Right to Know Coalition of Nova Scotia (RTKNS) is a non-profit organization. Through advocacy and education, RTKNS encourages the use and development of freedom-of-information legislation to foster a better informed and more politically active electorate in Nova Scotia and to improve the quality of public and private decision making in the province.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
NEW NS Right to Know Website
http://nsrighttoknow.ca/ now points to our new site. Please refresh your browser if you still see the old site.
http://nsrighttoknow.ca/rtk-news/ points to the RTK/FOI blog.
It will be a couple days before everything works perfectly, so please bear with us.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
No need to FoI, just ask, says Richmond Council - Richmond & Twickenham Times
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An influx of Freedom of Information (FoI) requests has prompted a council request for people to call their councillors first. Councillor Geoffrey Samuel, deputy leader of Richmond Council , asked people to try other avenues when they had questions for the ...
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Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Quote of the Day - Clay Shirky
-- Clay Shirky, Why We Need the New News Environment to be Chaotic, July 9, 2011 via The Technium, Found Quotes, 8
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Amending Access to Information Legislation: Legal and Political Issues
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Almost 90 countries around the world have enacted access to information (ATI) legislation, and in many of these countries, reforms and amendments are either being considered or have been passed. However, even minor adjustments to the legal framework around ATI laws can have substantial impact on how the law is implemented and used.
While access to information laws are increasingly a key subject of studies on governance reforms, within the literature there has been less emphasis placed on the impact of amendments to ATI laws and little analysis done to understand the processes that propelled such reforms forward.
Targeted for practitioners working in governance and transparency issues and as part of its Governance Working Paper series, the World Bank Institute has recently published Amending Access to Information Legislation: Legal and Political Issues by Toby Mendel, Executive Director of Centre for Law and Democracy.
The working paper looks at the main substantive issues ATI reform attempts have targeted and what legal forms they may take. It also examines the role different actors—civil society, the media, oversight bodies, parliaments, and political leaders—can play in helping support the adoption of reforms that promote openness and defeat those that erect barriers.
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Saturday, July 09, 2011
Friday, July 08, 2011
Quote of the Day - Albert Schweitzer

- Albert Schweitzer 1923 book "The Philosophy of Civilization"
via Vikas Shah, Thought Economics, July 2011 http://thoughteconomics.blogspot.com/
Thursday, July 07, 2011
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Monday, July 04, 2011
The Freedom of Information Act on its 45th anniversary - BeSpacific
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The Freedom of Information Act on its 45th anniversary | Commentary - July 01, 2011: "Lyndon Johnson opposed FOIA — said it was a plot against his administration — but a tenacious backbencher from California, John Moss, had pursued it for 12 years and ...
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Many public servants aren't standing up to political interference in access ...
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![]() Hill Times (subscription) | Many public servants aren't standing up to political interference in access ... Hill Times (subscription) He said access to information release packages should be shown to political staff only as a courtesy so that they can prepare their communications plan. "The access to information request happens, you then present it and say, 'Here's what the request ... |
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Friday, July 01, 2011
CIDA announces Open Data portal: What it means to Canadians
For those who missed it, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has announced it is launching an open data portal.
This is exciting news. On Monday I was interviewed about the initiative by Embassy Magazine which published the resulting article (behind their paywall) ...
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Associations to remain private bodies despite FOI switch
But an ONS spokesperson said: 'It is unlikely that making housing associations subject to FOI would lead to a reclassification as it would not have a large impact on the level of public control.' A Communities and Local Government department ... ...
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