, 2026

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, January 24th. 

This week, we’re tracking a sharp escalation in surveillance and enforcement powers—from a B.C. municipality openly challenging a privacy watchdog’s authority to U.S. immigration officers asserting the right to enter homes without a judge’s warrant. 

We’re also looking at how access-to-information requests continue to expose gaps in oversight—whether that’s contaminated land in Ontario, the limits of Canada’s whistleblower protections, or the growing pressure on public transparency as AI, trade, and national security collide. 

And internationally, we’ll examine how internet shutdowns and connected-car technologies are reshaping privacy and access to information far beyond Canada’s borders. 

Show Notes: https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20260124-access-and-privacy-online 

Individual Stories: https://fipa.bc.ca/tag/2026-season-episode-04 

FIPA Bill C-4 

• UPDATED Call to Action: https://fipa.bc.ca/bill-c-4-2025/ 

• FIPA Bill C-4 Part 4 Dashboard: https://fipa.bc.ca/fipa-bill-c-4-part-4-dashboard/ 

• Bill C-4 Part 4 line-by-line and brief: https://fipa.bc.ca/bill-c-4-part-4-line-by-line-and-brief/ 

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Send comments to FIPAOnline@fipa.bc.ca 

Our Contributors: 

Writing: Shaun Fisk | Production: Patrick Farnsworth | Music: Breakmaster Cylinder  

Access and Privacy Online: https://fipa.bc.ca/research-resources/podcasts/access-and-privacy-online/  

News stories through the Canadian Press and Feedly. 

Available through: PodBean, Apple iTunes,  YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM. ListenNotes,  Podchaser, Boomplay 

News Summary January 17th, 2026

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, January 17th. 

We’re starting the year with a heavy focus on access to information and what happens when transparency fails or is actively resisted. 

This week, access requests uncover troubling gaps in domestic-violence prosecutions in Nunavut, reveal why a Parks Canada boat ban blindsided communities in Manitoba, and expose how billions of public dollars tied to Brampton’s electric-bus plans remain almost entirely redacted. 

We’ll also look at growing privacy concerns—from Manitoba’s new digital ID wallet to failures in protecting tenants’ personal information—and whistleblower-driven stories involving police misconduct and university governance. 

Then, we turn south, where the Trump administration is again testing the limits of federal power—using funding threats, data demands, and political pressure in ways that raise serious privacy and democratic concerns. 

And finally, from CES, a cautionary look at how AI-powered consumer devices are collecting more personal data than ever—often with little oversight. 

Show Notes: https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20260117-access-and-privacy-online

Individual Stories: https://fipa.bc.ca/tag/2026-season-episode-03  

FIPA Bill C-4:

• UPDATED Call to Action: https://fipa.bc.ca/bill-c-4-2025/
• FIPA Bill C-4 Part 4 Dashboard: https://fipa.bc.ca/fipa-bill-c-4-part-4-dashboard/
• Bill C-4 Part 4 line-by-line and brief: https://fipa.bc.ca/bill-c-4-part-4-line-by-line-and-brief/

Support these efforts by subscribing or donating. 

Send comments to FIPAOnline@fipa.bc.ca 

Our Contributors: 

Writing: Shaun Fisk | Production: Patrick Farnsworth | Music: Breakmaster Cylinder  

Access and Privacy Online: https://fipa.bc.ca/research-resources/podcasts/access-and-privacy-online/  

News stories through the Canadian Press and Feedly. 

Available through: PodBean, Apple iTunes,  YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM. ListenNotes,  Podchaser, Boomplay 

News Summary January 15th, 2026

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Thursday, January 15th—our first  News Summary of 2026. 

After the holiday break, there’s a lot to catch up on. Across Canada and internationally, familiar themes re-emerge: data breaches with unresolved accountability, governments struggling to balance security, privacy, and transparency, and growing pressure to define how artificial intelligence is governed—or not governed—in practice. 

We’ll start in Nova Scotia, where the fallout from a major data breach is colliding with electricity rate hikes and renewed debate over access-to-information law. Then we’ll move through Canadian privacy and access stories shaped by FOI requests before turning to international developments involving Big Tech, AI misuse, and whistleblower protections. 

Show Notes: https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20260115-access-and-privacy-online 

Individual Stories: https://fipa.bc.ca/tag/2026-season-episode-02  

FIPA Bill C-4 

• UPDATED Call to Action: https://fipa.bc.ca/bill-c-4-2025/ 

• FIPA Bill C-4 Part 4 Dashboard: https://fipa.bc.ca/fipa-bill-c-4-part-4-dashboard/ 

• Bill C-4 Part 4 line-by-line and brief: https://fipa.bc.ca/bill-c-4-part-4-line-by-line-and-brief/ 

Support these efforts by subscribing or donating. 

Send comments to FIPAOnline@fipa.bc.ca 

Our Contributors: 

Writing: Shaun Fisk | Production: Patrick Farnsworth | Music: Breakmaster Cylinder  

Access and Privacy Online: https://fipa.bc.ca/research-resources/podcasts/access-and-privacy-online/  

News stories through the Canadian Press and Feedly. 

Available through: PodBean, Apple iTunes,  YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM. ListenNotes,  Podchaser, Boomplay 

Commentary: Reviewing 2025, Preparing for 2026

In this commentary, we have a special end-of-year commentary among FIPA contributors.  

Tune in to hear our discussion between FIPA President Mike Larsen and Executive Director Jason Woywada as we discuss the year that was and the year ahead.  

Support these efforts by subscribing or donating. 

Send comments to FIPAOnline@fipa.bc.ca 

Access and Privacy Commentary: https://fipa.bc.ca/research-resources/podcasts/access-and-privacy-commentary/  

Access and Privacy Online: https://fipa.bc.ca/research-resources/podcasts/access-and-privacy-online/ 

News stories through the Canadian Press and Feedly. 

Available through: PodBean, Apple iTunes, YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM 

Commentary: Inside FOI and 2025 Access Assessment Preliminary Report

In this commentary, we have a special end-of-year commentary among FIPA contributors.  

Tune in to hear our discussion between producer Patrick Farnsworth, FIPA researcher Spencer Izen, and Executive Director Jason Woywada as they discuss Spencer’s work and research with the preliminary report from his access assessments. 

• 2025 Access Assessment Preliminary Report: https://fipa.bc.ca/aa/preliminary-report-2025/  

• Access Regimes: Social Studies of Recordkeeping, Bureaucracy, and Secrecy under Freedom of Information Law: https://osf.io/n2xmu/overview  

• BC Broader Public Sector Requests: https://fipa.bc.ca/research-resources/2024-bc-broader-public-sector-requests/  

• BC Core Government Requests: https://fipa.bc.ca/research-resources/2024-bc-core-government-requests/  

• Access Assessment Release Packages: https://fipa.bc.ca/aa/2025-release-packages/  

Reporting  

• What’s the ‘black box’ of B.C.’s freedom of information systems? Watchdog study shining light on little-understood process: https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/whats-the-black-box-of-bcs-freedom-of-information-systems-watchdog-study-shining-light-on-little-understood-process/ 

Support these efforts by subscribing or donating. 

Send comments to FIPAOnline@fipa.bc.ca 

Access and Privacy Commentary: https://fipa.bc.ca/research-resources/podcasts/access-and-privacy-commentary/  

Access and Privacy Online: https://fipa.bc.ca/research-resources/podcasts/access-and-privacy-online/ 

News stories through the Canadian Press and Feedly. 

Available through: PodBean, Apple iTunes, YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM 

Commentary: Leading and Trailing Language, Bill C-4, and the CBA Privacy and Access Law Conference

In this commentary, we have a special end-of-year commentary among FIPA contributors.  

Tune in to hear our discussion with FIPA researcher Ryan Rutley, who was one of our University of Victoria Law Co-op Students at FIPA this year. We discuss his experience and work around Bill C-4 Submissions, Leading and Trailing Language with FoIPPA Exemption Clauses, and the CBA Privacy and Access Law Conference. 

• 2025 Interprovincial Clause Analysis—frivolous vexatious: https://fipa.bc.ca/rr/clause-analysis-frivolous-vexatious
• Leading Language 2024: https://fipa.bc.ca/leading-language-2024/  
• 2024 Foreign Interference Commission: https://fipa.bc.ca/2024-foreign-interference-commission/ 
• Support these efforts by subscribing or donating. 

Send comments to FIPAOnline@fipa.bc.ca 

Access and Privacy Commentary: https://fipa.bc.ca/research-resources/podcasts/access-and-privacy-commentary/  

Access and Privacy Online: https://fipa.bc.ca/research-resources/podcasts/access-and-privacy-online/ 

News stories through the Canadian Press and Feedly. 

Available through: PodBean, Apple iTunes, YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM 

FIPA Shorts: Looking Ahead to 2026

In this segment of our end-of-year discussion, FIPA President Mike Larsen, Executive Director Jason Woyada, and producer Patrick Farnsworth look ahead to the stories they’re following into the new year. 

Tune in to hear the full discussion in the coming weeks.

Support these efforts by subscribing or donating. 

Send comments to FIPAOnline@fipa.bc.ca 

Access and Privacy Commentary: https://fipa.bc.ca/research-resources/podcasts/access-and-privacy-commentary/  

Access and Privacy Online: https://fipa.bc.ca/research-resources/podcasts/access-and-privacy-online/ 

News stories through the Canadian Press and Feedly. 

Available through: PodBean, Apple iTunes, YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM 

FIPA Shorts: Why Bill C-4 Is a Direct Attack on the Privacy of Canadians

In this segment of our end-of-year discussion, FIPA researcher Ryan Rutley explains why Part 4 of Bill C-4 is a direct attack on the privacy of Canadians and how his research intersects with FIPA’s call to action.

Tune in to hear the full discussion in the coming weeks. 

• UPDATED Call to Action: https://fipa.bc.ca/bill-c-4-2025/ 

• FIPA Bill C-4 Part 4 Dashboard: https://fipa.bc.ca/fipa-bill-c-4-part-4-dashboard/ 

• Bill C-4 Part 4 line-by-line and brief: https://fipa.bc.ca/bill-c-4-part-4-line-by-line-and-brief/ 

Support these efforts by subscribing or donating.  

Send comments to FIPAOnline@fipa.bc.ca  

Access and Privacy Commentaries: https://fipa.bc.ca/research-resources/podcasts/access-and-privacy-commentary/   

Access and Privacy Online: https://fipa.bc.ca/research-resources/podcasts/access-and-privacy-online/  

News stories through the Canadian Press and Feedly.